Inside Janet Jackson’s Ultra-Private World

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Janet Jackson called Rhythm Nation an “ongoing force” that is “simply too strong” to be stopped.

Her influential 1989 album, recently honored with induction into the Grammys Hall of Fame, is remarkable, but the artist herself is equally impressive.

Throughout her fifty-year career, Janet – who will be 60 on May 16th – has overcome personal hardships, family loss, and criticism from those who disapproved of her work and tried to damage her career. Just when people start to really miss her, she consistently returns, proving she’s still a vibrant pop superstar.

In a 2024 interview with The Guardian, Janet explained that she doesn’t dwell on things she can’t control. She focuses on enjoying her work and accepts any praise or recognition that comes with it, but isn’t bothered if it doesn’t. She simply does what she loves and lets the outcome be what it will.

Janet Jackson’s 2015 album, Unbreakable, truly lived up to its name. Similarly, her planned 2020 Black Diamond Tour – which was cancelled due to COVID-19 – was a deliberate choice, as she shared on The Tonight Show that diamonds are incredibly durable and “hard to destroy.”

Lately, I’ve discovered just how resilient I am,” she explained. “I feel like a steady, unwavering force.”

She quickly returned to touring, with upcoming shows in Japan in June. However, she’s become even more protective of her personal life, especially when it comes to her 9-year-old son, Eissa, who she co-parents with her ex-husband, Wissam Al Mana.

She’d always been hesitant about public attention, but events like the controversy surrounding her 2004 Super Bowl performance and the loss of her brother, Michael Jackson, in 2009, made her relationship with fame even more difficult.

In her 2022 documentary series, Janet Jackson, she explained that having the famous last name Jackson brings a lot of unwanted attention and judgment.

After that, she asked to have no involvement with the story of Michael Jackson. That’s why the movie released in April, focusing on her brother’s early life and career, doesn’t include Janet as a character.

LaToya Jackson said at the movie premiere in Los Angeles on April 20th that she wished the whole family had been involved. However, Janet was asked to participate but respectfully declined, and her decision should be honored.

Janet Jackson has also been building her financial future. In 2021, she raised $4 million by auctioning off over 800 pieces of her clothing, accessories, and personal items—including a famous outfit from her 1993 “If” music video, which Kim Kardashian purchased for $25,000. She also sold her New York apartment, which she’d owned for 25 years, in 2022.

She told The Guardian that this period feels like a time for creating a lasting impact, but it’s also about letting go. She specifically mentioned releasing possessions – like her apartment through auction – and finding peace in sharing and relinquishing things she owned.

She still has a London address because she has been co-parenting with Wissa in the U.K. since they separated shortly after their son, Eissa, was born in January 2017.

Because, at the end of the day, it’s all for her son.

Janet shared with The Guardian that becoming a mother has been the most significant and rewarding experience of her life. She initially hoped for three children, but decided against it, feeling she could best dedicate her love and attention to the children she had. She didn’t want any child to feel overlooked if she had a larger family.

Janet continues to enjoy her work and doesn’t plan to retire. As she shared on the show Loose Women in 2024, she loves what she does and also wants to spend time with her baby, so she balances both.

She didn’t want her son, Eissa, to become a child actor, emphasizing that while he enjoyed a comfortable life, she wanted him to simply have a normal childhood. She believes you only get one chance to be a child, and she wanted him to experience that fully.

It seems music is in this boy’s blood! Janet Jackson revealed on The Tonight Show in February 2020 that her son, Eissa, who was three at the time, was already learning the cello – and had even brought a violin to school previously.

She’ll support her son if he decides to pursue a career like hers and his other family members, but only when he turns 18. Speaking on Loose Women, she explained that he needs to be an adult and certain it’s what he really wants. She emphasized that any career path is challenging, but the entertainment industry is particularly difficult and demanding.

Janet hoped past relationships had taught her how to make better choices in love and avoid repeating old mistakes, especially when it came to her personal life.

She told The Guardian she hoped she’d see things differently in the future. She joked that if someone new came into her life – even if she didn’t notice it herself – her friends would definitely intervene and question her choices.

She continued, “I feel like I’m looking at things in a new way now, and I’m finally starting to change that old habit.”

As Janet plans for the future, let’s look back at some of the moments she made her mark on history.

Janet Jackson’s fourth album, Rhythm Nation 1814, released on September 19, 1989, achieved a unique feat: it generated four number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart across three years. “Miss You Much” reached the top in 1989, followed by “Escapade” and “Black Cat” in 1990, and then “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” in 1991.

Although Rhythm Nation came out in 1989, it became the best-selling album of 1990. It has since sold an estimated 12 million copies around the world.

As a lifelong fan, I still can’t get over how incredible Rhythm Nation is. It’s honestly amazing that it’s the only album ever to have seven songs reach the top five on the Billboard Hot 100. Seriously, seven! No other album has ever done that, and I don’t think anyone ever will.

Janet Jackson’s first major tour, the Rhythm Nation World Tour 1990, was a huge success. It remains the best-selling debut tour of all time, earning $28.1 million in the United States. That year, it was the fifth highest-grossing tour overall, and Janet was the only female artist to break into the top ten.

After completing her contract with A&M Records in 1991, she signed a very lucrative deal with Virgin Records, worth an estimated $32 to $50 million. This made her the highest-paid recording artist in the world at that time.

Janet’s fifth album, released in May 1993, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. This made her the first female artist to achieve this feat since record sales began being tracked by Nielsen SoundScan.

Janet Jackson teamed up with her brother, Michael Jackson, for the song “Scream,” which was the first single from his 1995 album, HIStory. It made history by becoming the first song to ever enter the top five of the Hot 100 chart upon its release, debuting at number five. The music video, directed by Mark Romanek, was incredibly expensive to produce, costing $7 million and earning a place in the Guinness World Records as the most costly music video ever created.

When Janet Jackson released “Runaway” on her greatest hits album, Design of a Decade: 1986-1996, the same year as “Scream,” she made history as the first female artist to reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with a debut single, entering at number 6.

In 1996, Janet Jackson signed a new contract with Virgin Records worth a reported $80 million. This made her the highest-paid recording artist at the time, exceeding the previous record of $60 million held by both her brother Michael and Madonna.

Oh my god, when “I Get Lonely” came out – the third single from The Velvet Rope – I nearly lost it! It hit number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1998, and that made it her eighteenth top-10 single in a row! Can you believe it? It was a record! She was the only woman ever to achieve that. Even now, only Elvis and The Beatles have had more consecutive top-10s. It’s just…iconic. She’s a legend!

The incident during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, where a part of her outfit unexpectedly came loose, almost ended her career. However, it became the most-recorded and re-watched moment on TiVo, and surprisingly, it played a role in the development of YouTube.

Even after the controversy at the Super Bowl, Madonna continued to break records. When she released “Make Me” in September 2009 – the first single from her hits album Number Ones – she became the first artist ever to top the charts in four different decades. The song also reached No. 1 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart in 2010, marking her 19th chart-topping hit.

In 2011, Janet Jackson made history as the first female pop star to perform at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The performance, held under the museum’s famous glass pyramid, was part of a fundraising event called Liasons au Louvre. At the time, Louvre President-Director Henri Loyrette praised Jackson, stating, “Janet Jackson is one of the world’s greatest artistic treasures,” and calling her performance a fitting masterpiece for the iconic location.

In 2018, Janet Jackson made history as the first Black woman to be honored with the Billboard Icon Award. Bruno Mars presented her with the award.

She expressed deep gratitude and humility while accepting the award. She believes that despite current difficulties, we’re living in a significant moment in history – a time when women have firmly declared their refusal to be controlled, mistreated, or taken advantage of. She stands in solidarity with these women, as well as with the men who support them. She also acknowledged that public conversations are often intense and contentious right now.

Plus, she added, “everything we lack, God has in abundance.”

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2026-05-16 10:18