Janet Jackson performs during the MTV Europe Music Awards on November 4, 2018, in Bilbao, Spain. A two-part documentary about the pop star premieres Friday 1/28 on Lifetime and A&E.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images
By Faith Karimi, CNN
Updated 9:27 AM ET, Thu January 27, 2022
Janet Jackson performs during the MTV Europe Music Awards on November 4, 2018, in Bilbao, Spain. A two-part documentary about the pop star premieres Friday 1/28 on Lifetime and A&E.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images
Janet Jackson is retaking control of her own narrative.
More than three decades after her blockbuster third album, “Control,” heralded her as one of the biggest pop stars of her generation, the intensely private performer has a new documentary coming January 28 on Lifetime and A&E.
The film, titled simply “Janet Jackson,” explores her musical legacy and her role as a cultural icon. It also addresses some of the biggest questions about her life and career, including her relationship with her late brother Michael and the aftermath of the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show in which Justin Timberlake briefly exposed her breast.
“It’s just something that needs to be done,” she says in a trailer for the two-part documentary, explaining why she approved the project and signed on as an executive producer.
Jackson has won five Grammys, sold more than 100 million records, appeared in movies and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But the Super Bowl incident, dubbed “Nipplegate,” damaged her career — unfairly, in the eyes of many fans — and reportedly led to her losing out on some acting roles.
She has been steadfastly supportive of Michael Jackson, her extremely talented but troubled older brother, who died in 2009 and whose later career was dogged by allegations of sexual abuse.
In recent years Janet Jackson has continued to record and tour, although she has largely kept a lower profile since the Super Bowl fiasco. In 2017, at age 50, she gave birth to her first child, a son, with then-husband Wissam Al Mana.
In the documentary, Janet Jackson’s peers describe her as a “legend, warrior, blueprint and greatest show woman.” Her songs changed the sound, choreography and presentation of pop music, and her influence lives on.
Here’s a look at her life and career, in photos.
Janet Jackson, right in a yellow dress, sits with her brother, Jermaine Jackson, and other members of their family beside the pool at their parents’ home in Encino, California, in 1971.
John Olson/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Janet Jackson, front center, attends older brother Jermaine Jackson’s wedding in December 1973. She’s with her mother Katherine, sister La Toya, and brothers Randy and Michael.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Siblings Michael and Janet Jackson attend the American Music Awards in February 1975.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The Jackson family films a television show at Burbank Studios in California on November 13, 1976. From left to right are Randy, La Toya, Marlon, Janet, Michael, Jackie, Rebbie and Tito.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson attend the premiere of “The Wiz” in 1978. The two started off as child superstars and grew into music icons.
Berliner Studio Inc/Shutterstock
Janet Jackson appears in a 1977 episode of the TV sitcom “Good Times” alongside actors Bob Delegall and Ja’net DuBois.
Everett Collection
Janet Jackson portrays Todd Bridges’ love interest in the TV series “Diff’rent Strokes,” circa 1981.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
La Toya Jackson and Janet Jackson in December 1982. Janet Jackson is the youngest of the 10 Jackson siblings.
Fryderyk Gabowicz/picture-alliance/dpa/AP
Janet Jackson, right, attends the R&B Awards with her father, Joe Jackson, and sister, LaToya Jackson, on February 4, 1983, in Los Angeles.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Pop superstar Michael Jackson is joined on stage by his sisters, from left, Maureen “Rebie,” Janet and LaToya during the 26th annual Grammy Awards on February 29, 1984, in Los Angeles.
Doug Pizac/AP
Singer Janet Jackson and her first husband, James DeBarge, attend the 12th annual American Music Awards on January 28, 1985, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images
Janet Jackson performs at the American Music Awards in 1987.
ABC Photo Archives/Disney Entertainment/Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II meets singer Janet Jackson in 1989 at the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium.
Empics Entertainment Archive/PA/Reuters
Janet Jackson, center, receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with her parents, Joe and Katherine Jackson, in 1990.
Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images
Janet Jackson performs during her “Rhythm Nation World Tour” on March 10, 1990, at the Cincinnati Coliseum in Ohio.
Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Flanked by Mickey Mouse, Janet Jackson blows out the candle on a cake to celebrate her 24th birthday on May 16, 1990, at Tokyo Disneyland.
Keiichi Tenma/AP
Rapper Tupac Shakur starred with Janet Jackson in the 1993 movie, “Poetic Justice.”
Shutterstock
Colin Powell and Janet Jackson visit an at-risk neighborhood in Washington, D.C. to promote the organization “America’s Promise” on July 7, 1998. Powell, the former Secretary of State, died in October 2021 at age 84.
Karin Cooper/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Janet Jackson performs to a sold-out crowd during her Velvet Rope Tour in 1998 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Reuters
Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston attend the 71st annual Academy Awards’ Elton John AIDS Foundation Party in Los Angeles in 1999.
KMazur/WireImage/Getty Images
Jay Leno, host of “The Tonight Show,” chats with Janet Jackson on April 26, 2001.
Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal/Getty Images
Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson exit the courthouse following Michael Jackson’s arraignment on child molestation charges in January 2004 in Santa Barbara County, California.
WireImage/Getty Images
Janet Jackson performs with Justin Timberlake during halftime of Super Bowl XXXVIII at Reliant Stadium in Houston on February 1, 2004.
Rhona Wise/EPA/Shutterstock
Finesse Mitchell, Janet Jackson and Fred Armisen as a ticket scalper in the “Janet Ticket Line” skit on “Saturday Night Live” on April 10, 2004.
Dana Edelson/NBCUniversal/Getty Images
Janet Jackson and then-boyfriend Jermaine Dupri attend an Olympus Fashion Week event in New York City on February 8, 2005.
Peter Kramer/Getty Images
Janet Jackson greets fans after performing on NBC’s “Today” show at New York’s Rockefeller Center on September 29, 2006.
Richard Drew/AP
Janet Jackson performs at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on December 2006.
Eric Jamison/AP for Fox
Tasha Smith, Janet Jackson and Sharon Leal in the 2007 Tyler Perry film, “Why Did I Get Married?”
Shutterstock
Janet Jackson attends a London Fashion Week event on February 21, 2010.
Stuart Wilson/Getty Images
Janet Jackson performs during the 2009 MTV Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Christopher Polk/Getty Images
Janet Jackson comforts her niece, Paris Jackson, during the memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7, 2009.
Mark J Terrill/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Singer Janet Jackson attends a signing to promote her new book, “True You: A Guide To Finding And Loving Yourself,” in Los Angeles on April 15, 2011.
Jim Ruymen/UPI/Shutterstock
Singer Janet Jackson arrives for the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS benefit at the 65th Cannes film festival in Cap d’Antibes, France, on May 24, 2012.
Joel Ryan/AP
Francesco Russo and Janet Jackson attend an event at Milan Fashion Week on February 21, 2013, in Milan, Italy.
Jacopo M. Raule/Getty Images
Janet Jackson performs after the Dubai World Cup at the Meydan Racecourse on March 26, 2016, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Francois Nel/Getty Images
Janet Jackson performs at the MTV Europe Music Awards on November 4, 2018, in Bilbao, Spain.
Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for MTV
Inductee Janet Jackson speaks during the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on March 29, 2019, in New York City.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images For The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
