Janet Jackson, who has always been extremely private particularly since the 2004 Super Bowl, is opening up about her life and career in a new documentary, Janet, that premieres on January 28 on A&E and Lifetime. And in it, Jackson reportedly discusses her issues with body acceptance from an early age.
Per the Daily Mail, Jackson says her struggles started when she was a cast member on the 1970s sitcom Good Times at just 11 years old. “I’m an emotional eater, so when I get stressed or something is really bothering me, it comforts me,” Jackson says in the doc, according to the Daily Mail. “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.”
Janet Jackson said that working in Hollywood wasn’t the only source of her issues with her body: Per the Daily Mail, Jackson recalls that her brother Michael Jackson, who passed away in 2009, teased her and called her names when her body started changing during puberty. “There were times when Mike used to tease me and call me names. ‘Pig,’ ‘horse,’ ‘slaughter hog,’ ‘cow,’” she said.
“He would laugh about it and I’d laugh too, but then there was somewhere down inside that it would hurt,” she said. “When you have somebody say you’re too heavy, it affects you.”
You can watch the trailer for Janet below:
Janet, filmed over the span of five years, explores the icon’s career and life over two episodes, which will air on Lifetime and A&E on January 28 and January 29. The documentary, which Jackson herself produced, gets into her childhood, her family, her acting and solo careers, as well as the infamous wardrobe malfunction during the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime Show with Justin Timberlake.