Remember when singers just sang? Maybe they wrote a few songs too, or sold a perfume at the CVS, and perhaps acted in a few movies but nothing really overshadowed their singing and hopping around on stage? Those days are over, thanks to the need to have 5,6,7,8, 50-11 side hustles. It’s not enough to put out a good product. Nope, because folks just aren’t buying it anymore. We’re illegally downloading it, sharing it and watching the concert highlights on YouTube, all for free-99. It’s really hard out here for a diva, it would seem. Enter: the weight loss commercial. If you haven’t had a smash hit in years, you can lose some el-bees and #BAM, career’s back at 100 (or a good 85). Jennifer Hudson, Mariah Carey and, now, Janet Jackson have all discovered the formula.

CONTINUE READING ON WITCHES’ BREW

From one legendary set of breasts to another. If you are a fan of tittay meat and beautiful faces thank me in PayPal donations today. Currently embarking on a world tour,  Janet Jackson stopped by the UK’s Paul O’Grady Live to plug her new book, reveal yet another embarrassing wardrobe malfunction, dish on her love of french fries and more. Watch below.

Fresh off her fashionable appearance at amfAR’s Cinema Against AIDS Gala earlier that week Damita Jo dazzled the audience during the 19th Life Ball in front of the city hall in Vienna, Austria on Saturday.

WHAT’S YOUR VERDICT?

As the legend goes Joe Jackson couldn’t remain faithful to Katherine back when the stock on his dick was at a record high so he has a handful of adult children conceived out of wedlock floating around. Chances are more than half of the people reading this story has added at least one by mistake to their friend list on a social networking site before realizing the error and deleting them. The world ain’t but so big.

But I digress.

Freddy O reports that Janet Jackson invited formerly estranged half-sister Joh’Vonnie Jackson to a concert date on her Number Ones tour. Joh’Vonnie, who also goes by the alias Iron Rose, previously threatened to pen a tell-all book blasting the family . . .  until brother Jermaine stepped in and threatened to rub his hair product into homegirl’s eyes.

Until Iron Rose gets a boot on her car for unpaid tickets this looks like closure to me.

In a revealing exclusive interview in promotion of her comeback tour and new book,”True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself,” Janet Jackson opens up to Meredith Vieira about her complex childhood, longstanding body image issues, career highs and lows, and her relationship with her family. View a video clip and read interview excerpts after the jump.

“I would literally bang my head up against the wall because I didn’t feel attractive.” Janet Jackson, 44, told Meredith. “There was a lot of pain in my life. I felt very unattractive. There was this picture of my sister, Rebbie. And I would always look at her picture and I thought: ‘Oh Gosh, she’s so beautiful. If I could only look like that when I get older. God, how gorgeous is she?’ And I never ever felt attractive.”

The singer used to be taunted by her brothers and was called “horse, pig, cow, and slaughter-hog” by her own brothers – including the late legend Michael. Jackson is turning the childhood troubles into a positive experience in her new book True You: A Journey to Find and Loving Yourself, set to hit book stores on Feb 15.

“I guess some people could say: ‘Oh, that’s, you know, brothers and sisters joking. It’s all affection. It’s all, you know, it’s in a loving way.’ But not everybody can brush it off, and I was one of those. I still have issues with it. I don’t bang my head up against the wall but I still have those moments. And I think it’ll probably continue but at least I know how to deal with it now.”

Of her brother, whom she last saw about six weeks before he died in 2009, Jackson said she embarked on the grieving process long after everyone else in the family.

“I don’t know if it was trying to shield the pain, or just trying to hold it all together because I saw that everyone else around me was falling apart. And, never — never taking that moment to really grieve. Really grieve, even at the service [in July 2009].”

But she recently allowed herself to watch his videos and listen to his music during a nightlong session in Paris.

“And, there was moments when I– I felt the cry, and moments that made me laugh. And, it was good for me. I needed it,” she said. (source)

Janet Jackson, photographed above this past Tuesday outside the Los Angeles County Superior Court attending the preliminary hearing for Dr. Conrad Murray, received an Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture nomination for the 42nd NAACP Image Awards in support of her role in the Tyler Perry film Why Did I Get Married Too?

Earlier this week she announced that “Janet Jackson Number Ones, Up Close and Personal Tour” will kick off March 4 at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.

“These concerts are not about special effects. This is a love affair between me and those of you who have supported me and my work all these years, said Jackson in a release. ” I’ll be singing in dancing from my heart. The music will all be songs that you’ve made number ones for me.”

Fans just better make sure that they have their bread all the way up if they plan on experiencing Ms. Jackson live. You know the woman probably has to cover the monthly fees on Jermaine’s self storage unit.

The girls are back in town!

Tyler Perry, along with two of his best girlfriends, Janet Jackson and Kimberly Elise,  have started filming his new movie ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf’ in New York City. Recently, the film has faced a big setback: Mariah Carey has dropped out for personal reasons (rumor has it she pregnant with Nick Cannon’s litter).

But fear not! Like any tough gal, Tyler Perry adjusts his wig, re-applies his mascara, and keeps it moving.

I don’t make it a priority to watch American Idol past the try outs and last night was no exception, but thanks to the crime infested digital playground that is World Star Hip Hop people like me don’t have to miss a beat or palm to palm crack exchange. Heeeeere’s Damita Jo!