Janet Jackson talks about life after Michael

We all remember where we were when we heard the news. In Janet Jackson’s case, she was at home in New York about to start shooting the sequel to the hit film Why Did I Get Married? The date was June 25, 2009. She was preoccupied, focused and slightly nervous, but above all excited.
Then came the call that would shatter her world and make headlines all over the globe – her brother Michael was dead.
Janet’s friend Tyler Perry – the film director who wrote the role of Patricia especially for her and who’d just begun production on Why Did I Get Married Too? – immediately flew to New York to be by her side.
“I was supposed to start shooting in a couple of days when Michael passed,” says Janet, 44. “Tyler stopped work to come and be with me. He told me to take time off. Everyone told me that, but I wanted to do my job.”
Jackson flew straight from her brother’s funeral in Los Angeles to begin filming in Atlanta, Georgia.
“I got on a plane the evening of the service and was on set the next day,” she reveals. “It helped me to dive in and go to those deep places. There were moments when I had to get right into the character. But Michael’s death was always at the back of my mind every single day. And it still is.”
Janet was able to vent her emotions in one particular scene where Patricia, in a rage over her marriage falling apart, smashes a living room to smithereens with a golf club.
“That was very therapeutic,” she smiles. “Very cathartic. There was a lot of pent-up stuff and I was thankful to have that scene so soon, to have that release.”
We’re speaking at the Dorchester Hotel in London, where Janet’s flawless complexion and boyish new short haircut belie her age.
So is it right that the new look was the idea of the man who’s reported to now be her boyfriend, 35-year-old Qatari millionaire businessman Wissam Al Mana?
“No, I did it for my next film,” Janet chuckles coyly, referring to the next tie-up with Tyler Perry – an adaptation of the popular book For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf.
Janet’s association with the African-American writer-director has worked wonders for her screen career. She won an Outstanding Supporting Actress award for her first outing as Patricia, a film which cost a mere $15m but took $55m in its first eight weeks at the US box office.

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv-entertainment/film-news/2010/09/03/janet-jackson-talks-about-life-after-michael-115875-22531475/