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NEW MOVIE | Working on 'Why Did I Get Married Too?' helped her deal with loss
April 2, 2010
BY CINDY PEARLMAN Sun-Times Columnist
Janet Jackson comes with a warning. There will be no talking about the loss of her brother Michael.
It turns out that Jackson breaks her own rules.
Halfway through a Sun-Times interview for "Why Did I Get Married Too?," opening today, Jackson is upfront about the toughest part of acting in the new Tyler Perry film.
"The loss of my brother," she says in a girlish, soft voice that sounds like it could break.
"Just having to show up for work and transform into a character was also very therapeutic for me after I lost Michael," she says. "In a way, it was an escape. It's what I needed to help me get through things. I needed escapism."
Even nine months later, it's hard for Jackson to cope with the fact that her brother is gone. "It's there every single day. He was there with me while making this movie. He was there every moment," she says.
In the sequel to the 2007 hit, she has to cope with loss including the death of a child and divorce. "Some of my scenes are heavy and so dramatic," she says with a sigh. "It was definitely emotionally draining.
"I would come home and have to let go of all of it, which was difficult," she says. "But I got up the next day."
How in the world did she work after her family faced such a tragic loss?
"Love," she says of what got her through those dark days. "It was all about the love of family and the support I felt around me. I felt nurturing from everyone in my life and from everyone on this set."
She also has another way of coping. "The ocean calms and relaxes me," she says. "I lived on the water for a long time and it has always made me feel good. And getting lost in a character for a movie helped me. The grief she feels as a woman was right on point. Her grief was what I needed in my life.
"It was close to home and right on point," she says. "I definitely had real life to draw on, but it was tough."
How is she feeling now? "I'm much better," says Jackson, who has thrown herself back into her work. Last year's greatest hits album "Number Ones" produced the dance hit "Make Me," and she has a track on the film's soundtrack called "Nothing." Her book True You, about her struggles with weight loss is due out later this year.
"I didn't just want to write about nutrition," she cautions. "My weight has always been about my childhood and my issues.
"I wasn't a heavy kid or an oversized kid," she says. "But I did feel my self-esteem slipping."
When she played young Penny on "Good Times," "they would say to me, 'You need to lose weight.' Then they would bind my chest because I had breasts at age 10. That was like telling me that who I was naturally wasn't acceptable."
"I was the kind of child -- and I'm still this way -- who holds everything inside," she says. "It manifests itself and comes out through eating. That's my comfort. Then I go back, lose the weight and gain the weight again. You hate yourself for it."
She says her book is not a diet. "It's a way of life. I think it's also about knowing that your favorite food is something you don't have to give up. You can go back to it and have it."
At 44, she has her food under control and her life is better for it. "I wake up, write a song. I dream songs," she says. "I always have some kind of recording device on me."
There's no plan for another CD. "Music is a big part of my life and the majors want to sign me. I haven't decided how I want to play it," she says. Instead, Jackson wants to dabble in acting again and will star in "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf," which Perry will shoot this summer. Her heady list of costars includes Mariah Carey, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Kerry Washington and Macy Gray.
The film will be an adaptation of the 1975 play where women recited poems about love, rape and abortion. "I never saw the play, but Tyler says it's going to be quite different," she previews.
She has loved acting since her childhood in Indiana. "I was never the kind of kid who could go to acting classes in Gary," she says. "Later, I was too busy with my music and performing with my family. But I always wanted to become an actress, too. I never had time to go to Brownies or take gymnastics or ballet. But I could practice acting on my own. And I fell in love with it and always tried to make it part of my life. I've had to pass on some amazing movie roles over the years because of the music, but things are meant to be."
Jackson will return to the stage this summer at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. "I haven't danced in a while, but I love performing. I love dancing and putting a band together. It's a feeling unlike any other.
"You know how you truly love something?" she poses. "Just ask yourself if you would do this for free. Ask yourself honestly. That's the way I feel about music. I'd do it for free."
Would she rather have an Oscar or a Grammy? "That's like asking if I'd rather have my vegan cookies or my soy milk. I want it all," she says with a laugh.
To that end, she is spending some time just healing.
"I love just being with my family and friends. We go to a club and listen to great music. We talk and spend time together," she says. "I love to just breathe."
She thinks about adding to the Jackson clan and often hears the rumors. "I'm pregnant?" she says, laughing. "Is that what they're really saying? It's not true.
"I guess the media feels I'm getting a certain age and now I better buckle down and become a mom," she says with another laugh. "If it's God's will, it will happen. There are some women who don't become moms until they're 46 or 47. If it's in the cards for me, then it will happen."
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/pearlman/2136201,CST-FTR-janet02.article
April 2, 2010
BY CINDY PEARLMAN Sun-Times Columnist
Janet Jackson comes with a warning. There will be no talking about the loss of her brother Michael.
It turns out that Jackson breaks her own rules.
Halfway through a Sun-Times interview for "Why Did I Get Married Too?," opening today, Jackson is upfront about the toughest part of acting in the new Tyler Perry film.
"The loss of my brother," she says in a girlish, soft voice that sounds like it could break.
"Just having to show up for work and transform into a character was also very therapeutic for me after I lost Michael," she says. "In a way, it was an escape. It's what I needed to help me get through things. I needed escapism."
Even nine months later, it's hard for Jackson to cope with the fact that her brother is gone. "It's there every single day. He was there with me while making this movie. He was there every moment," she says.
In the sequel to the 2007 hit, she has to cope with loss including the death of a child and divorce. "Some of my scenes are heavy and so dramatic," she says with a sigh. "It was definitely emotionally draining.
"I would come home and have to let go of all of it, which was difficult," she says. "But I got up the next day."
How in the world did she work after her family faced such a tragic loss?
"Love," she says of what got her through those dark days. "It was all about the love of family and the support I felt around me. I felt nurturing from everyone in my life and from everyone on this set."
She also has another way of coping. "The ocean calms and relaxes me," she says. "I lived on the water for a long time and it has always made me feel good. And getting lost in a character for a movie helped me. The grief she feels as a woman was right on point. Her grief was what I needed in my life.
"It was close to home and right on point," she says. "I definitely had real life to draw on, but it was tough."
How is she feeling now? "I'm much better," says Jackson, who has thrown herself back into her work. Last year's greatest hits album "Number Ones" produced the dance hit "Make Me," and she has a track on the film's soundtrack called "Nothing." Her book True You, about her struggles with weight loss is due out later this year.
"I didn't just want to write about nutrition," she cautions. "My weight has always been about my childhood and my issues.
"I wasn't a heavy kid or an oversized kid," she says. "But I did feel my self-esteem slipping."
When she played young Penny on "Good Times," "they would say to me, 'You need to lose weight.' Then they would bind my chest because I had breasts at age 10. That was like telling me that who I was naturally wasn't acceptable."
"I was the kind of child -- and I'm still this way -- who holds everything inside," she says. "It manifests itself and comes out through eating. That's my comfort. Then I go back, lose the weight and gain the weight again. You hate yourself for it."
She says her book is not a diet. "It's a way of life. I think it's also about knowing that your favorite food is something you don't have to give up. You can go back to it and have it."
At 44, she has her food under control and her life is better for it. "I wake up, write a song. I dream songs," she says. "I always have some kind of recording device on me."
There's no plan for another CD. "Music is a big part of my life and the majors want to sign me. I haven't decided how I want to play it," she says. Instead, Jackson wants to dabble in acting again and will star in "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf," which Perry will shoot this summer. Her heady list of costars includes Mariah Carey, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Kerry Washington and Macy Gray.
The film will be an adaptation of the 1975 play where women recited poems about love, rape and abortion. "I never saw the play, but Tyler says it's going to be quite different," she previews.
She has loved acting since her childhood in Indiana. "I was never the kind of kid who could go to acting classes in Gary," she says. "Later, I was too busy with my music and performing with my family. But I always wanted to become an actress, too. I never had time to go to Brownies or take gymnastics or ballet. But I could practice acting on my own. And I fell in love with it and always tried to make it part of my life. I've had to pass on some amazing movie roles over the years because of the music, but things are meant to be."
Jackson will return to the stage this summer at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. "I haven't danced in a while, but I love performing. I love dancing and putting a band together. It's a feeling unlike any other.
"You know how you truly love something?" she poses. "Just ask yourself if you would do this for free. Ask yourself honestly. That's the way I feel about music. I'd do it for free."
Would she rather have an Oscar or a Grammy? "That's like asking if I'd rather have my vegan cookies or my soy milk. I want it all," she says with a laugh.
To that end, she is spending some time just healing.
"I love just being with my family and friends. We go to a club and listen to great music. We talk and spend time together," she says. "I love to just breathe."
She thinks about adding to the Jackson clan and often hears the rumors. "I'm pregnant?" she says, laughing. "Is that what they're really saying? It's not true.
"I guess the media feels I'm getting a certain age and now I better buckle down and become a mom," she says with another laugh. "If it's God's will, it will happen. There are some women who don't become moms until they're 46 or 47. If it's in the cards for me, then it will happen."
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/pearlman/2136201,CST-FTR-janet02.article