The Heartbreaking Way Janet Jackson Got Teased By Her Brother Michael As A Child

Janet Jackson took fans on a deep dive into her past with “Janet Jackson: The documentary.” Janet Jackson rarely shares personal details about her life, but in the documentary “Janet,” she took fans on a deep dive into her past. As noted by Entertainment Tonight, Janet discussed the struggles she faced growing up, including body image issues that stemmed from the teasing she received when she was a kid. And as it turns out, her brother Michael Jackson was one of the people who used devastating words to make her feel ashamed about how she looked.

Janet Jackson rarely shares personal details about her life, but in the documentary “Janet,” she took fans on a deep dive into her past. As noted by Entertainment Tonight, Janet discussed the struggles she faced growing up, including body image issues that stemmed from the teasing she received when she was a kid. And as it turns out, her brother Michael Jackson was one of the people who used devastating words to make her feel ashamed about how she looked.

“There were times when Mike used to tease me and call me names. ‘Pig, horse, slaughter hog, cow,'” Janet recalled. “He would laugh about it and I’d laugh too, but then there was some­where down inside that it would hurt.” And while she tried hard to brush it off, all the teasing messed with her head. “When you have somebody say you’re too heavy, it affects you,” she added.

Janet took her insecurities well into adulthood, telling InStyle she had to go through therapy to finally learn how to love her body. “At first, I couldn’t find anything. I would look in the mirror and start crying. I didn’t like that I was not attractive. I didn’t like anything about me,” she confessed. “But I wound up falling in love with the small of my back. And then from there I found more things. And then finally realizing my smile isn’t that bad after all.”