LOS ANGELES, CA – For the majority of her illustrious, decades-long career, pop icon Janet Jackson had seemingly shied away from revealing many details about the intricacies of her relatively guarded personal life, until now.
During the premiere of her two-night documentary, “Janet”, Jackson opens up about her early childhood, tumultuous career beginnings, the dissolution of her first two marriages, and coming into her own as a budding superstar.
The documentary, which was initially shot to chronicle her 2017 tour, was filmed over the course of five years and featured archived TV and concert clips, along with unseen home videos that were shot by Jackson’s second ex-husband, René Elizondo Jr.
In addition to Jackson, several family members including her siblings Tito and Rebbie as well as her mother Katherine, appear throughout the film, along with a slew of celebrity friends and admirers such as Whoopi Goldberg, Debbie Allen, Samuel L. Jackson, Norman Lear, Lee Daniels, and others.
The documentary initially begins with Jackson and her brother Randy visiting their childhood home in Gary, Indiana as they reminisce about their humble beginnings, along with the Jackson 5’s rapid and meteoric rise to fame.
“My mother saw the talent, but it was my father that was smart enough to say ‘They’ve [got to] show this to the world,’” Jackson said. “He saw that as our way out.”
Janet also opened up about her father, Joe Jackson, who throughout the years had been accused of being physically abusive towards his children.
“My father was a good-hearted guy, he really protected us. He went through a lot and especially back then,” Jackson said. “The racism, the fighting, people seeing your children as money-making machines…if that didn’t happen, we wouldn’t have had the success as a family that we’ve had.”
As the Jackson 5 continued to rise, Janet also recalled moments where she felt like an outcast and spoke about the early stages of her career at the tender age of seven, when she joined her brothers’ Las Vegas shows in 1974, per the insistence of her father.
“I don’t ever remember being asked, I just remember being put into it,” Jackson recalled.
Not long after her stint as Penny on the show “Good Times” came to an end, Jackson recalled her father’s ambitions for her to become a singer, despite her own dreams of wanting to go to college.
“I would’ve liked to experienced staying in a dorm, being around other kids but I was very, very naïve, very shy, not worldly at all,” Jackson said.
With her father serving as her manager and her first two albums failing to gain any significant traction, Jackson detailed her desire to take control of her own life.
“I wanted to be able to stand on my own feet, and at that time I felt that there was no other way I would be able to kind of get my own life, unless I got married,” she said.
At the age of 18, Jackson married her boyfriend and DeBarge member, James DeBarge. The marriage lasted only one year and was ultimately annulled in 1985 due to DeBarge’s drug use.
In the documentary, Jackson also put to rest the decades-long rumor that she had an alleged secret child with Debarge.
After making the decision to fire her father as her manager, Jackson sought the help of producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to make her third album.
The product, Jackson’s 1986 album “Control,” became a massive success but promotion for the album was seemingly overshadowed by the skyrocketing popularity of her brother, Michael.
“It was inevitable I guess, but she never really seemed to be able to escape it, even with all the success she was having,” Jam said.
With her then-husband René Elizondo Jr. in her corner and the pressure of a successful follow-up album looming, Jackson returned to the studio to record what would become her historic 1989 “Rhythm Nation 1814” album.
The album went on to sell 12 million albums worldwide and became the best-selling album of 1990. Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” tour remains the most successful debut tour of any recording artist.
The second night of the “Janet” documentary will air on Lifetime and A&E on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 5 p.m. PST.
