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Solaiman FazelJanet Jackson has been admired for decades as one of the most beautiful women in music, yet she admits that earlier in her life, she hated her looks so much that she needed therapy.
“I would look in the mirror and start crying. I didn’t like that I was not attractive. I didn’t like anything about me,” she says in the October In Style cover story
Miss Jackson says her insecurities were caused by the pressure put on celebrities to maintain a certain look.
“You had to be a certain size, you had to be thin to be an entertainer. Stupid crap like that. That’s just this business I’m in,” she says. “I think it’s changed, thank God. People are more accepting of others. Which is the way it should’ve been from the jump. That can really mess with you.”
Janet says eventually, she developed more confidence in her image.
“Therapy helped a great deal with that. I had to find something in my body that I loved, and that was difficult for me to do.”
The five-time Grammy Award winner also admits she needed help to feel more positive about herself after being demeaned in a negative relationship.
“I went to therapy, which was all about finding that thing you like about yourself,” she remembers. “The realization that, you know what, you’re not so bad after all. I’m not saying you’re great or you’re the best, but it’s not as bad as you were made to feel that it was.”
Last week Janet received the BMI Icon Award in Atlanta. She will be among the performers at the Global Citizen Festival on September 29 in New York City.
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