Any of us could list off 10 or more things we love about Janet Jackson in a heartbeat—but when she was younger, she says she had a hard time looking in the mirror and doing that herself.
In InStyle’s October cover story, Jackson opened up about her experience going to therapy in her 30s and facing her insecurities, which at the time overpowered the things she liked about herself. It was a process. She said, “At first, I couldn’t find anything. I would look in the mirror and start crying. I didn’t like that I was not attractive. I didn’t like anything about me. But I wound up falling in love with the small of my back. And then from there I found more things.”
Among those things was her smile: “And then finally realizing my smile isn’t that bad after all. I thought I looked like the Joker because it was so big.”
Overall, she says therapy helped lead her to the “realization that, you know what, you’re not so bad after all.” Awww, Janet. Kudos to her 30-year-old self, and shout out to therapy.