Michael Jackson Used to Tease Janet Jackson About Her Weight: ‘Pig, Horse, Slaughter Hog, Cow’
Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson remain two of the biggest sensations to ever hit the world of music. They were also close siblings — but just like every other pair of siblings, the two often picked on each other.
Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson grew up in the music industry
Michael Jackson was first introduced to the world as the youngest member of the family singing group The Jackson 5. He grew up in the public eye and proved his star quality early on, leading the group to success with No. 1 singles such as “ABC” and “I Want You Back.”He eventually became a talented songwriter as an adult.
Janet Jackson, meanwhile, was the youngest of the ten children in the Jackson house. As a child, she wanted to race horses, but was quickly drafted into the family business as a singer.
Michael Jackson teased Janet Jackson about her weight
Janet Jackson took a look back at her life and career in her new Lifetime documentary, simply titled Janet Jackson. At one point, she reflected on the times when her older brother would make fun of her body image.
“There were times when Mike used to tease me and call me names. ‘Pig, horse, slaughter hog, cow,” Jackson recalled. “He would laugh about it and I’d laugh too, but then there was somewhere down inside that it would hurt.”
“I’m an emotional eater, so when I get stressed or something is really bothering me, it comforts me,” she added. “When you have somebody say you’re too heavy, it affects you.”
In a 2022 interview with Allure, she admitted that she dressed according to how she felt.
“I was never a girly girl. I was always a tomboy. So it was always about pants, suits, even as an early teenager. I remember when my brothers got their star on the Walk of Fame and other awards they got, and I look back on pictures and I always had on a suit with a tie, a bow tie, or suspenders,“ Jackson said. “Always loving black and never wanting to expose any part of my body, I felt most comfortable to cover it up to here.”
Janet Jackson grew apart from Michael Jackson as their careers advanced
In her documentary, Jackson revealed that she and her brother’s relationship slowly deteriorated as time went on and they each became superstars in their own right.
“I remember really loving the Thriller album but for the first time in my life I felt it was different between us, a shift was happening,” she remembered. “That’s the time Mike and I started going our separate ways. He just wasn’t as fun as he used to be.”
When they worked together on the 1995 song “Scream,” she felt especially hurt by him and him seemingly not advocating for her during the production.
“Michael shot nights, I shot days,” she said in the documentary. “His record company would block off his set so I couldn’t see what was going on. They didn’t want me on set.”
“That really hurt me because I felt I was there fighting the fight with him, not to battle him,” she continued. “I wanted it to feel like old times between he and I, and it didn’t. Old times had long passed.”
