Janet Gets Naked (But Keeps Her Clothes On)

Janet Jackson is on the cover of the new Parade magazine, and in a candid chat she talks about her marriages, men cheating on her, her faith and the out of wedlock child her father had, amongst other things.

Here are some highlights from the interview!

Janet on love
“I was always reaching out for love. I kept searching for it, seeking it. Infatuation, lust—that stuff only lasts so long. You can get that from anybody. But true love is supposed to be forever. Jackson says she has found that love with record producer and hip-hop artist Jermaine Dupri, 35. They have known each other for six years now and may already be married, although that is a question Janet will not address beyond admitting that they are a couple and she is crazy about him. “This time, I wasn’t going to be the first to reach out,” she says. “It was Jermaine who touched me first. Love came to me. He’s such a wonderful, sweet, very loving guy that I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to fall head over heels for this person.’ ”

On the Janet’s father’s out-of-wedlock child and how it has affected her
Janet’s father had an out-of-wedlock child with a fan of the Jackson 5. Five years later, he had another affair with an employee of his sons’ record label, Motown. His infidelities nearly ended his marriage and deeply affected Janet. “Besides my mother’s beauty and her smarts, what I always wanted was her strength,” says Janet, who is very close with her mother, Katherine, 77. “It’s a very cold world, and to have gone through what she has had to experience, from having polio as a child to those things with my brother Michael, and then for my father to have had another child!” Janet says angrily. “I’ve been cheated on a lot. I know what that feels like and how that hurts the heart. But, I mean, to give us a half-sister. I can’t even fathom what that’s like for Mother. For her to stay with my father all these years and never abandon her kids, that’s true love.”

On her two previous marriages
Janet was married twice and kept both marriages a secret until they ended. “I wanted to keep something for myself and not have it be public,” Janet says. “But after two divorces, I thought I was jinxed. Maybe marriage isn’t for me? Maybe it’s my fault it never works. I was always faithful. I always tried to give of myself. I was very loyal. But maybe I’m the problem. I’m to blame.” She continues, “It was awful, and I was so tired of being hurt. When it was over, I put shields up to protect myself from being hurt again. I didn’t want to go there anymore.”

On Her Faith
“Jehovah’s Witnesses was the religion we were raised under. I’d get up on Sunday mornings, go to the Kingdom Hall, go again on Thursday night and go to book study on Tuesdays, because that was my mother’s routine. I believe in God. I feel that spiritual connection. But, most of the time, I didn’t pay attention in the Kingdom Hall. I was asleep. I know that’s awful. I was so tired, so busy, so knocked out, I’d fall asleep.”

On Growing Up in a ‘Religious World’
├óΓé¼┼ôBeing a Jehovah├óΓé¼Γäós Witness, you grow up in a very religious world. But as a kid I loved Prince and The Time, one of my favorite groups, and would listen to them all the time even though you├óΓé¼Γäóre not supposed to do that. When I was 16, I was promoting my first album and I went with Mother to see The Time├óΓé¼Γäós concert with Prince. I did not want to sit next to Mother because I knew they were dirty. I was trying to be cool and calm, but oh my God, I was sweating bullets! How am I going to sit at this show and watch Vanity Six and Prince and The Time and sit next to Mother? She├óΓé¼Γäós going to think, ├óΓé¼╦£Good Lord, what is my baby into? She really needs more of God in her life! Where did I go wrong?├óΓé¼Γäó I could just hear Mother blaming herself for everything! Luckily, I got someone else to swap seats with me so I was able to enjoy the show and have the same great time I would├óΓé¼Γäóve had if I were there without Mother.”