Jermaine Dupri reveals reason behind his breakup with Janet Jackson

The decorated music artists dated in the 2000s before calling it quits in 2009

Apr 25, 2020

Janet Jackson (left) and Jermaine Dupri (right) (Getty Images)

The romantic pairing of singer Janet Jackson and rapper Jermaine Dupri in the early 2000s was one of the most curious couples of recent memory.

But what was more mysterious than their hook up was their breakup near the end of the decade. Dupri recently shed light on the situation in an appearance on T.I.‘s expediTIously podcast.

As Madame Noire reported, the Grammy-winning producer and songwriter said the core reason behind their split was that neither artist was willing to move in with the other.

“She wasn’t willing to move to Atlanta. She was willing to come out here for a couple of weeks,” Dupri explained. “But living in Atlanta, for her, just didn’t really seem like L.A.”

Conversely, JD wasn’t ready to leave Atlanta for her, neither.

“I wasn’t ready to move to Malibu,” he went on. “It’s just something about being [in Atlanta]. That stuff didn’t feel like the space where either one of us wanted to be.”

In fact, Dupri and Jackson never actually cohabited during their time together.

“I felt married,” Dupri said. “I think the only thing that created a difference for me was the fact that we didn’t live together. We had an eight-year, nine-year relationship, but we didn’t live with each other … I feel like that’s a part where you really determine if you’re strong.”

The confession stemmed from T.I.’s questioning of why Dupri never married Jackson or anyone else in his life. Dupri implied that work and life ambitions got in the way.

“I started seeing so many other things that I wanted to do, and so many other places that I wanted to go,” JD explained, “I started thinking like marriage for me wasn’t gonna work.”

Dupri and Jackson called it off in 2009.