It has taken me most of my adult life to come to terms with who I am. To do that, I had to break free of attitudes that brought me down.
— Janet Jackson
In 1977, at age ten, I was cast on the TV sitcom 'Good Times.' My character was Penny, an abused child in desperate need of love. I really didn't want to do the show. I didn't want to be away from my family.
No word is absolutely wrong or dirty or insulting. It all depends upon context and intention.
People tend to put entertainers on pedestals. We're human beings, just like you. You may see us smiling, and whether we have money or not, we still have bills to pay, we still have our stresses. I think a lot of people want to focus on others' shortcomings to make themselves feel better. And it's a very sad thing.
I was a very quiet kid. A really sweet kid, I might add.
When I'm getting ready for a tour, I'll work out with the dancers.
I think people really connect with the idea of someone who's gained and lost weight in this very public way, and also someone who's an emotional eater.
I do think kids should be kids. You have the rest of your life to be an adult.
I like to collaborate on my music. The creative process is fun, and you get a lot of ideas from having discussions about it. Ultimately, the final decision is mine.
I'd adopt. And I think that if I'm really supposed to have kids, it will happen, if that's God's plan for me.
I was very independent growing up, but there were things that were bothering me that I never told anybody. I would talk to our animals at home.
When I was younger, I thought you had to be in control of your own life. That takes a lot of discipline, hard work and focus. You just can't let it all fall by the wayside. Later on, I learned that God is really in control of everything. But you still have to put your best foot forward and be the best you can possibly be.
Recording is more autobiographical than acting. It's me - either how I'm feeling then or once felt at some point in my life. It's all me.
Food has always brought me comfort and the bingeing is triggered when I'm in a space that is not positive.
I don't have a lot of friends.
There are people that regardless of what it is, if it's something that's stressful, whatever it may be, they don't eat, they lose a lot of weight, a divorce, they get real thin. I'm the opposite.
I'm a true believer in prayer, a big believer in prayer.
Some of my battles with weight have been very public. But most of them have been internal. Even at my thinnest, when my body was being praised, I wasn't happy with what I saw in the mirror or how I felt about myself.
My concepts are never bright ideas; they're never notions I think will sell or be trendy or attract new fans. I don't think that way. All I can do is sing from my life.
Acting was always my first passion.
When we were growing up, all of us kids were vegetarians. No one had asked me to stop eating meat - I just noticed everyone else around me had stopped, so I followed the crew.
Being on 'Good Times' was the first time I was around a group of people that wasn't my family.
I don't like to work out, and I get bored easily.
My parents are very competitive, so we are very competitive as kids. But it's a good kind of competition; it's not a jealousy. You always want to do your best, and if it can't be you, you want it to be your brother or your sister, you know what I mean?
I'm flattered that other artists consider me a role model.
I always write my music based on what is going on in my life at the time.
I've always been a tomboy. I've always liked to wear red, black, and white, and mostly pants.
We're all driven to premieres or nightclubs and seen the rope separating those who can enter and those who can't. Well, there's also a velvet rope we have inside of us, keeping others from knowing our feelings.
As a child, I had to get up early for school or work. I'd get ready by myself. I'd set my alarm to wake me up very early in the morning, and be off to work, the family driver driving me every morning. I did it alone, my parents never coming in to wake me up.
I've never been one for keeping a journal, so my songs were my journals. They allowed me to express my feelings and let people know what was going on with me. I knew that somebody would relate.
I always get bored with my hair. That's why I would always change it throughout my career.
That's always - that's been another dream of mine, to do a Broadway play. An award winning Broadway play.
I have a very strong family.
I like myself a lot more than I used to. I had a very difficult time in my twenties especially. It was hard for me to look in the mirror and find something that I liked about myself.
I'm no expert. I have no psychic powers, and I sure don't possess any secret wisdom. I'm just Janet. I have strengths, weaknesses, fears, happiness, sadness. I experience joy and I experience pain. I'm highly emotional. I'm very vulnerable.
Control meant not only taking care of myself but living in a much less protected world. And doing that meant growing a tough skin.
I get so much energy from the fans.
Every body type is different - that's what makes you unique. What makes you special is you, and you are different from the next person.
I was two when we left Indiana, and I don't really remember it that well.
When I gained weight in 2005, my nutritionist was very worried. I was close to having diabetes.
A lot of people who start work at a very young age never grow up because they never got that opportunity to be a child, so they hold on to that and still do a lot of childish, silly things.
There are artists, true performers that have come before me who have been a big inspiration to me. I hope I do the same for others.
I would hope my legacy would be bringing smiles to faces. Happiness with my music.
I was never pushed into the religion by my mother or anyone else. I made up my own mind when I was old enough. I am not a religious person, but I am spiritual.
I feel everyone is put here for a reason. Everyone has a calling. I always thought my real calling was to help other people.
By age seven, I used to comb my hair for performances, just pull my hair up into a bun. Granted, it wasn't a very intricate hairstyle. Still, to be that responsible and disciplined at age seven is unusual.
When I'm feeling down on myself or not feeling good about who I am, or maybe something happened and I'm feeling depressed, I eat to fill that void. Afterwards I'll beat myself up about it. I regret doing it, but I'll turn around and do it again.
I'm happy with the people that I have around me. And they've been friends of mine since I was young, for a very long time.
I'm fine the way I am. There's nothing wrong with me.
I wanted to be on my own and get out of the house. We were the kind of kids that - we - obeyed our parents. If they said no, you don't ask why.
