NR | 1h 35m | Documentary | 2025
“Broken Mary: The Kevin Matthews Story” is a documentary about a rather amazing hero’s journey. The archetypal Hero’s Journey is the pattern that a human life must follow in order to find one’s true calling and ultimately enrich the lives of others. It necessitates a breaking away from the village that one grew up in, going on a journey into the unknown fraught with danger, finding one’s gold, and returning home with it so that all can partake.
“Broken Mary” is a documentary about Kevin Matthews—one of America’s most popular radio personalities—his rise to prominence as Chicago’s most recognizable disc jockeys, his loss of everything, his redemption and being rescued by Christ and St. Mary, and his personal transformation and new ministry. He now refers to himself as “Mary’s Roadie.”
Matthews was king of the airwaves in the Chicago area in the 1980s and ‘90s. It was the reign of Michael Jordan, the Chicago Bears, and Oprah. Ten million people per week were listening to him during their morning work commute.
Childhood
“Broken Mary” tells Matthews’s life story, beginning with his childhood in Pontiac, Michigan. Although he was unaware of it for years, he suffered from dyslexia, and from a young age he attempted to avoid physical abuse from his father by talking to God, impersonating President Kennedy, and especially by trying to make him laugh. He found he was able to avoid bullying at school this way as well. He also acted out quite a bit, and was kicked out of fifth grade.Matthews attempted to enlist in the Marines at age 18, after graduating high school in 1974, but was rejected due to his dyslexia finally being diagnosed. In college, when he subbed for his roommate’s jazz show on the school radio station, he had an epiphany and realized that he had talent for the job. It didn’t stop him from eventually getting kicked off campus, though.
The Fall Into the Ravine
Eventually, though, satellite radio started taking over, and his Titanic began to sink. To add insult to injury, he was then diagnosed with a rare, inoperable form of MS (multiple sclerosis), along with Type-2 diabetes. He was fired by the radio station after 35 years of being on the air.In his darkest hour, he turned over his life to God and heard a voice say, “Go to the cemetery.” He stood in front of a huge statue of the crucifixion. When he put his hand on it, water flowed from seemingly nowhere, over his paralyzed hand, and he regained the use of it. And then, he immediately tried to duck and run back to his old life and deny God again.
Then, one day at a flower shop while getting flowers for his wife, he spied a statue of the Virgin Mary, broken in half, lying behind the shop’s dumpster. Matthews heard the voice of Christ saying, “Will you deny me, will you deny my mother?” The shopkeeper recognized Matthews’s voice from the radio and sold the broken Mary statue to him.
The Journey Back up the Mountain
A longtime failed Catholic, he went to say the rosary during that Lent and had his first confession since childhood. The priest suggested he bring the statue of Mary to the nuns and tell his story in church.
He tried comedy in church and bombed, but then organized a “Hope for the Broken” gathering. He and his priest prayed, a parade permit was approved, and there was a massive parade through Chicago. Thousands showed up. Broken Mary went from a dumpster to being carried in a bed of roses by policemen and firemen, to help heal the city.
Now, the famous-for-his-radio-show host has become “Mary’s Roadie,” known far and wide for his testimony to the hope available when we acknowledge that we, like the statue, are all broken and call upon Jesus through the intercession of Mother Mary for healing and forgiveness.
The most touching interview in the documentary belongs to Tammie Rodriguez. Her son committed suicide. She knows that Mary has walked in her shoes, as a mother who lost a son. Tammie realizes that her shattered heart is more beautiful than before. It is beautiful, with the cracks it has received.
As Kevin Matthews points out—God uses us for the gifts we have. Radio was his preparation for spreading the word of God, who he'd previously been so afraid of. Now, he’s the happiest he’s ever been. He no longer hangs out with strippers. He hangs out with nuns and priests. He has less money, but he flies higher, as Mary’s Roadie.
Cleaning up the city of Chicago is high on the list of things the current administration plans to do and could happen any day now. Considering the fact that “Broken Mary: The Kevin Matthews Story” releases on Oct. 7—the two occurrences could possibly coincide. Maybe the prayers of the “Hope for the Broken” parade are about to be answered.
