Moulin Rouge
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LOS ANGELES – “I am in the most beautiful space I have ever been in my life at this moment,” revealed Janet Jackson, 44, when she talked to us in a Beverly Hills hotel suite.
“I am just starting to do something,” the soft-spoken singer-actress revealed. “I always wanted to do films since I was a child. I have always wanted to be an actress. I am thankful for my career in music but this is what I really wanted to do as a career since I was a kid. I will continue to do films. I will create and develop. Those are the things that I have such a passion for. But I still have a great passion for music so I will continue that as well.”
With her hair short and looking slim in her Rick Owens jacket, Janet also talked about her new movie, “For Colored Girls,” which is Tyler Perry’s film adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s award-winning play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.”
The movie, which weaves together the stories of nine different women as they move in and out of each other’s lives, stars Janet (as Jo/Red), Loretta Devine (Juanita/Green), Kimberly Elise (Crystal/Brown), Anika Noni Rose (Yasmine/Yellow), Tessa Thompson (Nyla/Purple), Whoopi Goldberg (Alice/White), Kerry Washington (Kelly/Blue), Macy Gray (Rose), Phylicia Rashad (Gilda) and Thandie Newton (Tangie).
With each woman in the film symbolized by a color, we asked Janet what color would best describe her. “I don’t think there’s any one color in particular that I really could relate to in my life,” she disclosed. “I think it’s all the colors and I would have to add white, which obviously isn’t a color, and black to that. The space that I am in my life today is really a beautiful space that I have never experienced before. I’m very, very happy.”
On how her upbringing defined who she is today, Janet said, “Of course it has affected who I am today a great deal. It hasn’t been always peaches and cream. I have gone through my issues. I am a work in progress. There are certain things in my character that I really could relate to that I used to do. She is a woman who hides behind her work to ignore what’s truly going on in her relationships at home – with her husband and with herself. I mean, work is her baby. That’s her form of escapism. That used to be me and having that wall up, which used to be me.”
But doesn’t she have a charmed life, we asked.
“It’s hard for any kid who starts out in this business as a child,” she confessed. “There are a lot of things that you miss out on – one is your childhood, like not being able to play with the neighborhood kids. Even though you’re a child, you’re working like an adult and that can have an effect on you. That’s one aspect of my life.
“Then there were other things going on with me as a child. I was one of those kids who internalized everything, held everything inside – all my pains. I didn’t want to feel like a burden to anyone. It wasn’t until I opened up and spoke to someone about my issues that my life truly began to change. That didn’t happen until way later in my life which I wrote in my book. It’s coming out in January. It talks a lot about that. It’s a self-help book so it talks a lot about my childhood. There are anecdotes. It’s not an autobiography. If you read the book, you’ll understand what I’m trying to say.”
As for her late brother Michael, Janet said he was everything to her.
“If Michael were a color, he would be not one color but all the colors,” she said. “He represented so much for me. We were very close growing up and I remember nothing but good times. We were very, very close growing up. There were times when he was my teacher. There were times when he was my best friend. There were times when he was my brother. There were times when he was like a producer or a partner in writing. We’d sit and create songs together just for fun. We’d do fun, little, silly melodies that you never forget through your life.
“I remember that as kids – my brother Randy, Mike and me – we had many chores around the house. After dinner, we’d have to clean the kitchen. So we’d each take a job. I’d do the dishes; Mike would sweep the floor; Randy would be cleaning up all the center tops and that’s when we would create music. We’d create a song, melody. We’d create lyrics. We’d do three-part harmony. So it was fun. We made it fun. We just had nothing but good times.”
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/286608/janet-jackson-michael-represented-everything-me
“I am just starting to do something,” the soft-spoken singer-actress revealed. “I always wanted to do films since I was a child. I have always wanted to be an actress. I am thankful for my career in music but this is what I really wanted to do as a career since I was a kid. I will continue to do films. I will create and develop. Those are the things that I have such a passion for. But I still have a great passion for music so I will continue that as well.”
With her hair short and looking slim in her Rick Owens jacket, Janet also talked about her new movie, “For Colored Girls,” which is Tyler Perry’s film adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s award-winning play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.”
The movie, which weaves together the stories of nine different women as they move in and out of each other’s lives, stars Janet (as Jo/Red), Loretta Devine (Juanita/Green), Kimberly Elise (Crystal/Brown), Anika Noni Rose (Yasmine/Yellow), Tessa Thompson (Nyla/Purple), Whoopi Goldberg (Alice/White), Kerry Washington (Kelly/Blue), Macy Gray (Rose), Phylicia Rashad (Gilda) and Thandie Newton (Tangie).
With each woman in the film symbolized by a color, we asked Janet what color would best describe her. “I don’t think there’s any one color in particular that I really could relate to in my life,” she disclosed. “I think it’s all the colors and I would have to add white, which obviously isn’t a color, and black to that. The space that I am in my life today is really a beautiful space that I have never experienced before. I’m very, very happy.”
On how her upbringing defined who she is today, Janet said, “Of course it has affected who I am today a great deal. It hasn’t been always peaches and cream. I have gone through my issues. I am a work in progress. There are certain things in my character that I really could relate to that I used to do. She is a woman who hides behind her work to ignore what’s truly going on in her relationships at home – with her husband and with herself. I mean, work is her baby. That’s her form of escapism. That used to be me and having that wall up, which used to be me.”
But doesn’t she have a charmed life, we asked.
“It’s hard for any kid who starts out in this business as a child,” she confessed. “There are a lot of things that you miss out on – one is your childhood, like not being able to play with the neighborhood kids. Even though you’re a child, you’re working like an adult and that can have an effect on you. That’s one aspect of my life.
“Then there were other things going on with me as a child. I was one of those kids who internalized everything, held everything inside – all my pains. I didn’t want to feel like a burden to anyone. It wasn’t until I opened up and spoke to someone about my issues that my life truly began to change. That didn’t happen until way later in my life which I wrote in my book. It’s coming out in January. It talks a lot about that. It’s a self-help book so it talks a lot about my childhood. There are anecdotes. It’s not an autobiography. If you read the book, you’ll understand what I’m trying to say.”
As for her late brother Michael, Janet said he was everything to her.
“If Michael were a color, he would be not one color but all the colors,” she said. “He represented so much for me. We were very close growing up and I remember nothing but good times. We were very, very close growing up. There were times when he was my teacher. There were times when he was my best friend. There were times when he was my brother. There were times when he was like a producer or a partner in writing. We’d sit and create songs together just for fun. We’d do fun, little, silly melodies that you never forget through your life.
“I remember that as kids – my brother Randy, Mike and me – we had many chores around the house. After dinner, we’d have to clean the kitchen. So we’d each take a job. I’d do the dishes; Mike would sweep the floor; Randy would be cleaning up all the center tops and that’s when we would create music. We’d create a song, melody. We’d create lyrics. We’d do three-part harmony. So it was fun. We made it fun. We just had nothing but good times.”
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/286608/janet-jackson-michael-represented-everything-me