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This episode is brought to you by

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y'all, welcome to Trashy Divorces, everybody's

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favorite. Good podcast about

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bad relationships. I'm Alicia. And

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I am Stacey. Thanks for joining us

0:26

today for another tale of marital misadventure.

0:28

Who's in your spotlight today, Stacey? Alicia,

0:30

it is Miss Jackson, if you're nasty.

0:33

Or if you're trashy. Or if

0:35

you're trashy. We have Janet Jackson, superstar

0:37

of an entertainer. She has had three

0:40

divorces but has imposed such

0:42

privacy around her private life that in

0:44

some cases we never knew she was

0:46

married until the divorce got filed. So

0:48

many mysteries. What is not a mystery is

0:50

we've got a magic mirror right here to

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give some huge thanks and praise to

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our most recent supporters over at

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patreon.com/ Trashy Divorces. Thank you

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so much for joining us. Serena L.

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Megan Ariella M. And

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our newest super supporter Carrie

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A. So many thanks to

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y'all. New supporters. So many thanks to

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all of our sustaining supporters. If

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you were looking to get early

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ad-free episodes, extra bonuses,

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again, patreon.com/Trashy Divorces

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is the place to go to go

1:27

if you have

1:29

control over the situation in the

1:32

rhythm of the nation. Stacy

1:35

we gotta go, go, go. Miss

1:49

Stacy if you're trashy, you're taking back

1:52

control today. introduction,

2:00

but we're going to give her one anyway.

2:02

Perfection. For those who've

2:04

been living in caves or something. This

2:07

is a Wendy's ma'am for decades. Janet

2:10

Jackson is one of

2:13

the most successful and influential entertainers

2:15

of our time and all time.

2:18

She has won multiple Grammys,

2:20

Emmys, a Golden Globe.

2:23

She was even nominated for an Academy Award

2:26

as one of the best selling artists of

2:28

all time. It's hard to imagine the 80s

2:31

and 90s without her music as the background

2:33

soundtrack. If you were

2:35

there, you know, that's true. Unless you were

2:37

living in a cave with no access

2:39

to a radio and no one

2:41

driving by with their windows down. I

2:43

mean, just Janet Jackson began

2:46

her incredible career as the adorable little

2:48

sister of her brother's group, the Jackson

2:50

Five, but it did not take long

2:52

before she was a star in her

2:54

own right. Her own

2:56

album sales and career accomplishments certainly

2:58

stand on their own separate

3:00

from all of her siblings. Along

3:04

the way, however, Janet has largely

3:06

remained an enigma despite

3:08

coming from or perhaps because she was

3:11

coming from one of the most famous

3:13

entertainment families and, you

3:15

know, was such a powerful presence in

3:17

the spotlight. Starting in the 1970s, her

3:21

personal life has remained incredibly private.

3:23

Oh, yeah. This is a fetish

3:26

for her is to like. Janet

3:29

Jackson is private. Well, it's

3:31

taken us a little bit of time to get this

3:33

one worked out because she is so

3:36

I mean, she even had a totally quiet marriage.

3:38

Yeah. Yeah. Nearly secret. Yeah. Yeah.

3:42

And I mean, who can blame her? Right. But but

3:45

yes, it's a fascinating facet of

3:47

the Janet Jackson story. It's kind of a

3:49

niche around here if you are a trashily

3:52

secret person. Right. Normally, our

3:54

trashy is just so overt.

3:58

Well, despite having. this incredibly private

4:01

personal life, her

4:03

life has not been uneventful. She's

4:06

had three marriages that we know of, I guess.

4:09

Many other relationships and had to deal

4:12

with the allegations against her brother, Michael

4:14

Jackson and other members of her family.

4:16

And she of course had at

4:18

least one very public scandal of her own

4:20

after that little Super Bowl appearance in

4:23

2004 with Justin Timberlake. In

4:26

2022, lucky for us, Janet

4:28

participated in a documentary series about

4:30

her life. She

4:33

revealed more about herself there

4:35

than she had ever done

4:37

previously, but certainly

4:39

not. Still guarded. Yeah, very guarded. That's a

4:41

good guarded is a good word. When is

4:43

her birthday? May 16th. Hmm,

4:46

Taurus. Yep, makes sense. Okay.

4:49

Despite her attempts to remain private, many aspects

4:52

of her personal life have ended up

4:54

in spite of her best efforts covered by

4:56

the media. And here are some of the

4:59

trashier bits. Love it. So as

5:01

noted, Janet Jackson was born May 16th, 1966 in

5:05

Gary, Indiana. She was the

5:07

last of 10 children. I

5:09

did not quite realize. No,

5:12

a lot of kids. Jackson five and her,

5:14

that's six, right? 10 is enough, no. Last

5:17

of, she's the baby, 10

5:19

children of Joseph and Catherine

5:21

Jackson. And as we know, Janet's

5:24

father, Joe, trained all of the kids from a

5:26

very young age to become performers

5:28

and pushed them into the entertainment industry.

5:31

Famously, his level

5:33

of control and training, it

5:37

verged on abusive, although Janet does

5:39

not characterize it as abusive from

5:42

her perspective. Some of her siblings

5:44

have other takes. Janet first

5:46

performed publicly when she was seven

5:48

years old. Just incredible.

5:50

She did two shows per night in

5:52

Las Vegas with her brothers. By

5:54

the time she was 10, she was appearing

5:56

on the television show, The Jacksons, starting

5:59

in 19, 1977,

6:01

Janet was a regular on the hit series Good Times.

6:05

And then in 1980 and 81, she

6:07

had a recurring role on Different

6:09

Strokes, playing Willis's girlfriend. Many

6:11

people don't remember this, but Janet Jackson was also in 23 episodes

6:13

of the 1984-85 TV

6:17

drama Fame. I do remember

6:19

that. Okay. I don't think she liked

6:21

the experience. Anyway, at the age of

6:23

16, she released her self-titled

6:26

debut album, which landed at number

6:28

63 on the Billboard Hot 200. Despite

6:31

her family's incredible success as performers,

6:34

Janet wanted to become a lawyer, not

6:37

an entertainer. That's

6:40

quite a path diversion. Right. Esquire

6:42

Jackson, if you're nasty. Right.

6:46

She said, quote, I wanted to go to college

6:48

and study business law. And my father said, that's

6:50

not going to happen. What

6:52

parent doesn't want you to go to college? But

6:54

he said, no, you're going to sing. So,

6:59

in the spirit of that, I suppose

7:01

we are going to sing Janet Jackson's

7:03

Three Marriages and Divorces, starting

7:06

with all the way back in 1984 at the age of 18

7:08

when Janet eloped with

7:11

singer James Debarge. Oh, yeah.

7:13

He of course was of the group Debarge,

7:16

family group. Debarge of course

7:18

had had some success and popularity in the

7:20

80s. Couple of

7:22

hits Rhythm of the Night and All This Love may

7:25

ring a bell. So

7:27

apparently these two had dated for

7:29

a few years before eloping, but

7:31

the marriage was surprisingly short lived.

7:34

They were not only divorced, but

7:36

had the marriage annulled in 1985. Two

7:38

for one. Yeah,

7:41

just a year. Wow, that is fast. It

7:43

was fast. Not

7:45

a lot was heard about this relationship

7:47

after its demise, but there were rumors

7:50

that James Debarge struggled

7:52

with substance abuse issues.

7:55

The Jackson family was opposed to the

7:58

union, interestingly, in 1987. Janet

8:00

fired her father as her manager, which

8:04

most people interpret that

8:07

marriage as an attempt to sort

8:09

of step out of dad's control.

8:11

Now, dad, pretty controlling, but

8:13

to be fair as the parent, do you want your

8:15

18 year old getting married? No. Like,

8:18

just hold off. Cool your jets. Wait a

8:20

few years. But yeah, it

8:22

sounds like she was unhappy with the degree

8:24

to which her father was meddling in her

8:27

life. So, you know, this was her first

8:29

great move toward independence. Like

8:32

20 year olds everywhere. Yeah. Also, it sounds

8:34

like their busy schedules may have played a role

8:36

in the downfall of the marriage. In

8:39

1990, Janet told the Los Angeles Times, quote, I

8:41

wanted to be with him more, but I'd get up

8:44

at four in the morning to be on the set

8:46

and he'd just be coming home from the recording studio

8:48

at that point. The Times, we would be together. We

8:51

were so worn out, we'd sleep the entire day.

8:54

That's tough. And she's 18. Like,

8:56

you know, just like the degree of

8:59

emotional wherewithal to even try

9:01

to make that work. What

9:03

18 year old has that? That's

9:05

tough. Many years later

9:07

in 2016, Entertainment Tonight reported that

9:10

James DeBarge appeared on the show

9:12

Growing Up Hip Hop and claimed

9:14

that he and Jackson had a

9:16

secret daughter together. What? His

9:18

sister, Bunny DeBarge, later clarified the situation

9:20

to Inside Edition. She said that a

9:22

woman claiming to be DeBarge and Jackson's

9:25

daughter had come forward, but

9:27

that she believed the woman was, quote, just

9:29

seeking fame and that she's one of many

9:31

who've contacted her family claiming to

9:34

be Janet's secret daughter. Janet

9:36

Jackson spoke out about this in 2001

9:39

in an interview with Vibe saying, quote,

9:41

they say the kids in Europe or that one

9:43

of my brothers or sisters is raising it, but

9:46

no, I've never had a child. Interesting.

9:50

It doesn't surprise me. Honestly, that there

9:52

are people who come forward to attempt

9:55

to finagle some money out of, I mean,

9:57

I think it's pretty common for celebrities. rich

10:00

people. Who is

10:02

it you covered whose will indicated

10:05

that there would be no money for illegitimate

10:08

children? That's just recently Matthew

10:10

Perry's will stipulated that

10:13

that any kids who come

10:15

forward get nothing. Even in the

10:18

Dodge children's story I did over

10:20

on Done and Done not too long

10:22

ago, Dodge's will was completely sealed

10:24

until his very last descendant

10:26

had died all of his secret

10:28

papers and stuff. Interesting. Shady. So

10:31

sometimes you wonder like yeah probably could

10:33

be something if DuBarge was

10:35

a philanderer as

10:38

well. Like there's something believable about

10:40

that but honestly with DNA

10:43

now so easy to determine

10:45

what's what. Absolutely. Alright

10:48

let's talk about the phenomenal success that

10:50

was Jana Jackson's career in the

10:52

80s and 90s. In

10:54

the mid 80s Jana Jackson

10:57

became a major bonafide star.

11:00

There's no doubt she had an amazing

11:02

voice but she was incredibly smart about

11:04

taking advantage of MTV and her

11:07

music videos contributed massively to

11:10

her phenomenal success. Girl can

11:12

make a video. She

11:14

had one hit after another during the

11:16

80s and 90s. Her album Control released

11:19

in 1986 contained the

11:21

hits What Have You Done For Me Lately, Nasty,

11:24

When I Think of You, Control,

11:26

Let's Wait a While, and

11:28

The Pleasure Principle. It is remarkable to me

11:30

to think that she is 20 years old

11:32

when that album came out. Incredible.

11:36

I do not have a head for music but

11:38

I can hear all of these songs when I

11:40

say the titles. Like that is how omnipresent. I

11:42

was a big MTV watcher at the time. I

11:44

was the right age group. I

11:46

do have a head for music so now I'm

11:49

trying to not sing in my head to let

11:51

you continue your story. Control had five

11:53

singles that peaked in the top

11:55

five of the Billboard Hot 100

11:57

and this accomplishment made Janet Jackson the

11:59

first female artist to have five top

12:01

five hits from one album on

12:04

the Billboard Hot 100. The

12:06

album set a record for the longest continuous

12:08

run of charting singles on the Hot 100

12:10

with a total of 65 consecutive

12:13

weeks. Wow. It

12:16

remained on the Billboard Top 200

12:18

chart for more than two years

12:20

and sold more than 10 million

12:23

copies. Wow. Janet

12:25

Jackson did not rest on her laurels

12:27

after control. She followed it up

12:29

with the even more successful album Rhythm Nation in

12:31

1989. Good lord, that

12:34

was such a good album. Rhythm Nation

12:36

contained the hit singles Miss You Much,

12:38

Rhythm Nation, Escapade, All Right, Come Back

12:40

to Me, Black Cat, Love

12:43

Will Never Do Without You, and State of the

12:45

World. It was a good album. This

12:47

one sold 12 million copies, received

12:50

nine Grammy nominations, and

12:52

won Best Long Form Music Video. But

12:55

even more impressive is that it is the only album

12:57

in the history of the Hot 100 singles

12:59

chart to have seven singles peak within

13:02

the top five positions. It

13:04

was also the first album to have number one

13:06

hits on the chart in three separate calendar years.

13:09

This is unbelievable. This is

13:11

like the Taylor Swift

13:14

of her day, right, with Spotify streams

13:16

and all that. So

13:18

three separate calendar years with Miss You Much in 1989,

13:20

Escapade and Black Cat in 1990,

13:24

and Love Will Never Do Without You in 1991.

13:26

This is massive. Unbelievable. Janet

13:29

was not just revered as a

13:31

successful and talented singer. She was known

13:34

for her dancing, stage performances, and as

13:36

a fashion and beauty icon. She

13:39

also became a popular film actress during

13:41

this time because what can't Janet Jackson

13:43

do aside from go to law school,

13:45

I guess. Oh, poor Janet. In

13:48

1993, she starred

13:50

in the hit film Poetic Justice

13:52

with Tupac Shakur and Regina King.

13:54

In 1993, her self-titled

13:57

album Janet was released and ended

13:59

up selling four 14 million copies

14:01

worldwide. I mean, every album's bigger

14:03

than the next one, which doesn't happen

14:06

often. Some of

14:08

the singles on this album were That's the

14:10

Way Love Goes, Again, Any Time,

14:12

Any Place, and If. Janet

14:14

is still one of only seven albums

14:16

in history to have six top tenets.

14:19

Unbelievable. MTV sponsored her Janet

14:21

World Tour where she received

14:23

international critical acclaim for her

14:26

stage performances and dancing. Jackson

14:29

became a full-fledged sex symbol during

14:31

this tour. The lyrics in

14:33

many of the singles from this album

14:35

focused on women's sexuality and a quote

14:38

demand for practicing safe sex. At

14:40

the time, of course, she received a lot of

14:43

blowback for the album's kind of sexy

14:45

focus. The Times accused her

14:48

of quote, confusing sex with soul. And

14:51

in LA Times review said that the album would

14:53

only be successful quote, not because it's any great

14:55

piece of work, but largely for

14:57

its Afro-desiacal

15:00

aspirations. Afro-desiacal?

15:04

Anyway, it's an aphrodisiac. What

15:07

music isn't an aphrodisiac? It

15:10

was revolutionary at the time. She is with

15:12

a whole pack of artists on

15:15

the forefront of changing culture

15:17

in the way that we talk about. And

15:19

think about what Madonna was doing in this

15:22

period, right? It's not

15:24

like Janet Jackson was out there alone

15:26

being sexy on stage. Think about TLC. Yes.

15:30

All right, please continue. Okay.

15:32

Well, Time, as it

15:34

does, has proven Janet Jackson's naysayers

15:37

wrong. Not only

15:39

did the album sell more than 14

15:41

million copies, it has also served as inspiration

15:44

for many women during that time to

15:46

embrace their sexuality and demand respect.

15:49

And in 2023, BET wrote about the

15:51

album quote, the Janet album should also be

15:53

seen through the lens of feminism. While

15:56

sexuality and music was nothing new, her

15:58

use of sexuality wasn't at the order

16:01

of a man or producer. Miss

16:03

Jackson was the boss. It was her

16:05

vision, her creation, and she made no

16:07

apologies. Janet chartered a path

16:09

in a deeply conservative era for

16:11

other artists to be unapologetic in

16:13

their sexuality, from Beyonce to

16:15

Rihanna to Megan Thee Stallion. Rock

16:18

on, Janet. Right? Mm-hmm.

16:22

In 1997, she released The Velvet Rope,

16:24

which didn't have as many top hits

16:26

but still sold over 8 million copies

16:28

worldwide. The single Got Till

16:30

It's Gone also won the 1998 Grammy

16:33

Award for Best Music Video. She

16:35

really does make amazing music videos.

16:38

Her style is on ... I mean,

16:40

her style just overall aesthetic. Her videos

16:42

are good, her look is good. I

16:44

mean, I'm mad for her about

16:46

the Super Bowl

16:48

debacle that we'll get into because

16:51

her image is just so on

16:53

point. Yeah. Yeah. And

16:55

when the single I Get Lonely became

16:57

Janet Jackson's 18th consecutive top 10 hit,

17:00

she became the first female artist in

17:02

history to achieve that. Unbelievable.

17:05

Janet traveled throughout Europe, North

17:07

America, Asia, Africa, New Zealand, and Australia

17:09

on The Velvet Rope tour, and it

17:12

was compared to, quote, the ambition and

17:14

glamour of a Broadway musical. HBO

17:17

made a special titled The Velvet Rope

17:19

Live in Madison Square Garden, which

17:22

had more than 15 million viewers and

17:24

won an Emmy Award. Janet

17:26

Jackson. To round out the decade,

17:28

Janet received the Legend Award at

17:30

the World Music Awards in

17:33

1999 for, quote, outstanding contribution to

17:35

the pop industry. Well

17:37

deserved. Okay. We're going

17:39

to take a break here, hear from some sponsors, and

17:41

when we come back, we are going to talk about

17:43

her second almost secret marriage. Keeping

17:46

it on the hush hush back in a minute.

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diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Alicia,

19:20

let's tee up Janet Jackson's second

19:22

marriage to Renee Elizondo. Shh! This

19:27

was a long one. Honestly, just no

19:29

one knew about it. Secret! Janet's

19:33

second marriage was with one

19:35

of her sister LaToya Jackson's

19:37

backup dancers. Uh-uh. Interesting. Renee

19:39

Elizondo directed some of her music videos

19:41

and also co-wrote nearly 40 songs with

19:43

her. She talked

19:45

to Ebony magazine in 1993 about the relationship. Quote,

19:49

when I first met him, I was going through so much and I

19:51

would call him and cry on the phone. And

19:54

he was going through some stuff too with his girlfriend. We

19:57

were best friends, but I think those are the best relationships. when

20:00

you're friends first. In

20:02

1993, Janet appeared topless on the cover

20:04

of Rolling Stone magazine with Renee's

20:07

hands covering her breasts from behind. A

20:09

cropped version of that photo was used on

20:11

the cover of her album, Janet. Although

20:14

it was fairly long lived and they

20:16

collaborated professionally, so it was public, the

20:19

marriage was kept very private. The couple

20:22

had already been married for nine years

20:25

when it was first reported that they were married.

20:27

Look at that, it's a decade long

20:29

secret marriage. In fact, it was when

20:31

Renee filed for divorce in 2000 that

20:34

the marriage was publicly acknowledged

20:36

by the couple. Amazing stuff

20:39

there. Married

20:41

in 1991, nobody knew about it.

20:44

Divorced in 2000, we'll go ahead and

20:47

talk about it then. In divorce

20:49

documents, Renee cited what

20:52

irreconcilable differences. And asked

20:54

for spousal support. It

20:57

was later learned through the filings that

20:59

the couple had married on March 31,

21:02

1991 by a priest at their northern San Diego

21:04

County home. The only people

21:06

in attendance were her mother, his parents,

21:08

and their best friends. That's

21:11

a pretty low key private wedding.

21:13

Low key. They had decided to

21:15

keep the marriage a secret because

21:17

they felt that celebrity couples often

21:19

break up due to media intrusion

21:21

and a lack of privacy. Thanks

21:23

trashy divorces. We don't

21:25

get to you till the end though. Yeah, it's

21:27

not us. We're not the problem in the middle.

21:30

Apparently the marriage ended because they had

21:32

become more of a business partnership than

21:34

a romantic couple. Renee claimed

21:37

that no third party was involved.

21:39

He accused Janet of being

21:41

manipulative. That's a quote. And tricking

21:43

him into, that's not a quote, and tricking

21:45

him into signing a prenuptial agreement that denied

21:47

him. This is a quote, millions of dollars.

21:51

If you're Jana Jackson, you don't get into

21:53

a marriage. Sorry, secret or not without a

21:55

prenup. Oh, no kidding. No kidding. Renee

21:58

believed that this money was. owed

22:00

to him and they took them until 2002 to

22:03

reach a settlement. Renee was given

22:06

15 million dollars. Wow,

22:08

that's a lot of millions. There are 2000

22:10

Mercedes SL600 and the Malibu Beach Front

22:14

Home that they had shared together.

22:16

Nice settlement. Nice settlement, yeah.

22:19

Well, Janet followed up with

22:21

a little relationship with one Matthew

22:23

McConaughey. What? Yeah. All right, all

22:26

right, all right. Yeah, Matthew McConaughey

22:28

had quite an impressive dating record before

22:30

he settled down and got married. And

22:33

Janet Jackson, again very private, was

22:35

a lesser known member of that list. The two

22:38

reportedly met at the Grammy Awards in 2002. At

22:40

first, when

22:42

they were spotted out together, they denied the

22:45

relationship, claiming to just be friends. After

22:48

the relationship ended, both of them

22:50

admitted to having dated. Janet

22:52

told Upscale magazine, I guess we did

22:54

date. He's a great guy and such

22:57

a sweetheart. It was just for a

22:59

minute. That's why I'm so hesitant to mention it. Matthew

23:02

McConaughey didn't discuss dating Janet Jackson

23:04

until 2019. He

23:06

admitted to Andy Cohen on his Bravo talk

23:09

show, Watch What Happens Live, that he had

23:11

a short fling with Janet. Okay.

23:14

Oh, let's talk about the Super Bowl. Alicia,

23:17

no one will ever forget

23:19

the infamous 2004 Super

23:21

Bowl wardrobe malfunction, especially

23:24

Janet Jackson. We

23:26

were working together at the time and this

23:28

was talk of the office for weeks. Oh,

23:31

yeah. Weeks and weeks. There was

23:33

endless speculation about the performance and whether

23:35

it was planned or not. I mean,

23:37

this was such a huge deal. The

23:39

backlash was immense and Janet was the

23:41

one who took the fall far more

23:43

than Justin Timberlake. In

23:46

the Janet Jackson documentary in 2022,

23:48

Janet said, quote, of course

23:50

it was an accident that should not have happened,

23:52

but everyone is looking for someone to blame and

23:54

that's got to stop. Well

23:57

said, concurred. Yeah, I

23:59

mean, it's too. decades on and it's

24:01

still a topic of scandal,

24:03

controversy, whatever we're saying. The Super Bowl

24:05

has never been so exciting. True. She

24:09

also said that she and Justin Timberlake are very

24:11

good friends and quote, Justin and I are very

24:13

good friends and we will always be very good

24:15

friends. We spoke just a few days ago. He

24:17

and I have moved on and it's time for

24:19

everyone else to do the same. Many

24:22

fans were happy to hear this and so

24:24

was Justin Timberlake. A source

24:26

told Hollywood Life shortly after the documentary

24:29

aired quote, honestly, Justin is relieved

24:31

that Janet let everyone in on the truth

24:33

about their friendship because he was tired of hearing

24:35

about it and having to answer questions

24:37

about it. It was so long ago, yet

24:40

it still is something very painful for him

24:42

and he imagines for Janet too. But Justin

24:44

has nothing but love and respect for Janet

24:47

and they have become close. Janet

24:49

and Justin had first worked together

24:51

when NSYNC opened for her velvet

24:54

rope tour in 1998. JT

24:56

spoke to MTV about opening for her

24:58

at the time and a baby Justin

25:00

Timberlake said quote, man, let me tell

25:03

you just how excited I am. I've

25:05

been a big fan of Janet's for

25:07

a long, long time. About two

25:09

to three years ago, I had her poster on

25:11

my wall. Actually,

25:13

that's, she's one of the ones

25:15

that, I mean, I started watching

25:18

her videos and that's how I

25:20

started getting into like singing and

25:22

dancing and stuff. Teenage Justin. Okay,

25:25

let's leave baby JT here and just

25:28

move on to Janet's long relationship

25:30

with Jermaine Dupree. All right,

25:32

talk to me about old Jermaine Dupree. Oh boy. Janet

25:35

Jackson's relationship with rapper, songwriter,

25:37

and music producer Jermaine Dupree lasted

25:40

from 2002 to 2009.

25:43

So the Super Bowl fiasco happened

25:45

in the middle of this romance.

25:47

Their relationship timeline also included the

25:50

death of Janet's brother, Michael Jackson.

25:53

Jermaine Dupree helped Janet through both of

25:55

these extremely difficult times. They

25:57

met in 2001 when they collaborated on the show. her

26:00

album All For You. And

26:02

during their seven-year relationship they became a power

26:04

couple in the music industry, but

26:07

like her other relationships she chose to

26:09

keep it as private as she could. This

26:12

one was a little less private just because

26:14

they're both high-profile people in the

26:16

entertainment industry. His appearances

26:19

in several of her videos also

26:21

brought some attention to the relationship and

26:24

there were red carpet appearances together. In

26:27

her documentary Janet spoke about Germaine and

26:29

said that she was attracted to him

26:31

because of his charisma and confidence, but

26:33

she said the major downfall of the relationship

26:36

was that she tried to change him and

26:38

make him more responsible and

26:40

she eventually realized he was not going to

26:42

change for her. Girl you cannot fix him.

26:45

She said they ultimately quote had different visions

26:48

for their future and decided to part ways

26:50

amicably. Germaine Dupree has spoken

26:52

about the relationship in recent years as well

26:54

and said that he agreed that their ideas

26:56

of lifestyle and future were different and

26:59

that he also realized it wasn't going to work. Quote,

27:02

I started seeing so many other things that I

27:04

wanted to do and so many other places that

27:06

I wanted to go. I started thinking

27:08

like marriage for me wasn't going to

27:11

work, just something about it. When you

27:13

feel like you're ready to get married you

27:15

don't have no answers, you just know what it is.

27:17

I was in the space. I'm

27:20

not going to front and say that I wasn't.

27:22

I felt married. I think the only thing that

27:24

created a difference for me was the fact that

27:26

we didn't live together. We had an eight

27:29

year, nine year relationship, but we didn't live with each

27:31

other. For any of those

27:33

years that's fascinating. Well he

27:35

says I feel like that's a part where

27:37

you really determine if you're strong. She wasn't willing

27:39

to move to Atlanta. She was willing

27:41

to come out here for a couple of weeks, but

27:44

living in Atlanta for her just didn't really

27:46

seem like LA and I wasn't ready to

27:48

move to Malibu. By coastal

27:50

couples. Yeah, but that is not all

27:53

Germaine said. Oh no. Oh no. In 2022

27:55

he confessed that he had cheated on Janet multiple

28:00

times and was reckless during

28:03

their relationship. According to Medium,

28:05

quote, he said he was not ready

28:07

to settle down and commit to her even though

28:09

he loved her deeply. He also revealed that they

28:11

never planned to get married despite the

28:13

rumors that circulated at the time. Okay.

28:17

And for me, this is the relationship that

28:19

I most associate with Janet Jackson, I think

28:21

because Germaine Dupree is based here in Atlanta

28:24

and it just it's the most familiar one

28:26

to me. Okay, so

28:28

two marriages up down and

28:30

Germaine Dupree out the window. Sure, there

28:32

is a third marriage. Yeah, there is. Now

28:35

is a great time to take a break. And

28:37

when we come back, it's to Janet's third marital

28:39

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29:39

In 2010, Janet met a

29:41

little billionaire Qatari businessman

29:44

named with some Almana. The

29:46

couple decided to get married in 2012, but

29:49

they didn't make that public until 2013. Her

29:52

PR team is on point. Yup. In

29:54

a statement, the couple told ET online, last

29:57

year we were married in a quiet, private and

29:59

beautiful ceremony. ceremony, our wedding gifts

30:01

to one another were contributions to

30:03

our respective favorite children's charities. That's

30:05

excellent. That's lovely. In 2016, Janet

30:08

surprised the world when she announced that she

30:10

was expecting her first child at

30:13

the age of 50. And

30:15

in January 2017, the couple released a

30:17

statement saying that they were thrilled to

30:19

welcome their new son. It

30:22

was only four months later, in April,

30:24

that Janet Jackson and her third husband,

30:26

Wissam Almana, announced that they had decided

30:29

to divorce. Wow.

30:32

With a newborn. What

30:34

happened there? With a newborn, that

30:37

is important. The timing was

30:39

likely no coincidence. According to the New

30:41

York Post, under

30:43

the terms of the prenup they had signed, Janet

30:46

would be entitled to $100 million if

30:48

they stayed married for five years, and

30:51

another $100 million if they had a

30:53

child together, upon divorce.

30:56

Tell me the years here. They

30:58

got married in 2012, son born in 27. Did

31:01

she make it her five years? Yeah. Okay.

31:05

Sure did. Fantastic. So

31:07

this caused speculation. Was it right after five

31:09

years? This caused speculation that

31:11

Janet had waited until the couple had

31:13

crossed that five year mark to file

31:15

for divorce. While

31:17

it may seem that Janet, you know, has

31:19

plenty of money of her own, and she does,

31:22

her husband is far, far ex-husband now,

31:24

far wealthier. His estimated

31:27

net worth is over a billion dollars.

31:29

Hers just $175 million. Some

31:33

of the accusations about what caused the end

31:36

of the marriage were pretty dark and involved

31:38

Almana being very controlling. One source told The

31:40

Sun, quote, when she's visiting

31:42

Wissam's family in the Middle East, she

31:44

wears no makeup, no hair extensions, and

31:47

keeps two traditional Muslim clothing. She

31:49

feels like she has found a home with her new

31:51

religion. She has spent a great deal of time studying

31:53

it. The days of raunchy dance

31:55

moves and sexual lyrics are long gone.

32:00

Page Six reported that a source told them, quote,

32:02

she thought he had become too controlling during

32:04

the pregnancy and she had already allowed him

32:07

to dictate her appearance and even the way

32:09

she performed at concerts. It

32:11

drove her crazy and she felt like she was

32:13

losing her fan base. Also

32:16

this is the artist who

32:18

had the album called Control. Relationships

32:22

make you do funny things. They sure do. We're

32:24

all united and trashy. A

32:26

source described as a family confidant

32:28

told the New York Post, quote, she

32:30

loves to be in control. She ceded

32:32

that control and she was

32:34

not happy about it. She wants to

32:36

get back to being Janet Jackson and not

32:39

Mrs. Wissam Al-Manna or being

32:41

the obedient Muslim wife. In

32:43

September 2017, E! News reported that a

32:45

source told them, quote, Janet and Wissam

32:47

don't see eye to eye on many

32:49

things. One of the many

32:52

divorcing factors was their religious beliefs. Wissam and

32:54

Janet did not feel they were on the same

32:56

page when it came to this and

32:58

the way they wanted their child to be raised. Janet

33:01

is more of a free spirit than Wissam. Cultural

33:04

difference and backgrounds played a major role.

33:06

Wissam is a very strong-minded individual and

33:09

can come across as

33:11

being hard-headed and judgmental at times. Yeah, that's

33:13

what you want in your spouse. Janet

33:16

started not to feel comfortable around her husband.

33:19

While she was pregnant, Wissam caused stress on

33:21

Janet and it affected her stress level. They

33:24

knew it was over before the baby was even born.

33:27

Janet wanted to make it work, but it couldn't

33:29

be saved. She didn't tell many people about this

33:31

toxic relationship till after. Her family

33:33

was never a big fan of her husband. She

33:35

lost confidence in herself along the way. And

33:38

her brother, Randy Jackson, talked to people and

33:41

said that Janet was verbally abused during

33:43

her marriage to Wissam, saying, quote, it

33:45

was quite an abusive situation. It

33:48

came on later in the relationship, verbal abuse and

33:50

being made to feel like a prisoner in her

33:52

own home. No pregnant woman needs

33:54

to go through being called a bitch every day.

33:57

What? There were things like that. This is

33:59

Randy. He continues, there were things like

34:01

that. That's what she went through. Oh, no,

34:04

no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. Initially,

34:06

the couple reportedly wanted equal custody. But over

34:08

time, Janet decided that she wanted

34:10

full custody of their son. Can't blame her.

34:13

She told the court, quote, she

34:16

feels completely out of control during

34:18

Wasam's visitations with their baby and

34:20

worries nonstop. She

34:22

worried so much that it resulted in her

34:24

calling the police on Wasam in 2018 to

34:26

check on their son. Oh, my God. The

34:28

authorities did the welfare check and reported that,

34:30

quote, there was no evidence of any crime.

34:33

The baby was fine. So there was no

34:35

report taken. A

34:37

source told Entertainment Tonight in 2018, Janet

34:40

and Wasam are on complete opposite ends

34:42

of the spectrum when it comes to raising their

34:44

son. And this has made their

34:47

split even worse. She wants a Western world

34:49

upbringing. And Wasam would like his son to

34:51

learn his upbringing. A

34:53

source close to Janet told People magazine

34:55

that significant differences in ideas about raising

34:57

their son was a major cause

35:00

of what led to the divorce. Quote, their

35:02

cultural differences that also ended their marriage

35:04

are tricky to work around. They have

35:06

very different ideas about how to raise

35:08

their son. Janet

35:10

has expressed frustration about this in the past.

35:12

When they were married, she lived a life

35:15

where she felt controlled at every moment and

35:17

she didn't want her son growing up with

35:19

the same feelings. In

35:22

2019, Janet told The Sunday Times, I'm in

35:24

a great space. I have a beautiful son. My

35:27

friends call me Superwoman. God knows that I'm

35:29

not. But I think what they're seeing

35:31

is the energy and that extra drive

35:33

I'm getting from the inspiration of their

35:35

son. So that's 2019. So

35:38

in the last few years, she's sort of

35:40

come back into her. Yeah, yeah, she's found

35:43

her space and independence. She

35:46

had decided not to involve a nanny. I don't know if

35:48

she has held to this, but at one point, no

35:51

nanny. And said that if her mother and

35:53

grandmother had been able to raise their children

35:55

without help, again, huge families that she

35:57

could do it too. I imagine.

36:00

There's a nanny involved by this point. Regardless,

36:02

she said, quote, "'It's hard being

36:04

a working mother. "'I don't have a nanny. "'I

36:06

do it all myself. "'Of course, when I'm working,

36:09

someone watches him, "'but it's my baby and me.

36:12

"'My mother did it. "'Her mother did it. "'Why

36:14

can't I? "'We'll see. "'I'm sure I will need

36:16

someone in the future, "'some help here and there,

36:18

"'but I don't have anyone, and I love it. "'I've

36:21

always been a patient person, "'but there's more

36:23

patience that you have to have,

36:25

"'and I never knew I was as patient as

36:27

I really am. "'He's first and foremost in

36:29

my life. "'I get up, I go to

36:32

sleep. "'Everything is about him. "'He comes first

36:34

in my life.'" Janet

36:36

had also put her career on

36:38

the back burner during the marriage and

36:40

early motherhood. In August of

36:43

2022, she talked to Essence Magazine about

36:45

motherhood being her top priority. "'Even

36:47

though it's something that I absolutely love, "'it

36:50

still is my work, my job. "'There will be

36:53

music at some point. "'Exactly when? "'I

36:55

can't say just yet, but there will be. "'I

36:57

love it too much not to do it. "'This is all

37:00

I know. "'There's so much that I want to do, "'but

37:02

my number one job is being a mama.'" Well, hopefully

37:04

now you've got your $175 million in the bank plus

37:09

another... $200 million. $200 million. So

37:12

maybe a little easier to raise a

37:14

child when money is not a concern.

37:16

Absolutely. Yeah, the details of the divorce

37:18

settlement and the final custody agreement have been

37:21

kept really private, and in that 2022 documentary,

37:25

Janet steered clear of the subject. She

37:27

said that talking about it could jeopardize

37:29

the wellbeing of her son and that

37:31

putting private information about her marriage out

37:34

there could affect her son in the long run.

37:36

I think there are also security concerns. I

37:39

would think so. If you're a Qatari billionaire,

37:41

yeah. It

37:43

appears that the two are now co-parenting

37:45

reasonably well and have found some kind

37:47

of common ground when it comes to,

37:50

you know, they're now seven-year-old, eight-year-old,

37:52

something like that. Not a baby

37:54

anymore is my point. On

37:56

the road again, Janet Jackson. launched

38:00

her Together Again tour in April 2023.

38:03

There was an Atlanta stop the same night we

38:05

were at Taylor Swift just across the street. That

38:07

thing's exactly right. It was

38:09

the celebration of her 50th anniversary in

38:11

the entertainment business because she

38:14

started performing at the age of seven. 50, I

38:16

mean, it's just incredible. And

38:18

honors the milestones for three of her

38:20

most critically acclaimed albums. It

38:23

was the 25th anniversary of the

38:25

Velvet Rope, the 30th anniversary of

38:27

Janice, and the 35th anniversary of

38:29

Rhythm Nation. Unbelievable. Hard to believe.

38:32

Fans were so thrilled for her to be

38:34

back performing that the tour was the highest grossing

38:36

of her entire career. And that is

38:38

saying so much. In January

38:40

of 2024, she announced that

38:42

she would be continuing the tour with many

38:45

dates scheduled for this summer. Lucky

38:47

for us, there are still tickets available to a whole

38:49

lot of these shows. Janet

38:52

Jackson's coming to your town and it's not opposite

38:54

Taylor Swift. Go see her. Go see

38:56

Janet Jackson. It's

38:58

like a weird story, but personally, I can't

39:00

fault a member of the Jackson family, that

39:04

Jackson family, for

39:06

going above and beyond to

39:08

maintain a private, separate sphere

39:10

that belongs only to them and

39:12

not the world. Again,

39:15

famous from the age of birth,

39:18

basically. Certainly

39:20

age of seven on TV as

39:22

a teenager. Just no

39:24

shade on Janet Jackson for choosing to keep

39:27

things private. So if there are

39:29

trash cans to any of these marriages, they're

39:31

all very quietly hidden. Yeah, yeah, they

39:33

are tucked away neat and tidy and you're not

39:35

gonna know about them until garbage day. No,

39:38

there's a whole lot of Jackson

39:40

family garbage that's coming. Janet,

39:43

in and out, three and three, well done.

39:46

Her brothers have some trash. Oh yeah. There

39:49

are a lot of interconnected spider

39:51

webs coming to that. Thank you,

39:53

Stacey, for bringing us that one.

39:55

You are so welcome and thanks

39:57

to you for joining us today.

40:00

yet another Trashy Divorce's adventure

40:02

and we appreciate all the ways that

40:04

you support this little project of ours, telling

40:07

your friends your kind reviews

40:09

and emails and your support

40:11

at patreon.com/trashy divorces. So you

40:13

and I have come back from vacation.

40:16

Yes. Patreon is really back in swing.

40:18

We got a dumpster dive coming up

40:20

this week but I've also posted two

40:22

spider webs. Yep. The first, finally, the

40:24

mysterious death of Sam Cooke that came out

40:27

last week as well as a

40:29

follow on over the Olivia de

40:31

Havilland episode about Howard Hughes via

40:34

Joan Didion's writing. Exactly. So lots

40:36

of stuff over there. patreon.com/trashy divorces

40:38

is always the place I think

40:41

we're almost up to 1600 episodes

40:44

over there. Wow. Amazing.

40:47

Wow. Well, if you like what you hear and you

40:49

want more of it, you can

40:51

check out our other podcasts. I'm so

40:53

glad you bring them up. Let me

40:55

give you guys the scoop on what's

40:58

happening. We talked about Janet Jackson today,

41:00

the baby sister of the Jackson family.

41:02

Absolutely. Over on Trashy Royals, we

41:04

have been talking about the Bonaparts the

41:07

last two weeks we've been on with

41:09

Napoleon, but this week we're going to

41:11

the baby of the Bonapart family. Speaking

41:14

of trashy families. Jerome

41:17

and his marriage and breakup

41:19

and all of his trashiness to

41:21

an American heiress back in the

41:24

time. That's trashy royals. That drops

41:26

for you every Thursday. Over

41:28

on Mondays, I've got done and done and

41:30

if you were looking for some summertime sizzle

41:33

this season, last week I

41:35

rolled through Ava Gardner. This week we're

41:37

doing Diane Keaton and Warren Beatty. We

41:40

have so much Hollywood

41:42

sizzle coming up this summer. You may

41:45

want to check that out on Mondays.

41:47

Done and done. Thanks

41:49

again for listening. Friends, we will be

41:51

back soon with brand new trash candy

41:53

and in the meantime I hope that

41:55

you will keep your hands clean. I

41:58

hope you're gonna keep your hearts Tarasci, until

42:00

we see you next week. Thanks

42:03

everybody for tuning in. Big

42:05

love. Bye. Bye.

42:07

And thanks to you for listening. Tarasci

42:09

Divorces is a Hemlock Creatives production created

42:11

and produced right here in Atlanta, Georgia

42:14

by us, Stacy and Alicia,

42:16

with a little research and writing

42:18

help from the brilliant Melissa O.

42:20

Our art is by Sydney V.

42:23

Smith. That's sydneyvsmith at carbonmade.com.

42:26

And our music is used with permission of

42:28

Razzi. Check her out at

42:30

Razzi's store on Instagram and definitely

42:33

drop into Razzi's store anytime

42:35

you're in Oberlin, Ohio. You

42:37

can contact us at tarascidivorces@gmail.com

42:41

or find us on the worldwide

42:43

web at trascidivorces.com. If you need

42:45

more trash candy in your life,

42:47

our Patreon community includes some of

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the very best humans around and

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thousands of hours of bonus

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patreon.com/trascidivorces. Interested in some Trasci

43:00

Divorces swag? Check out our

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merch shop and Trash Panda

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43:27

join us over there and thanks

43:29

again, everybody, for listening. Keep it

43:31

Trasci, y'all.