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Matthew McConaughey is a noted leading man with an Oscar and Emmy to his credit. You might say he could afford to not smell good. Given that the actor has said for years that he doesn’t use deodorant, it seems like hanging out with the guy might be both entertaining (he comes across in interviews as a likably quirky dude) and perhaps a little, um, musky.
Apparently, that’s not the case. And why would the subject come up anyway? Because a recent spate of Hollywood stars have been perhaps more open than they intended regarding their personal hygiene and it’s been freaking out fans all over the internet.
It started with Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis in a guest spot on Dax Shepard‘s “Armchair Expert” podcast, where they revealed they only bathe their kids when the grime is visible and they have a similar philosophy about themselves. “I wash my armpits and my crotch daily,” Kutcher offered, “and nothing else ever. I got a bar of Lever 2000 that delivers every time. Nothing else.”
The firestorm had begun, and Jake Gyllenhaal joined the fun when he told Vanity Fair that he often just finds “bathing to be less necessary, at times.”
“I do believe,” Gyllenhaal continued, “…that good manners and bad breath get you nowhere. So I do that [brush his teeth]. But I do also think that there’s a whole world of not bathing that is also really helpful for skin maintenance, and we naturally clean ourselves.”
In a way, McConaughey was ahead of his time in admitting he didn’t use deodorant, since he opened up about the subject when discussing a movie he did in 2004 with Kate Hudson. As Brobible notes, the actress knew about his feelings regarding scents, and McConaughey told how she would bring him “a salt rock, which is some natural deodorant” and ask him to put it on.
“I just never wore it,” McConaughey said, “No cologne, no deodorant. The women in my life, including my mother, have all said, ‘Hey, your natural smell smells, one, like a man, and, two, smells like you.'”
But McConaughey must do something right. Yvette Nicole Brown, a later costar from 2008’s Tropic Thunder, was aware of his lack of interest in scented solutions to stinky pits and parts and in an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show recently revealed that she couldn’t help but see if her costar passed the smell test.
“So my first thought is,” Brown said, “‘I’m going to get as close as I can to him to see if he’s right.'”
Apparently Brown was in for a pleasant surprise. “[McConaughey] did not have an odor,” she said, “He smells like granola and good living. He has a sweet, sweet scent that is just him and it’s not musty or crazy.”
She then speculated as to why a man who proudly admitted to abstaining from even a dab of aftershave behind the ears smelled good anyway. “I believe he bathes because he smells delicious,” Brown said, “He just didn’t have deodorant on.”
Hollywood may not be totally rank with wealthy and famous smelly folk, even though the likes of Bradley Cooper, Cameron Diaz, and—sorry ladies—even Brad Pitt have been revealed as shower-averse since the Kutcher-Kunis incident.
After all, one of the biggest stars in the world, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, said on Twitter that he showers up to three times a day and sings “off-key” while he does it.
Considering that The Rock also does brutal workouts up to three times a day and is 6’4″ and who knows how many pounds of solid muscle, anyone who works with him owes him a big thank you for his diligence. To which he could break into an off-key version of the solo he performed voicing Maui in Disney’s Moana and sing, “You’re Welcome.”
