Matthew McConaughey has always been candid about the choices that shaped his life — and one of the biggest turning points in his journey came from a surprisingly simple moment involving a Janet Jackson song.

In a recent video interview with Rolling Stone, the Interstellar and Dallas Buyers Club star opened up about how a particularly potent joint sent him spiraling into one of the most ridiculous — and clarifying — experiences of his life.

The anecdote began around the time marijuana started getting more potent with “hydroponic” strains. McConaughey explained that the old days of rolling a joint, passing it around, giggling, getting the munchies, and maybe trying to steal a kiss were gone. Now one toke could lead to “implosions” where reality became fuzzy.

That night, McConaughey was heading to his own 40th birthday party. His buddy handed him a joint and said, “Here, man. Have some of this, super fun.” He was planning to drive himself, but he figured a little something-something wouldn’t hurt.

He rolled down his car window, took the hit, and immediately regretted it.

“The weed had a surprising effect on him. I listened to Janet Jackson’s ‘That’s the Way Love Goes’ 24 times in a row,” he remembered. “And when I finally got out of the car to go into my birthday party, no one was in there, ‘cause it was over. They’d all left.”

McConaughey laughed at the memory. “I sat in the frickin’ car listening to ‘That’s the Way Love Goes’ 24 times because I thought, at the time, that that was more important than going to my own birthday party.”

He added, “Love the song, didn’t love the weed.”

Even now, decades later, McConaughey still has warm feelings toward the track. “Still like the tune, though,” he said with a smile.

The story is pure McConaughey — funny, self-aware, and a little wild — and it perfectly captures why he’s become such a beloved figure in Hollywood. He’s always been open about the choices that defined him, from his early days as a struggling actor in Dazed and Confused to his Oscar-winning performance in Dallas Buyers Club.

He even turned the experience into a life lesson: “Love the song, didn’t love the weed.” And he’s never looked back.

His new film The Rivals of Amziah King — in which he plays a bluegrass-playing beekeeper — is out today, and music plays a huge role in the movie. McConaughey has always prepared for roles by building playlists that help him get into character. He learned that technique from Richard Linklater on Dazed and Confused: “Rick’s first direction for everybody was he gave them a cassette and goes, ‘Hey, here’s what I think your character would be listening to.’ How badass is that?”

He still does the same thing today. “I just start making an album of what I’m hearing that I like a lot, because I’m already starting to listen through the ears of the character, and I’ll put those playlists together,” he said.

Music, for McConaughey, isn’t just background noise — it’s a way to step into someone else’s world. Whether he’s playing a musician in The Rivals of Amziah King or simply reminiscing about the time a Janet Jackson song made him miss his own birthday party, he’s always been the guy who turns even the weirdest experiences into something memorable.

And now, thanks to that infamous night, he’s one of the few people in the world who can say he quit weed because of a Janet Jackson song.

“Still like the tune, though,” he adds with a grin.

The song that changed everything.