The Tragic Real-Life Story Of Janet Jackson

Even independently from her famous family full of pop stars like Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5, Janet Jackson is a household name and one of the most successful musical artists of all time. Having sold 26 million albums (in the U.S. alone, per the RIAA) and topped the American singles chart 10 times, Jackson defined dance pop in the 1980s with classics like "Nasty," "What Have You Done for Me Lately," "The Pleasure Principle," and "Miss You Much," then set a standard for sultry, mature R&B in the '90s with "Love Will Never Do (Without You)," "That's the Way Love Goes," "Again," and "I Get Lonely."

Jackson was a superstar of the highest caliber who performed on the world's most prominent stages and earned an international reputation as a musical innovator. Seeming superhuman at times, Jackson was still the sensitive person that came across in her tender and intimate ballads. Jackson suffered greatly, enduring hardship, tragedy, and loss before, during, and following the period in which she ruled pop culture. Here's a look into the sadder parts of the life of Janet Jackson.

Janet Jackson has been married three times, each with a wedding and relationship largely unknown to the world at large. According to People, in the summer of 1984, 18-year-old Jackson eloped with James DeBarge, of the popular R&B group DeBarge. Jackson's brothers and parents were alarmed, as was John McClain, an executive at her label, A&M Records. "I tried to convince her that she's a teen idol and people wouldn't accept it," McClain said. After eight months of persuasion, Jackson did as McClain suggested and annulled the marriage. More than 20 years later, DeBarge claimed on the TV series "Growing Up Hip Hop" (via ET Online) that his brief relationship with Jackson produced a secret daughter, a notion Jackson denied in a 2001 interview with Vibe.

In 2000, Jackson's second husband, Rene Elizondo, filed for divorce after nine years of marriage (per Rolling Stone), and 12 years later, the singer married Qatar-born billionaire businessman Wissam Al Mana, according to People. Not long after their son, Eissa, was born in January 2017, the couple split. "The cultural differences between her and Wissam became even more obvious," a source close to the couple said. "They come from different worlds." According to a Page Six report, Jackson thought Al Mana "had become too controlling during the pregnancy and she had already allowed him to dictate her appearance." He had even banned her from wearing revealing clothing or doing any provocative dance moves in music videos.

For a roughly two-year period from 1995 to 1997, Janet Jackson dealt with a long-lasting depressive episode. It coincided with a period in which she didn't speak with her sister, LaToya Jackson, and was so distant from her brother, Michael Jackson, that she had not yet met his baby son.

"I was very, very sad. Very down. Couldn't get up sometimes. There were times when I felt very hopeless and helpless, and I felt like walls were kind of closing in on me," Jackson told Newsweek. "I didn't know what it was and it would come, like, here and there. I thought I was just having a funky day. And it just got progressively worse until it was every day." Jackson recalled that while recording "The Velvet Rope," she would cry so hard she would be unable to sing, delaying the production of the album "because it was too overwhelming at times."

Jackson traced her depression to elementary school. "Not all my Caucasian teachers were mean, but I had a couple that weren't nice to be at all. One of them embarrassed me in front of the entire class and I just never got over that."

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

Both during his lifetime and after, pop star Michael Jackson was accused of child abuse of a serious and sensitive nature. According to NPR, the Los Angeles Police Department opened an investigation in August 1993 into claims that Jackson assaulted four children, and the musician was subsequently sued by the family of one of his purported victims. Jackson evaded criminal charges for that matter, but in 2003 he was arrested and went to trial for molestation, but was ultimately acquitted. In 2013 and 2014, two men sued Jackson's estate, alleging he assaulted them repeatedly, a story explored in the 2019 HBO documentary "Leaving Neverland."

Michael Jackson's sister, Janet Jackson, was left having to publicly defend her brother against such unspeakable crimes. In the 2016 documentary "Unmasked" (via Newsweek), Jackson labeled the 1993 case — in which the family of the accuser accepted a large cash settlement — as baseless. "If this really went on, do you think a father would accept money?" Janet Jackson rhetorically questioned. "The guy was after money — that is all he wanted." Upon the release of "Leaving Neverland" in 2019, other members of the Jackson family categorically denied all allegations, while Janet Jackson remained silent. "I think there is a fear as well to put more energy to it and more eyeballs to it," nephew Taj Jackson told CBS This Morning. "That's why my aunt Janet hasn't said anything, because she doesn't want to make it any bigger."

It's pretty understandable. After all, per Newsweek, in the wake of these allegations, Jackson has felt the pressure of being a part of such a famous family, and she's said that the media response has painted her as "guilty by association."

Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performed at the 2004 Super Bowl, per Esquire, and at the conclusion of the show, Timberlake tore off a piece of Jackson's costume as choreographed, but he pulled too hard, resulting in the exposure of Jackson's breast. The 2004 Super Bowl, and the "wardrobe malfunction," aired on CBS, a network run at the time by Les Moonves. In 2018, per NPR, Moonves lost his spot at the top of the network following allegations of sexual misconduct toward 12 women, and in the midst of the investigation of that scandal, according to HuffPost, news of Moonves' behavior toward Jackson surfaced.

After receiving a $550,000 fine from the FCC, Moonves reportedly prevented Jackson and Timberlake from appearing on the 2004 Grammy Awards broadcast on CBS, but restored Timberlake after the singer profusely apologized. Moonves deemed an apology from Jackson insufficient, and apparently attempted to lay waste to her career. He ordered sibling companies VH1 and MTV, as well as any CBS or Viacom-related radio stations, to cease playing Jackson's videos and music (per Rolling Stone), which basically meant non-promotion of Jackson's latest album, "Damita Jo," which sold poorly relative to her previous releases. In 2011, nearly a decade after the Super Bowl, Moonves reportedly got angry when he found out CBS-owned Simon & Schuster signed Jackson to publish "True You: A Journey to Finding Love and Yourself."