Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers Band the Big Time Again

The telephone rang, and country music fable Larry Gatlin quickly answered. It was his daughter Kristen, who coincidentally had merely picked upwardly a copy of Matthew McConaughey's critically acclaimed memoir, Greenlights.

And from the mere sound of her voice, Gatlin knew something was upwards.

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"She said to me, 'Dad, y'all are in Matthew McConaughey's book … I know that's y'all,'" Gatlin, 72, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.

And she was right.

Considering in the Part Five: Turn the Page portion of the 2020 memoir, there is a story from McConaughey's meticulously kept journals of a human but referred to every bit "Larry," a human being who found himself years ago in the struggle of his life with addiction, a man who institute himself with few places left to turn, a man desperately looking for help.

And that human being happened to be the legendary Larry Gatlin.

"I remember the day, it was Oct something of 1984," Gatlin remembers of the moment that occurred in the midst of his success every bit a fellow member of the legendary country group Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers. "[University of Texas Football] Motorcoach [Darrell] Majestic and I were talking. We had striking information technology off correct away. For me, he was one of those people that you run across, and y'all instantly don't accept to explain annihilation to each other. We were at this Pro-Am party at this golf tournament, and Bus Royal caught me with white powder on my nose."

Larry Gatlin

Larry Gatlin

| Credit: Courtesy Larry Gatlin

Equally the book details, Gatlin immediately expressed his uncertainty to Royal that he could ever get his cocaine addiction nether control, and began to spout off a long list of excuses that addicts frequently find comfort in. Merely then Royal, who died in 2012 following a battle with Alzheimer's disease, stopped Gatlin in his tracks.

"He told me, 'Larry Wayne, I have never had any problem turning the page in the book of my life,'" Gatlin remembers of the moment, beautifully recalled in the book that the singer/songwriter ended upward listening to via audiobook. "He said to me, 'It'southward time you turned the page.'"

And Gatlin went and did just that. Soon later that life-altering chat, Royal took Gatlin straight to treatment at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program in California.

"Coach Royal did not ship me to treatment … he took me to treatment," Gatlin remembers. "Darrell knew what I was doing. He was i of the smartest and wisest men. And his wife?  They both really did relieve my life. I call up about information technology every twenty-four hours. Hopefully, I'll be at that place to help somebody sometime like they did for me. I would be long dead if it hadn't been for them."

Indeed, Gatlin, has gone on to bask the past 37 years living a sober and successful life, filled with multiple moments in which he has found himself telling his addiction story to all who would listen. But never did he envision the story making information technology into McConaughey's book.

"I'g so very grateful to Matthew," Gatlin says of the 51-year-sometime Oscar-winning role player. "Y'all never know when what nosotros read is going to change our lives. I was able to kick my addictions thanks to my married woman and my family and my God and an incredible programme of recovery. But at present, I truly believe there will be people that will read Greenlights and they are going to thank McConaughey for putting my story in in that location."

Larry Gatlin

Larry Gatlin

| Credit: Jason Davis/Getty

He adds, "After reading Greenlights and without any prompting, my friend Greg Gutfeld called me up and said, 'Gatlin, I bet my life savings Matthew McConaughey is your kid.'"

And while the volume was released dorsum in Oct of 2020, Gatlin recently made the decision to share with PEOPLE an exclusive video in which he reveals to the world that he is truly the 'Larry' in McConaughey'southward volume equally part of the #GreenlightsChallenge, a social media movement in which people mail videos of themselves narrating portions of the book while impersonating McConaughey'southward iconic manner of reading.

"I was on a Zoom with him last month and I was like, 'Put my proper noun in the damn volume,'" Gatlin laughs of the recent chat he had with the accomplished actor. "That made him express mirth. And we went on to reminisce talk about Coach Majestic and how much we missed him and how much he had an effect on our lives. And in terms of Matthew, I mean, that man is going to milkshake the earth up. I think this volume is non merely going to help people get in touch with Matthew, but also get in impact with themselves most existence honest."

He pauses for a moment.

"We all screw up, for God's sake," says Gatlin, who made a triumphant return to touring earlier this calendar month alongside his musical brothers playing their long list of hits including "All the Gilded in California," "Houston (Ways I'm One Day Closer to You)" and "Broken Lady." "We all have secrets. The best thing is to get them out in the open and be the i to tell them, so no ane can point a finger and call you a liar."

Today, with his days of addiction far backside him, Gatlin recalls the legendary speech from baseball great Lou Gehrig, and says that he feels similar the luckiest person on earth in so many ways.

"Lord knows that I take done some things I wish I hadn't done," concludes Gatlin, who was diagnosed with COVID-nineteen in early March. "Merely it brought me to correct here, right now, sitting on this back porch on this swing watching my wife [Janis] hunt away the bees from her honeysuckle plants. Life is and then very skillful. And quite frankly, I'1000 proud to know Matthew and I'm thankful for him. Just aye, put my name in the book son!"

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Source: https://people.com/country/larry-gatlin-featured-matthew-mcconaughey-greenlights/

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