Grown-up Janet Jackson talks about racism, sensuality and the Jackson family - Cover Story

Ebony, Sept, 1993 by Lynn Norment

"The person who is there today is not the person I knew when we lived at home," she says of LaToya. "So, I'm just waiting for that person to come back."

She also says her brother Jermaine should not have criticized Michael in his 1991 single, "Word To The Badd." "To me there is no excuse for what he did and i told him i didn't like the record," she says, referring to an encounter in the backyard of her parents' house. "I told him it wasn't the right thing to do, that we weren't raised like that. Mother always said if you have a problem with someone, you don't hold it inside; you go to that person and work it out, especially if it's a family member. It's not the public's business." She reflects for a moment. "I think he regrets he did it now. Sometimes you make mistakes in life and you learn from them."

Concerning another family issue, Jackson goes on to say she felt a burden had been lifted from her shoulders when brother Michael finally revealed that a skin pigmentation disease is the cause of his skin's discoloration. "I knew, and I knew that my mother knew," she says. "He said, |Jan, please don't tell anybody.' I didn't even know if my other brothers and sisters knew. I truly didn't, but I was not about to tell them."

Jackson goes on to reveal how much it "irked" her when people would ask, "Why does your brother want to be White?" She says: "I got so sick of that because my brother is extremely intelligent and he's extremely talented and he's very, very smart. And I felt that people were thinking that he felt to be so talented or so smart he had to be acting White in order to get where he is. But I'm so happy he talked about it because he's not like that at all. And he's very proud of his. race and who he is."

But does she really feel competitive with the incomparable Michael Jackson, Mr. Moonwalk himself her big brother?

"Yes," she says assertively, "but it is a friendly competition because he is my brother, and it just so happens that my brother has broken the Bee Gees record for the biggest selling album of all time . . . . If it were somebody else, I'd still want to break the record. We talk on the phone all the time, and he knows I want to break his records. But I'm really proud of him. And I really look up to him. He inspires me a great deal."

And is he proud of his baby sister?

"Yeah, he said he was," she says modestly, looking down at the grilled peppers, tomatoes and corn that Alfredo, her chef, has set before her on the glass table. He pours her a large glass of berry mineral water before disappearing.

Jackson continues to explain that she considers her competition to be not just her brother Michael, but anyone and everyone who performs dance music. "Like I said before, I'm very competitive. If someone is at No. 1 and I'm at No. 2, then I want the No. 1 spot. But I feel there is enough room for everyone. Everyone. I really do. Enough room for Whitney, for myself, for my, brother, for everyone."

Though she has been in show business all her life, Jackson's recording career really took flight with the release of her third album, Control, in 1986. That was followed by another blockbuster, Rhythm Nation 1814, in 1989. Sales topped 8 million for each. Now, with the instant success of janet., Jackson perfects the triple hit. And critics and fans alike praise her sexy, earthy portrayal of Justice in John Singleton's Poetic Justice.