To hear her speak you wouldn’t think Janet Jackson was a Grammy-winning, Oscar-nominated superstar. Her soft voice belies the fact that she is a triple-threat powerhouse (actress, singer, philanthropist) and burgeoning author. She has become an icon—not just for the gay community—but for millions of fans worldwide. When I tell her that she will be only the fourth female to appear solo on Instinct’s cover in our 13-year history, she takes it in and sounds slightly shocked if not humbled. “My goodness. Wow. That’s such an honor for me. It’s a very sweet thing to be looked at with such esteem by the gay community.”
Ms. Jackson humbled by little old Instinct? Girl, please! What’s not to love, right? She’s gracious, she’s gorgeous and she is a true friend to the LGBT community and our causes. Janet is a pop goddess and actress who doesn’t even mind being called a diva. “It doesn’t have negative connotation for me,” she says during our exclusive gay press interview, “It really doesn’t.”
Her voice is so slight and so tender you might think her too timid to speak her mind, but make no mistake, Janet Jackson has a lot to say. And although she leads a very private life—despite tabloids’ attempts to keep her in the public eye—she wants to be heard on items that matter to her most. She also isn’t afraid to let her defenses down when taking on emotionally charged roles, like those in a pair of 2010 films where she says she had to draw from her past and her own pain to do her best work.
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Read more about Janet in our December/January issue, out now!
