Janet Jackson
The singer and single mum wows fans
AFTER DELAYING HER TOUR FOR THE best reason—her first child, son Eissa—janet Jackson’s State of the World tour is back on track. And at age 51 the singer is back on form, as she showed at her first concert in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Sept. 7, eight months after Eissa’s birth. Jackson changed outfits several times and worked what was reported as her almost 30kg weight loss to her advantage on stage. Preparing for the tour, the star was rehearsing “15, 16 hours a day,” a source reportedly said. “It’s a gruelling schedule but she is up to the task. She wants to blow the crowd away.” That plan seemed to work, according to fans who posted glowing praise. The next day in Houston, the star visited victims of Hurricane Harvey with brother Randy and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. She shared plans to donate proceeds from her Houston show to local flood-relief charities and “brought smiles and hugs,” a witness told E! News. But that concert also brought tears—she broke down in an emotional performance of 1997’s domestic-violence-themed “What About”, telling the audience, “This is me.”
Along with tour prep, Jackson has been finalising her divorce from Qatari businessman Wissam Al Mana, 42. Their split was announced three months after Eissa was born on Jan. 3. “She and Wissam are working together to co-parent. They have a strong friendship. There is no fighting between them,” a family source told WHO.
At home, “She changes all the diapers— she does it all,” brother Tito Jackson told WHO. “She’s a real mother. She loves it. I asked her, ‘How are you getting along with this?’ and she said, ‘ Tito, I love it.’ She just loves her baby. She’s great at being a mother. I guess it sort of makes her feel complete.”
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