-TAMARA’SHANAY-
Cousins!
The highly anticipated docuseries surrounding the life and times of music icon Janet Jackson, is shining a light on many stories and rumors that fans may or may have not speculated about for years. At the very top of the list is the alleged secret child folks claim she shared with musician and singer James DeBarge!
Within the A&E x Lifetime documentary “Janet”, the singer took the time to address the various rumors she heard about herself but never addressed in regards to a secret child.
“Back in the day they were saying that I had a child and I kept it secret,” said Janet. “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.”
Janet says that she had caught wind of folks believing she had a baby within her and James one year marriage and that she had allegedly gave the child up for adoption and her sister Rebbie or brother Jackie raised them. Even insisting that her niece Brandy was her actual daughter, because fans say they favor one another.
Janet says the rumors may have derived from her weight gain after taking birth control while filming for the show Fame.
“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.”
Janet and James wed when she was only eighteen years old at the time. She revealed that their wedding night went much like their marriage.
”When we got married and came back to the hotel he said, ‘OK, I’ll be right back,” says Janet.
”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.”
“We would be rolling on the floor fighting for them. And that’s not a life for anyone,” she recalled. “I sit and I say, ‘Were you stupid, were you dumb?’ But it wasn’t that. I cared so much for him, and I saw the good in him as well and I just wanted that to take precedence as opposed to this ugliness. ‘Cause I knew that he needed help. But I wasn’t the help that he needed.“
They were only married for one year before officially divorcing. “I was just incredibly innocent,” she says of their time together. “That’s the thing, is the innocence. And it’s just hurtful for someone to see that and just try to take advantage of it… It’s still painful.”