In the upcoming “JANET” documentary, Janet Jackson has finally addressed the longstanding rumors that she secretly raised a daughter with her with R&B singer James DeBarge.
“Back in the day, they were saying that I had a child and I kept it secret,” Jackson says in the documentary. “I could never keep a child away from James. How could I keep a child from their father? I could never do that, that’s not right.”
Jackson then lists off the outlandish rumors she’d heard about herself over the years. She says she’d even heard rumors that her niece, Brandy, was actually her daughter, that she gave her “child” to brother Jackie to raise. She also heard rumors that her brother Randy’s daughter Stevanna was actually her daughter because they looked so much alike.
At the time the rumors began to circulate, Jackson had put on a few pounds. She offered a perfectly logical explanation for the weight gain.
“A lot of the kids thought I was pregnant, ’cause I had gained weight, and I had started taking birth control pills,” she said. “And back then, you could pick up weight taking them, and that’s what happened to me. So that rumor started going around.”
The megastar talked openly about her tumultuous marriage to DeBarge and his addiction struggles.
“When we got married and came back to the hotel he said, ‘OK, I’ll be right back,'” she said of their wedding night. “And I’m sitting in the hotel room in Grand Rapids, Michigan by myself, just 18, and for three hours, he never came back. I don’t know, maybe it’s this person in me that wants to help people subconsciously. When it comes to relationships, somehow I’m attracted to people that use drugs.”
“JANET will premiere Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime and A&E and Saturday at 8 p.m. EST/PST.
