It’s no love fern, but the shenanigans that Matthew McConaughey’s mother pulled on his now-wife, Camila Alves McConaughey, at the beginning of their relationship, could be quality material for a rom-com someday.

On Southern Living’s Biscuits and Jam podcast, published Tuesday, Alves detailed how she got her mother-in-law, actress Kay McConaughey, whom she now affectionately calls “Ma Mac,” to warm up to her. It wasn’t a painless process, the 41-year-old Brazilian model, who now runs the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation with her husband, as well as her Women of Today lifestyle site, said.

“She did all these things when I first came in the picture, right?” she said of when she and McConaughey first coupled up and she met the family. “She was really testing me. She would call me by all of Matthew’s ex-girlfriends’ names, she would start speaking Spanish with me in a very broken way, kind of putting down a bit. All kinds of stuff.”

But like any good enemies-to-friends movie trope, there was an Act II plot twist that changed everything. Alves McConaughey was booked for a fashion job in Istanbul, one she said came with all the perks—and a plus-one.

“I’m like Ma Mac, you want to come with me?” she said. What could possibly go wrong, taking a woman who has been long-term trolling you on an international work trip, forcing close proximity in unfamiliar surroundings, right? “The whole way there, the whole plane ride to Istanbul, she was telling me all these stories and putting all these things in my head, enough that when we landed I was like, ok, let me buckle up, let me get ready for this situation.”

And then, on the third day of their trip, here comes the plot twist. Ma Mac showed a vulnerability. According to Alves McConaughey, her future mother-in-law got caught up in her emotions and started weeping—or at least, appeared to.

“I’m like oh my gosh, Ma Mac, feeling so sorry, and as I’m putting her to bed, I look at her and I’m like, oh my gosh, she’s full of shit,” she said. Time for the counterattack. “So I just flip it on her and brought my spicy Brazilian Latin side and I let her have it. So I went back at her and we had it back and forth, and at the end she just looked at me and was like, ok, now you’re in. All she wanted was for me to fight back. And from that night on, we have the most amazing relationship and I have so much respect for her and she has so much respect for me.”

Alves McConaughey said that her husband shares his mother’s punctuality and organization, despite his reputation for being an easygoing stoner. “He doesn’t even smoke!” she claimed.

Now, the couple has three children and considers Texas to be their home base, no matter where their travels take them. And that metaphorical mother-in-law love fern? It gets regular watering.

“It can get tricky sometimes, but we always end with a good laugh and a joke,” she said of her relationship with Ma Mac.