Matthew McConaughey Reveals How Former Flame Janet Jackson Changed His Life After a Birthday Night Went Completely Off the Rails
Matthew McConaughey has been married to his wife Camila Alves since 2012, but once upon a time he went on a date with Janet Jackson.
Their outing occurred after they co-presented an award at the 2002 Grammys and connected backstage.
In 2019, McConaughey cleared up the rumor on “Watch What Happens Live” and said the two had dinner once, but “that was sort of it.”
Despite their short-lived romance, Jackson had a huge influence on McConaughey’s life years after they started dating.
On Aug. 15, he told Rolling Stone how the singer-actress helped him quit smoking weed a few years after they met.
During the outlet’s “My Life in 10 Songs” segment, Jackson’s “That’s The Way Love Goes” single was his seventh selection because of it’s impact in helping him ditch cannabis.
“What a cool groovy little tune,” he said, before adding, “It’s also the reason that I quit smoking weed.”
After chuckling a bit, he added context saying, “It’s right around the time weed started turning hydroponic.”
Further explaining he said, “Weed used to be you could roll a joint, smoke it, pass around, everyone giggles, gets some munchies, and maybe runs off and tries to get some snuggle time.”
But after becoming more “hydroponic,” McConaughy said one toke could make things become unmanageable and people would “implode.”
McConaughy said one night he was preparing to celebrate his birthday at a club where his friends were throwing a party for him.
Before leaving, his friends hands him weed and he takes a toke in the car when he arrived to the club.
“It was not like the weed I’d smoked before,” he said.
“I listened to Janet Jackson’s “That’s the Way Love Goes’ 24 times in a row and when I finally got out of the car to go into my birthday party, no one was in there because it was over.”
Laughing and clapping his hands, McConaughy said everyone had gone home after he sat in the car for so long.
“Loved the song, didn’t love the weed,” he said. “I was like, ‘Whoa, man.’ Again, as my buddy Bindler says, ‘The subplots became unmanageable.’
“Still like the tune though,” he added.
Back in December 2025 on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” McConaughey said he believes the hilarious moment happened around his 35th birthday and that he had listened to the song 34 times and cried.
Fans responded to the Rolling Stone clip on Instagram.
One person creatively remixing the title of Jackson’s song to fit McConaughey’s story said, “That’s The Way Bud Goes.”
Another one wrote, “Probably the best way to spend a birthday honestly.”
Someone else remembering that the entire experience is what encouraged McConaughey’s decision to stop smoking said, “This wouldn’t have made me stop though.”
It turns out that McConaughey would relapse.
While promoting his 2019 film with Snoop Dogg called “The Beach Bum” on “Jimmy Kimmell Live!,” he said he accidentally got high on set — and all fingers point to Snoop Dogg, unsurprisingly.
Their first scene was about Dogg’s character convincing McConaughey’s character to try “magic weed.” The movie crew had fake joints on set, but Dogg had secretly replaced them with real ones.
“I didn’t say another word of English for the rest of the night, and you said I rapped a lot?” McConaughey asked Snoop, who sat next to him during the interview.
Dogg said McConaughey “rapped for 13 hours straight.” It’s not clear if McConaughey has had any slip-up since.
Jackson has yet to publicly respond to the story about herself, but according to The Things website she did mention their brief date in a 2006 interview with “Upscale Magazine.”
She reportedly said, “I guess we did date. He is a great guy and such a sweetheart. It was just for a minute. That’s why I am so hesitant to mention it.”
McConaughy has built a family with Alves that includes their two sons Levi Alves McConaughey, 18, Livingston Alves McConaughey, 13, and their daughter, Vida Alves McConaughey, 16.
They dated for nearly six years after meeting at a Los Angeles night club and were engaged by 2011.
As for Jackson, she has a 9-year-old son named Eissa Al Mana, whom she welcomed with her then husband, Wissam Al Mana.
The two have been divorced since 2017 after five years of marriage and Jackson is suspected to be dating Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s son, Mustapha Farrakhan, after the two have been seen out with each other several times.