Matthew McConaughey insists Lance Armstrong isn't a liar

Lance Armstrong, left, and actor Matthew McConaughey, both Texas natives, celebrate after a football game in Pasadena, Calif., in this January 2006 file photo. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Matthew McConaughey has defended Lance Armstrong.

While the 43-year-old 'Mud' actor was surprised when the cyclist was found to have been engaged in a huge doping scandal and stripped of all the titles he won from 1999 to 2005, Matthew insists his friend isn't a liar.

He told Details magazine: “He told a lie, he's not a liar. When [the news] came out, I took it personally, but then I saw it ain't personal to him. I was going, ‘That son of a bitch!' But then I thought, ‘Well, what was he supposed to do? Call me to the side and go, 'Hey, I did this?' But I'm happy for him now, because despite all this outside conflict, he doesn't have this inner conflict anymore."

Matthew also revealed having children, Levi, four, Vida, three, and two-month-old Livingston, with his model spouse, Camila Alves, has made him choosier about the movie roles he takes on.

He said: “I remember feeling not sure about what I wanted to do and feeling - I'm not sure despondent is the right word, but a feeling like things are plateauing.

"I wanted more evolution. I want to feel ascension in the grade. Because I was feeling a lot of ascension in my personal life, qualitative evolution. I wanted to close the gap between who I am and the life I'm living and my work life. So I think I got really selfish. You start a family and you get selfish."