Janet Jackson says being a mother is the “most important thing” she’s done with her life.
The 58-year-old singer is mom to 7-year-old son Eissa Al Mana, who she has with her ex-husband Wissam Al Mana, 49, and has now opened up about how the child has had a “beautiful impact” on her life.
“The most important thing I’ve done, the biggest thing I’ve done, is become a mother, and it’s had a beautiful impact on my life. I wanted to have three children, but thought, ‘I should stop there, that’s probably all I can handle.’ Because you have to give all of yourself. Obviously, you have to work, but you don’t come first anymore. Your life completely changes. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” she told The Guardian.
Jackson also said she was bringing her boy up completely differently that she was, after she was thrust into fame at age 8 when she appeared on “The Carol Burnett Show” with her singer brothers.
She says she and her son’s childhoods are already “completely different” as she worked and he hasn’t.
“I want him to experience being a child, because you don’t get to do this over. You’re an adult for the rest of your life, so I want him to enjoy each and every minute of being a child,” Jackson went on.
Jackson had her son on Jan. 3, 2017, at age 50, and added she is passing on different values and lessons to the child than she got from her parents Katherine Jackson, 94, and Joe Jackson, who is said to have brutally beaten and verbally abused her brothers as he drove them to fame and fortune.
“Because if they had done this with me, it would have been much better for me as a child.” She says, as a mother, she’s aware of “some things you wish your parents had done differently.”
“I hated it as a kid, but I’m thankful for it now. I have to give credit to my parents for keeping me grounded,” Jackson said, despite her hard upbringing.
