Janet Jackson reveals strained relationship with Michael began after his Thriller Success
Janet Jackson revealed that her relationship with her late brother Michael Jackson began to ‘shift’ after his success with Thriller.
Although the Jackson siblings become famous as children, Michael soared ahead of the rest to become the ‘King Of Pop.’
And now in quotes from her new documentary obtained by JustJared she said they ‘started going our separate ways’ during his meteoric triumph as a solo artist.
Childhood throwback: Janet Jackson has revealed that her relationship with her late brother Michael Jackson began to ‘shift’ after his success with Thriller
Thriller was released in November 1982, when Michael was 24 years old and Janet was 16 and became the best-selling album of all time.
‘I remember really loving the Thriller album, but for the first time that’s when I felt it was different between the two of us, that a shift was happening,’ she said in the first part of a two-part documentary for Lifetime and A&E.
He would always come in my room and we’d talk, and this particular time, he came in my bedroom. Neither of us said a word to each other, and then he got up and left.’
Janet revealed: ‘That’s the time Mike and I started going our separate ways. He just wasn’t as fun as he used to be.’
Looking fab: In quotes from her new documentary obtained by JustJared she said they ‘started going our separate ways’ during his meteoric triumph as a solo artist; she is pictured in 2020
By the time the 1990s rolled along, they worked together on a song called Scream – but were often kept apart during the shoot of the music video.
‘Michael shot nights, I shot days. His record company would block off his set so I couldn’t see what was going on. They didn’t want me on set,’ she revealed.
‘That really hurt me because I felt I was there fighting the fight with him, not to battle him. I wanted it to feel like old times between he and I, and it didn’t. Old times had long passed,’ Janet remarked.
Even when they were close as young children, Janet felt a sting when Michael used to make fun of her over her weight.
‘It affects you’: Even when they were close as young children, Janet felt a sting when Michael used to make fun of her her over her weight
‘There were times when Mike used to tease me and call me names. “Pig, horse, slaughter hog, cow,”‘ Janet recalled.
‘He would laugh about it and I’d laugh too, but then there was somewhere down inside that it would hurt,’ she confessed, explaining that ‘When you have somebody say you’re too heavy, it affects you.’
Janet traced her weight issues to her days as a child star when she acted on the iconic sitcom Good Times in the 1970s.
”I’m an emotional eater, so when I get stressed or something is really bothering me, it comforts me,’ she shared. ‘I did Good Times and that’s the beginning of having weight issues and the way I looked at myself.’
‘Old times had long passed’: By the time the 1990s rolled along, they worked together on a song called Scream – but were often kept apart during the shoot of the music video
She noted: ‘I was developing at a very young age and I started getting a chest and they would bind it so I would look more flat-chested,’ and theorized she ‘probably would have wound up not having a problem’ had she not been a star during puberty.
Janet also looked back ruefully on the ‘frustrating’ career knocks she suffered for standing by Michael in the 1990s when he was accused of child molestation.
‘We have our own separate lives and even though he’s my brother, that has nothing to do with me,’ Janet insisted, adding: ‘But I wanted to be there for him, to support him as much as I possibly could.’
Publicity rounds: Janet is pictured on The Kelly Clarkson Show promoting the new two-part documentary which she made for Lifetime and A&E
Coca-Cola withdrew from a deal they were percolating with Janet – a move she now refers to as ‘Guilty by association.’
Although Michael was acquitted in 2005, the allegations have persisted in the public sphere, including in the 2019 docu-series Leaving Neverland.
Michael died at the age of 50 in 2009 from a cardiac arrest he suffered after having had propofol administered as a sleep aid.