We are days away from the Janet Jackson documentary event on Lifetime, and new details from the project are starting to emerge. One big reveal is that Jackson opens up about her relationship with her brother Michael Jackson, shedding light on how his teasing about her weight had a lasting impact.
The upcoming four-part docuseries JANET JACKSON. will go deep on many aspects of Jackson’s life, including the disparaging comments made by Michael in their youth.
“There were times when Mike used to tease me and call me names,” she says in the series. “‘Pig,’ ‘horse,’ ‘slaughter hog,’ ‘cow.’ He would laugh about it and I’d laugh too, but then there was somewhere down inside that it would hurt.”
“When you have somebody say you’re too heavy, it affects you.”
She also details how her struggle with her weight began when she appeared on the sitcom Good Times.
“I’m an emotional eater, so when I get stressed or something is really bothering me, it comforts me,” she explained. “I did Good Times and that’s the beginning of having weight issues and the way I looked at myself. 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.”
She reportedly credits celebrity as a big reason why she developed the problem in the first place, saying, “I probably would have wound up not having a problem,” had it not been for her very public life.
As theGrio previously reported, the documentary, five years in the making, is set to be one of the biggest television events of the year. It will feature exclusive footage from Jackson’s entire life, including her own words and accounts of some of the biggest milestones in her trendsetting career.
Missy Elliott, Q-Tip, producer and ex-boyfriend Jermaine Dupri, Teyana Taylor, Janelle Monae, and Samuel L. Jackson are all interviewed in the doc. Members of her family will also appear, including her brother Randy, who co-produced, and her oldest sister Rebbie.
JANET JACKSON. will air over two nights on Lifetime beginning Jan. 28. For more on the television event, head to the official Lifetime website, here. Watch the trailer for the docuseries below:
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