You cannot bring up the subject of happiness without also addressing sadness. Janet Jackson tackles both feelings in the July/August issue of ESSENCE.
“When it comes to happiness, I’m no expert,” the singer tells the magazine. “I have only my life experience as a guide. I’ve known great happiness and great sadness. But I guess the key question is, What do I really know about happiness?”
Janet certainly knows the reality of sadness. The celebrity mom battled with depression after being in the Hollywood scene for more than thirty years.
“In my forties: Like millions of women in the world, I still heard voices inside my head berating me, voices questioning my value,” Jackson reveals. “Happiness was elusive,” she added. “A reunion with old friends might make me happy. A call from a colleague might make me happy. But because sometimes I saw my failed relationships as my fault, I easily fell into despair.”
Things took a drastic turn for the better with the birth of Janet Jackson’s son, Eissa.
“The height of happiness is holding my baby son in my arms and hearing him coo, or when I look into his smiling eyes and watch him respond to my tenderness,” the star mom shares. “When I kiss him. When I sing him softly to sleep. During those sacred times, happiness is everywhere. Happiness is in gratitude to God. Happiness is saying, ‘Thank you, God, for my life, my energy and my capacity to grow in love.’”
Read Janet Jackson’s full interview with ESSENCE when the July/August issue hits newsstands on June 22, 2018!
Photo: ESSENCE
