TheJanet Jacksondocumentary premiered on Lifetime and A&E over the weekend, igniting a Twitter firestorm in the process. Fans were shocked to discover So So Def founder Jermaine Dupri allegedly cheated on the veteran pop star during their eight-year relationship.
As the four-part series concluded, the 49-year-old music exec admitted he was “reckless” with Jackson and suggested other women were the reason for their split.
“One of the weird things about dating Janet is that dating Janet attracts other women,” he said. “Girls wanted to talk to me more because I was dating her, which was really weird … and uhh, just yanno … I was a man,” insinuating he wasn’t able to control himself sexually. But Jackson argued it was more than the cheating — Dupri was also obsessed with his work to the point they’d rarely see each other.
“He was a work-a-holic,” she said. “And he was constantly working. I would not see him for like three weeks, a month. And as soon as he would come in, he would go to the club. And it’s like carve out just a little time for me…, and it was hard for him to do. His girlfriend was his work.”
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Jermaine Dupri has addressed his relationship with Janet Jackson elsewhere in recent years — but blamed the breakup on geography. Speaking to T.I. for his expediTIously podcast in April 2020, Dupri claimed neither one of them was willing to move to their respective cities. Jackson was living near the sun-filled Pacific Ocean in Malibu, while Dupri was still in his home base of Atlanta, Georgia.
“I started seeing so many other things that I wanted to do, and so many other places that I wanted to go,” he said at the time. “I started thinking like marriage for me wasn’t gonna work. Just, something about it. When you feel like you’re ready to get married, you don’t have no answers, you just know what it is. I was in the space.
Bow Wow & Da Brat Beg Jermaine Dupri To Get Back Together With Janet Jackson
“I’m not gon front and say that I wasn’t. I felt married… I think the only thing that created a difference for me was the fact that we didn’t live together. We had an eight year, nine year relationship, but we didn’t live with each other.”
Jermaine Dupri continued citing his refusal to move as a factor in their split but never copped to cheating, at least not in the expediTIously interview.
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“I feel like that’s a part where you really determine if you’re strong,” he added. “She wasn’t willing to move to Atlanta. She was willing to come out here for a couple of weeks. But living in Atlanta, for her, just didn’t really seem like L.A. I wasn’t ready to move to Malibu… I like it, I fuck with it. but it ain’t… It’s just something about being here. That stuff didn’t feel like the space where either one of us wanted to be.”
But there’s a sense Twitter wouldn’t forgive Dupri for messing up their relationship no matter what the reason. Check out some of the reactions below.
