What she’s done lately
She was on the road touring and away from her family. “We grew up as Jehovah’s Witnesses and we didn’t celebrate any holidays, not Christmas, or Halloween or Easter — not even our birthdays,” she tells me over lunch in Beverly Hills.
“The first time I ever had a birthday party, it was a surprise and I was so embarrassed. I was 23 and I was on the Rhythm Nation tour and I had never experienced having a birthday or a birthday party. But I suppose you can’t miss what you don’t know.”
At 44 Janet Jackson cuts a slim and elegant figure in a pair of black Levi’s and a jacket hand made for her by American designer Rick Owens. One of the most successful female musicians of all time, as well as the youngest member of the legendary Jackson clan, Janet has very much ploughed her own furrow as an actress and singer, despite the heavy shadow cast by her father and eight older siblings.
She’s been through a very public upbringing, eating disorders and two secret marriages, but today, she says she’s the happiest she’s ever been in her life and that she has put many of her demons to rest, thanks to a mysterious cowboy she cryptically refers to. She has just written a self help book called True You which is due to hit the bookshops.
“I used to internalise and hold everything in and really, to be healthy, it’s all about talking and opening up and finding someone you can trust. I eventually did that and it completely changed my life when I found that person,” she says, beaming.
“He’d rather remain anonymous, but it was in the mid ’90s when it all changed for me and I’m so thankful. He’s a cowboy, a true down to earth beautiful cowboy that I absolutely love and I still talk to him to this day.”
Coming from such a talented, famous and dysfunctional family, Janet Jackson has struggled not only to assert her singular identity, but also very publicly with both anorexia and bulimia.
“My book stemmed from people asking me about weight loss, weight gain, workout regimens, nutrition, etc, but I didn’t want to write about that. I wanted to go to the very beginning, which happens to be my childhood, and to look at what brought all this on.
“It’s not an autobiography. I wanted it to appeal to teens and children, as well as adults. I talk about self-esteem, which was definitely an issue of mine growing up, so I’m just hoping that anyone can pick up this book and be able to relate to one of these stories. I’m not a guru or a professional, but this is my life and what I’ve gone through.”
The story of the manipulation of the Jackson family by their domineering father Joe has been widely written about, particularly its toll on the most talented of them all, Michael. Janet managed to break away when she was 20, recording her first solo album Control without any input from the family, although she and Michael were always close and frequently collaborated musically.
“Being a Jackson has its pros and cons, that’s for sure,” she laughs. “It allows you to get your foot in the door a little easier than someone who isn’t known. People will give you meetings and look at you, but there’s always a very high level of expectation that goes with that, in what they expect from you.
“Michael and I were very close growing up. There were times when he was my best friend, times when he was my brother, other times when he was my producer and partner in writing. I remember as kids we’d create fun, silly little melodies that I remember and carry in my life.
“My brother Randy, Mike and myself, we had a lot of chores around the house when we were kids and after dinner we’d have to clean the kitchen, so we’d each take a job. I’d have dishes, Mike would sweep the floor, Randy would be cleaning the counter tops and that’s when we would create music. We’d create a song, melody and lyrics and we’d three part harmony. We made it fun.”
Since Michael’s death last summer, their parents have divorced and Janet says all the siblings are playing a part in trying to help bring up her brother’s children.
“All my nieces and nephews are very close and that’s been really good for my brother’s children to have their aunts and uncles and especially their many cousins to help their healing process.” (At this point in the interview, Ms Jackson’s publicist intervenes to say there are to be no questions about Michael.)
Despite her talent and success as a singer and dancer, Jackson also enjoyed success as an actress, long before breaking out as a hugely successful solo singer. Her first solo album sold over 100 million copies, and spawned such singles as What Have You Done For Me Lately and Nasty.
Jackson’s first public appearance was on stage in Las Vegas at the age of eight, when she was added to the Jackson family stage act, doing an impersonation of Mae West. She went on to appear in several television series in the 1970s and ’80s, including Diff’rent Strokes. As a teenager, she also had a recurring role in the TV adaptation of Fame.
The silly incident at the Superbowl in 2004 during which she and Justin Timberlake performed, was where the euphemistically named “wardrobe malfunction” occurred. The flash of a nipple would be regarded as innocuous anywhere else, but American prudery appeared to punish Jackson and her sales plummeted. This was followed by allegations that she had secretly given birth to a daughter at 18, during a brief and secret marriage to R&B singer James deBarge.
She weathered these scandals and today she is adamant that acting is really where her heart lies. “I’m in the most beautiful space I’ve ever been in in my life, at this moment. I’m thankful for my career in music, but I’ve always wanted to be an actress and to make films.
“Has my upbringing affected who I am? Of course it has. It hasn’t always been peaches and cream. I’ve gone through my issues. I’m a work in progress. I used to have a wall up and I internalised everything and held it in, but not any more.”
Jackson is an artist who appreciates the talent she was born with and who, for more than two decades, has attempted to share the wealth, establishing several charities including the United Negro College Fund and the Rhythm Nation Scholarship.
“I love music because it moves me and takes me in many different directions. I enjoy the music that I hear today, but I love coming across an artist that catches my ear or my eye, that has something different to offer. U2 is a group that has exemplified that since they first came on the scene and Bono’s voice is totally unique.
“I love the to hear voices that reflect the way that music is always evolving.”
* Jackson’s latest film, For Coloured Girls, opens in January 2011
