On Saturday, Lifetime and A&E dropped the second half of “Janet,” a riveting four-part documentary about the life of Janet Jackson tied to the 40th anniversary of the singer’s self-titled debut album.
In the first two parts of the series, fans got to learn all about Janet's childhood, her rise to fame and her first marriage to James DeBarge. Now, in the third and fourth parts, Janet details what her life was like as an actor, her challenging relationship with brother Michael Jackson, the infamous wardrobe malfunction in 2004 and where she stands today with Justin Timberlake.
Since there were so many shocking revelations from the second night, TODAY rounded up 17 of the biggest bombshells.
1) Rapper Q-Tip got to kiss Janet around '20 times' in 'Poetic Justice'
In 1993, Janet starred in "Poetic Justice" alongside rapper Tupac Shakur, who died three years after the film was released. Although Shakur played her love interest, he wasn't the only one who got to kiss Janet on the lips.
Fellow rapper Q-Tip got to smooch the 'Together Again' singer when he played her late boyfriend in the film and he remembers it being an "amazing" experience because he got to kiss Janet so much.
"Man, my first acting gig is to kiss Janet Jackson about 20 times because we did like 20 takes," he said in night two of the documentary. "I mean, amazing.”
2) Janet and Tupac had chemistry behind the scenes of 'Poetic Justice'
Regina King — who played Janet's bestie in "Poetic Justice " — remembers Janet having great chemistry with Tupac on-set, especially when they shared a kiss at the end of the film.
"I don't know if Janet will ever admit to it, but there was a bit of that chemistry going on. You could cut the air in the room at times," King shared. "But she was in a relationship with René, make no mistake about it."
René Elizondo Jr. was Janet's second husband. They were married from 1991 to 2000.
3) A model flirted with Janet in front of her husband
Janet and René decided to ditch her good girl image when he directed the music video to her 1993 song, “Again,” which played in "Poetic Justice."
In an effort to switch up her look to something more "sexy" and "sensual," the pair decided to show the pop star in a whole new light so they shot a scene where Janet's male model pulled out a chain from inside her pants.
"Gary, the male that was in the video, he said to me: 'Do you have a boyfriend?' And I said, 'Yeah. I do,'" she recalled in an old video clip. "He said, 'God, how does he feel about this? Uss kissing and touching and me putting my hand in your pants? And I said, 'Actually, he's the one telling us what to do.'"
4) Janet's family did not like her sexy 'Rolling Stone' cover
As Janet started to embrace her sexuality, she did a sexy photo shoot with Rolling Stone magazine that was the talk of the town.
In the photo, Janet was pictured topless with her jeans unbuttoned and with an anonymous pair of hands holding up her breasts. It was later revealed that those hands were René's.
"I did not like it," Janet's 71-year-old sister, Rebbie Jackson, said in the documentary. "My mom really didn't like it."
"I'm a bible student and I try to live in harmony with principals and it's not being prudish or anything like that, it's just that, for me, that's private," Rebbie continued.
Although singer Mariah Carey joked that she was "jealous" of Janet's photo because she "wasn't allowed to do that" at the time, Janet said that posing topless made her feel so courageous.
"I thought that was very bold of me to be quite honest," Janet said. "To unleash that within my family. With everybody else, it probably was no big issue, but I'm talking about my family 'cause that's not how we were brought up."
"I do what I do because it's something that I feel at that moment," she continued. "I mean, I was happy."
5) Janet lost a 'mega-million' dollar deal with Coca-Cola over Michael's first allegation
When the first allegation arose about Michael Jackson's alleged inappropriate behavior with a 13-year-old boy, Janet was right in the middle of a big deal with Coca-Cola.
"They approached me since my brothers are with Pepsi," she recalled. "They wanted me to do something with them."
"When that came out, Coca-Cola said, 'No, thank you," Janet added. "But, that's the way the world is."
6) Janet 'never' doubted Michael
When asked whether the allegations made against Michael affected her life, Janet said, "of course." However, she noted that she "never" doubted him when he said that he didn't do it because she knew his character.
“I know my brother. He didn’t have that in him," she said.
"My brother would never do something like that," Janet added. "But I'm still guilty by association 'cause that's what they call it, right?"
7) Working on 'Scream' with Michael was tough
After Janet's self-titled tour, her career was on a high. During that time, Michael called up his little sister and told her that he wanted them to collab on a song, known as "Scream.."
Janet noted that she agreed to do the project because she wanted to "support" her brother. In video footage, the pair of siblings are seen lovingly writing his verses together on a bed.
"I think he needed the support that I was trying to give him with this song," she said.
But once they started the project, that's when Janet realized that things weren't going to be as easy as they seemed.
"It was hard. There was a lot going on with him," she said in the documentary. "I think it was taking his toll on him."
The shoot went way over budget at $7 million and it ended up taking longer than three days to shoot. But that was just the beginning of Janet's problems.
"Michael shot nights. I shot days. His record company, they would block off his whole set so that I couldn't see what was going on," she explained. "They didn't want me on-set. I felt like they were trying to make it very competitive between the two of us."
"That really hurt me because I felt like I was there fighting the fight with him. Not to battle him," Janet continued. "I wanted it to feel like old times between him and I and it didn't. Old times had long passed."
8) Janet is still upset with Michael over how he treated her
Although Janet noted that she and her family will always love Michael, she said that she's still upset over how he ostracized himself from the rest of the group.
"There were people that wanted to keep him where he was, where they felt like they could have some sort of control over him," Janet explained. "I was really upset 'cause we didn't grow up like that. And it upsets me to this day. You don't do that. You especially don't do that to family."
Janet noted that these were people who have been around him for "a long time," but they still decided to "separate him from his family."
"That’s when things started to really shift," she said.
9) Janet is an 'emotional eater'
Janet said that she turned to food for comfort during stressful times, and that this forced her to struggle with her weight and body image in the public eye.
10) Janet started to have body issues after 'Good Times'
Due to her developing at a very young age, Janet didn't feel the most confident about the way she looked. She said everything started to change once she played Penny in "Good Times."
"That's the beginning of having weight issues and the way I looked at myself," she said. "I was developing at a very young age and I started getting a chest and they would bind my chest so I would look more flat-chested."
It also didn't help that Michael liked to tease Janet when they were younger by calling her a "pig" or a "horse." However, Janet always knew that he never meant to hurt her feelings.
"It wasn’t out of malice on his part at all. Brothers tease sisters, sisters tease brothers and it was just fun and funny. But then there was somewhere down inside that it would hurt. When you have someone saying, 'You’re too heavy,' even if it was out of love, it affects you."
11) René struggled with painkillers
Near the end of their marriage, Janet started to doubt René's true intentions. She began opening up more to Tina Landon, her choreographer from 1993 to 1998, about her relationship with the dancer.
"I was part-witness to why I think things didn't work out very well," Landon said in the doc. "I just noticed someone who I had known for a while acting differently. It took Janet a long time to tell me what had been going on: René had struggled with some painkiller situation and this was prior to starting rehearsals for the 'Velvet Rope' tour."
René appeared to be very controlling to Janet's stylist Wayne Scot Lukas, who did her hair for more than a decade. He wondered how Janet could do a whole song about "Control" and then marry René. But after she spent nearly a decade with René, Janet decided that she was through with their marriage.
“The whole René situation started to get sour," she explained. "He was always constantly on me about the way I looked. ‘You have to look like your video. ‘When you go out, you have to look this way. You can’t go to the movie, people are going to see you, you don’t look like yourself.’ And I believed that."
The pair ended up getting a divorce in 2000.
12) People attacked her siblings about her Super Bowl performance
The fourth-part of the doc began by profiling the most controversial period of Janet's life: her 2004 Super Bowl halftime show performance with Justin Timberlake, which sparked controversy that has followed her over the years.
While Janet experienced great fall out after, she was secluded for much of it. Her brothers who were out and about would get attacked in person by angry "grown men."
"I did not see everything but obviously you couldn't get away from it because it was everywhere," she shared. "Then people wishing ill of you ... people coming up to my brothers and saying things wishing I would be put away."
13) Janet focused on her friends and family to get through that enduring time
"Something like that can take its toll on you emotionally," she said in one scene from the doc, referring to the controversy post the wardrobe malfunction.
"I just stayed focused on my work, stayed close to friends, stayed in touch with family. And that was enough for me to pull through. When you have everyone whispering about you and the majority of it is not favorable, that could put you to a different place.”
14) Justin Timberlake wanted Janet to perform at the 2018 Super Bowl
Timberlake returned to the Super Bowl in 2018 to headline that year’s halftime show and he invited Jackson to perform with him during the show.
“Justin and his team have been trying to contact us about you doing the Super Bowl,” her brother says to her during one scene in the documentary. “Looking back on what happened? I mean, would you want to do this Super Bowl show?”
She responds, “Not really, and and we have history with CBS.”
“When I think about it would it be nice to be able to perform? Yes,” she continues. “You know, our family we love entertaining. But on the flip side of it, it’s drudging up the past ... reliving something that happened over over 10 years ago.”
Janet, of course, did not end up performing with Timberlake.
15) Janet and Timberlake are still good friends and she wants fans to move on
“Honestly, this whole thing was blown way out of proportion,” Janet says in a selfie video that was recently filmed in 2022, seemingly addressing her fans directly.
“And, of course, it was an accident that should not have happened but everyone is looking for someone to blame and that’s got to stop. Justin and I are very good friends and we will always be very good friends. We spoke just a few days ago. He and I have moved on and it’s time for everyone else to do the same.”
16) Janet shares her last moment with Michael
"It took a while for me to accept," Janet says of her brother's death in 2009 at the age of 50. "It makes you think about life."
She also shared the last time they saw one another.
"The last time we saw each other it was a surprise pray for my parents," she shared. "My whole family was there and he was sitting next to me. He was laughing like crazy and he had that deep laugh. I remember him looking over at me and the last thing we said to each other was 'I love you' and that was the last time I saw him.
"But at least I have that," she added. "At least I have that."
17) Her favorite job? Being a mom
In 2017, Jackson gave birth to her first child, a son named Eissa Al Mana. Being a mom to her son — who is largely kept out of the public eye — is her favorite "new job."
"I was 50 when I had Eissa. They might say that is too old. I say bullcrap. It wasn't easy. I kept on trying, you know, this injection, that injection. Doing this, going to a doctor in Italy, going to a doctor in Switzerland. It was a lot. I refused to give up and I have a beautiful, healthy boy because of it."
For her future or what's next for her?
"I want to concentrate on being a mother."