Jermaine Dupri Reveals “Being Reckless” Led to Split With Janet Jackson
The rap and pop music world were extremely shocked when Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri announced they were in a relationship. It was a moment where everyone looked at the two in awe — two child phenoms who grew up and stayed consistent with their success into adulthood.
Now, the “Welcome To Atlanta” rapper admits, in the fourth part of the new Janet Jackson docu-series on Lifetime and A&E, what led to their unexpected break-up in 2009. “One of the weird things is that dating Janet attracts other women — girls wanted to talk to me more because I was dating her… and I’m a man,” Dupri confessed, addressing rumors that he had cheated.
The two, who were together for seven years, eventually went their separate ways in 2009.
Elsewhere in the docu-series, Janet heard those same rumors during their long distance courtship, which had him in Atlanta, Georgia and her in Los Angeles, California. “I had heard he was cheating,” she said. “But there were other things… I needed more than he was giving me. He was a workaholic and he was constantly working — as soon as he was done working, after he would go to the club. I would ask him to carve out a little time for me,” she said.
The So So Def executive and venerable hip hop producer would go on to admit about “being reckless” during a confessional session in Janet Jackson.
“I always felt that he didn’t have enough time for a girlfriend… I would say that work was his girlfriend,” Jackson said in retrospect, before the documentary cuts to a dated clip of her speaking about how she wanted to have “as many kids” as Jermaine would give her.
When the scene ends and returns to the present, Janet admits that she thought Jermaine was “it” for her at the time. Since then, the two have continued to be friends.
