Janet Jackson Discusses Motherhood For the First Time Since She Welcomed Son, Eissa
Popular American music icon, Janet Jackson has fully embraced her newest role: motherhood, at 52. The superstar singer welcomed her first child, son Eissa, with now-ex Wissam Al Mana in January 2017.
The pop star sister of the late Michael Jackson wedded the Qatari billionaire businessman, 43, in 2012 and divorced him last year (read here).
In an exclusive new cover story with Billboard, Jackson gives a rare peek inside her life as a mom — including which musician her son first exhibited an affinity toward.
Jackson says her baby boy, even in his short time on Earth, has shown her a “deeper” love than she thought possible. She said Eissa has also taught her how much love she truly has to give, as well as how far it has the potential to reach.
READ ALSO: Meet The Woman Who Claims to Be Janet Jackson’s Rumoured Child with Ex Husband
”My son, even in his short 17 months on the planet, has showed me that love, no matter how deeply you believe you have experienced that emotion, can always go deeper. Love is limitless.
And for someone like me, raised in show business where self-concern is always a priority, how fortunate I am now to be concerned, first and foremost, with the welfare of someone else.”
The single mom continues;
“Bruno [Mars] was really the first music my son responded to,” says Jackson. “During and after his birth, I comforted myself with Brazilian jazz, music that always relaxes me,” she adds.
“Then when the baby began crawling, Bruno was breaking out big and on the radio all the time. That delighted both of us.”
READ ALSO: Watch! Wendy Williams Airs Her Thoughts On Janet Jackson’s Pregnancy At 50
On the source of her drive, being a single mom at 52 and having to balance motherhood with the music:
The drive is in my DNA. I couldn’t lose it if I wanted to, and I don’t. Motivation is something I treasure. Besides, for all its difficulties, this is the life I love. I’m surrounded with a team of dancers, singers and musicians I love.
I’m supported by fans that have stuck by me through thick and thin. They mean the world to me. Now more than ever, performing, whether in the studio or onstage, brings me a satisfaction I find nowhere else.
Like millions of other women, I’ve struggled with low self-esteem my whole life. I’m doing better in that regard. My inclination towards harsh self-criticism and even self-negation has dramatically eased up. I believe in all the different methods of help — smart psychology, vigorous exercise and sincere spirituality.
God is the greatest healer of all and the most potent force in the universe. In my world, though, God is so often expressed through music, and it’s music that beats back the negative forces.
It’s music that drowns out those voices that say I’m not enough. It’s music, and its divine source, that gifts me with the knowledge that harmony is still possible.
‘Day after day and night after night, holding my baby in my arms, I am at peace. I am blessed. I feel bliss. In those moments, all is right with the world.”
Like many working moms, Jackson had the challenge of squeezing sleep into her schedule early on — something that actually ended up being to her benefit.
“It wasn’t anything I was going through,” she says of her song “No Sleeep,” which came out before Eissa was born. “You could say, though, that I might have been anticipating sleepless nights.”
“I’d also add that sleepless nights, no matter how tiring, are some of the times that I do my best writing.”
Photo credit: Miller Mobley/ Billboard/ Getty
Motherhood suits her. Eissa is so handsome.