Matthew McConaughey has opened up about the time he was "too high" to attend his own birthday party.

The Dallas Buyers Club star has spilled the details of why he decided to quit smoking pot, telling Jimmy Kimmel he smoked marijuana that was so strong he was unable to attend his 35th birthday bash.

Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday, Matthew, 56, was asked about having been "too high" for his own party, and told his host he had been taken by surprise by the potency of the drug after a friend passed him a joint ahead of the event.

"My buddy says, 'Here, man, take a toke of this'," he recalled. "I take a toke, and I drive myself to my birthday. I made it to my birthday. I pulled up in front. I did not get out of the truck."

Unable to exit his vehicle, Matthew instead chose to spend hours playing a particular Janet Jackson song on his car stereo.

"I decided that what was more important than going into my birthday was to sit in my truck and listen to Janet Jackson's That's the Way Love Goes 34 freaking times in a row and cry and think it was the most beautiful, wonderful song," the Serenity star revealed. "And I missed my birthday! (When) I finally went in, they all left."

Matthew also explained the weed was particularly strong because it had been grown hydroponically.

"This was right about the time when the old Mexican dirt weed, that you would just kind of pull a toke off a joint, laugh, giggle, get the munchies, then maybe go hook up with somebody - turned into a little hydroponic," the Oscar winner recalled. "A little stronger, right?"

The interview was geared to promote Matthew's new book of poetry, Poems & Prayers, in which he explained that realising he'd spent so much time overthinking Janet Jackson's music was the final decider for his quitting pot altogether.

"If we give every note too much credit, we'll never hear the song," he wrote. "That's why I quit smoking."