janet jackson: on marriage rumors, drastic weight loss & wanting to have a baby

Janet: on marriage rumors, drastic weight loss and wanting to have a baby

TO SAY THAT JANET JACKSON HAS BEEN UP, THEN DOWN, THEN UP AGAIN IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT, especially since that fluctuation applies not only to her career, but also to the world-renowned pop artist's love life and her weight.

Right now, she's on top of her game in all respects: Her career is soaring, she's beaming with love and she looks fabulous. After losing 60 pounds in a few short months, her 5-foot-4 frame is taut, flab-free and as sexy as ever. It's hard to believe she turned 40 earlier this year.

The media has focused on her dramatic weight loss, for last fall she was photographed on a Santa Monica beach and elsewhere looking somewhat pudgy. She says she gained weight for the role of a full-figured waitress in the Lee Daniels movie project Tennessee, which originally was to start filming in fall 2005.

When the movie was delayed, Janet says she had to bow out of the starring role and quickly get in shape for the release of her new recording, 20 Y.O., which celebrates the 20 years since her groundbreaking CD, Control.

That recording put her at the top in pop music and proclaimed to the world that she is more than just the youngest of the large and talented Jackson music clan, that she was taking control of her life and her career. To date, she has sold more than 50 million records, and she is one of the most popular recording artists on the world stage.

Janet Jackson is not the same woman or artist she was 20 years ago. "I've experienced more, I've matured," she says. "Even though I'm still a kid at heart, I've experienced life. Twenty years is a long time, even though it went by so quickly.

I've gone through a lot, and people have heard it on my records over those 20 years, especially with the Velvet Rope."

Janet's life and moods have always been reflected in her music and lyrics. Yet, there is an air of mystique that surrounds her. As a teen, she secretly got married, but the union was quickly dissolved.

After a couple of unremarkable recordings, she commanded attention and respect with Control, which was shepherded by hit producers Jimmy (Jam) Harris and Terry Lewis. With Jackson, the producers again rocked the music world with the Rhythm Nation 1814 follow-up and a succession of other hit CDs.

Then came the startling revelation that Janet and her longtime beau, Rene Elizondo, had been secretly married and were getting a divorce.

Some time later, Janet started dating Jermaine Dupri, the younger music impresario who captured her heart and made her smile again. Marriage and pregnancy rumors persist. The current rumor is that the two will get married this fall on Jermaine's birthday, or about the time the new CD is to be released.

There are others who believe that the loving couple is already married.
During several interviews with EBONY, Janet insists that though she loves Jermaine dearly; they are not husband and wife and there are no wedding plans.

"They are even telling me how much money I'm spending on the [wedding] dress, and how much the wedding is going to cost," Janet says of the rumors. "So I'm just waiting for them to tell me how many guests are attending."

Is a wedding being planned? "No," Janet says emphatically.

"And, no, we are not married. A lot of people think we're already married. I can understand that because of what I did last time," she says, referring to her secret marriage. "That is probably why people won't believe me anyway."

Janet explains that the current rumor started when Dupri--as he escorted her on the red carpet at a music event--commented that her upcoming CD was "kind of a marriage as far as us working together for the first time. He said that we were getting married on this [album release] date." She adds that Jermaine quickly said that he was just joking, but the press overlooked that comment.

For most of her life, Janet has been exposed to media scrutiny, whether it focused on her specifically, her brother Michael Jackson, or other members of the Jackson clan. She expresses no interest in discussing the 2004 Super Bowl halftime incident when her right breast was exposed during what she called a "costume accident."

That is in the past, Jackson says. She is living in the present, and the present is a very happy place for her to be because of Jermaine Dupri.

"It's been beyond good," she says of the five years they have been a couple. "I thank God for him, and I tell him all the time that I thank God for him. It's like no other relationship that I've had in my life. I've never experienced anything like this. I just didn't think it was going to happen for me.

I've been married and divorced twice, and I said, 'Okay, these obviously are my cards I'm being dealt. I've got to play with this hand, and I'll just date. I don't think I'll ever marry again.' And just out of nowhere it catches you off guard. It really blindsided me, and I'm so thankful. It's something I've always wanted and God gave it to me."

The "it" is love. "It's just unconditional, true love from my soul. Cause I know how I am in relationships. Love is what drives me. Nothing else, none of this matters," she says waving her bejeweled hand about her. "It's really about that for me. And I never thought I would be with someone who would give that to me.

Of course, I love my career and all of that, but God can take all that away. But what drives me to do this is having that love ."
When talking about Jermaine, Janet gets dreamy-eyed. Just what is it about Dupri that she likes so much?

"Everything, everything," she says. "Things that used to bug me in relationships, things that guys did, well he'll do the same thing and I eat it up. So that's what I'm talking about. I told myself that this is so different because before, that would have driven me crazy. But I love it with him. I love it."

Janet goes on to talk about how her friends and family are crazy about Jermaine, how she maintains a good relationship with her siblings, and how she mentors her many nieces and nephews. "I tell them not to grow up too fast, you have the rest of your life to be an adult," she says, adding that she tells them what brother Michael told her when she was 14.

"Think about your future" and what you truly want to accomplish in life and what steps you need to take to reach your goal.

When asked if marriage and children are on the horizon for her, Janet becomes pensive. "I really don't know. I didn't think I'd get married again. I never thought I'd have kids. I never thought I'd make a good mother, never really wanted kids in the relationships that I've had.

There was too much going on. I thought adoption was the only way I would have children. But with Jermaine, it's just different. I'd love to have children. I guess I'd better hurry up."

In the meantime, Janet is busy making videos and touring Europe and the U.S. to promote the new CD; she is planning a major world tour for 2007. When it's time to prep for the concert tour, her exercise program will become more intense. "That's an hour of cardio and an hour of lifting each day," she says. "I mean serious cardio, either running on the beach or riding the bike, but nonstop.

There are times when I swim for 45 minutes without a break. It's like training for a competition. It's that intense, and it continues during the tours. It gets harder, actually, but you get stronger."

To lose the 60 pounds she gained for the movie role, Janet says she limited her calorie intake and ate healthy foods that included "lots of protein and vegetables" and an occasional "little sweet dessert" with artificial sweetener.

She says she snacked on strawberries, but never consumed the maximum of five cups a day. She also did a cardio workout and resistance training each day.

Janet says many were startled by her weight gain when she sported her full-figure at Jermaine's birthday party in Las Vegas last September. Some friends even thought she was wearing "some kind of fat suit that I could just step right out of." The response, says Janet, was.

"Oh, my gosh, she's gotten so heavy. Is she pregnant?"
At times it was difficult to tie her shoes or even sit the way she wanted to. "I'm sure that a lot of things were being said behind my back, but never to my face," she says. Through it all, Janet says Jermaine "never treated me any different. And that's the first time I wasn't treated differently for gaining weight by my mate."

That close relationship transitioned well into the recording studio as Dupri worked with Janet, Jimmy (Jam)Harris and Terry Lewis to produce the new recording. "A lot of people feared or wondered if this record would break us up," she says. "It was so smooth working with him. So easy and so fast. Jermaine and I are so much alike, it's kind of frightening."

Says Jermaine: "It was cool working with Janet on this CD. Janet is a fun person to be around, she's very sweet. It's hard not to like Janet, hard not to love her."
With a love in full bloom and the delivery, of 20 Y.O., fans and admirers--just like Jermaine--can't help but to be forever in love with Janet.