Matthew McConaughey Shares Message to Kids About Past 2 Years in Interview with Carson Daly's Son

Carson Daly's son Jackson, 12, interviews Matthew McConaughey about his upcoming film Sing 2 and asks him to share his thoughts on the difficult past two years

Matthew McConaughey is reminding kids not to give up amid a difficult few years.

In an exclusive clip from Thursday's episode of NBC Nightly News: Kids Edition, Carson Daly's 12-year-old son Jackson chats with the actor about his upcoming film Sing 2 and asks him to share his thoughts on staying positive amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

"It's been a hard two years for kids because COVID and homeschooling…what's the overall takeaway that kids can get from this movie?" the preteen asks McConaughey, 52.

"The last two years have been a particularly hard time, for kids and everybody. The last two years have been a long-form version of running into conflict, where you think, 'Okay, it's time to quit. I give up. It's time to start practicing things in my life that I know aren't good for me because you know what, so what.' But don't give up on it," he tells Jackson. "This is a time that we're going through that we're starting to come out of."

"Trust yourself — trust that what you believe in before the trouble came, before the pandemic came, before you were being homeschooled. Trust that maybe you just got out of this and you're a little worse for the wear, but if you survive to get out the other side of this, everyone went through it," he continues.

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"Knowing that everyone went through it, also makes it easier to deal with personally," he adds. "Cause when we're personally going through any hard time, what do we think? We think we're the only one going through it, we think the world revolving around us and we're the only one going through the hardship."

"But look, this last two years everybody's been through a tough time. So come out the other side, it's part of survival, and you start thriving and now we're on the other side of it," he concludes.

McConaughey reprises his role as Buster Moon in Sing 2, the sequel to the hit 2016 film.

Also making a special appearance in the movie is his 11-year-old daughter Vida, he revealed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday.

"Vida got a couple of lines in Sing 2. She plays a piglet who is scuba diving in chocolate, saying, 'This is the best day of my life,' " he shared. "How about that?"

Vida is McConaughey's second eldest child. He shares three kids with his wife, Camila Alves McConaughey. Along with Vida, McConaughey and Alves, 39, are also parents to sons Levi, 13, and Livingston, 8.

NBC Nightly News: Kids Edition, anchored by Lester Holt, will air today at 4 p.m. ET on NBCNews.com, NBC News NOW, NBC News Apps (TVs and Mobile) and on the NBC News YouTube channel.