Janet Jackson finally addresses shocking rumors that she had a secret baby with ex-husband James DeBarge

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Janet Jackson & Malik Yoba Visit BET's 106 & Park
Singer Janet Jackson visits BETโ€™s 106 & Park at BET Studios on March 31, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
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Radar Online

Janet Jackson has finally addressed the long-standing rumor that she had a child with her ex-husband, James DeBarge, in the 1980s as part of the upcoming documentary focusing on her life and career โ€“ and what she reveals may shock you.

According to Page Six, the 55-year-old singer denies once and for that she secretly had a baby with her ex in Janet, the upcoming two-night documentary scheduled to premiere this Friday on Lifetime and A&E.

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Although the secret baby rumors have been swirling for more than three decades, the Together Again singer reportedly reveals all the reasons why it just isnโ€™t true.

โ€œI could never keep a child away from James. How could I keep a child from their father?โ€ Jackson says. โ€œI could never do that. Thatโ€™s not right.โ€

She does focus on when the rumors first started and says she knows why so many people thought she may have been pregnant.

โ€œA lot of the kids thought I was pregnant โ€™cause I had gained weight and I had started taking birth control pills,โ€ she states, also revealing that the rumors first started during her fourth season of NBCโ€™s drama Fame in 1984. โ€œAnd back then, you could pick up weight taking them, and thatโ€™s what happened to me, so that rumor started going around.โ€

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Her Fame co-star Debbie Allen, who makes an appearance in the upcoming documentary, reportedly recalls also being surprised by the pregnancy speculation โ€œflying aroundโ€ at the time.

โ€œThese were rumors that were just flying around, honey, like hash in a diner,โ€ Allen says. โ€œWhere was the baby? Nobody saw a baby. I mean, she was there with us all day, every day. Where was the baby?โ€

The documentary also reportedly focuses on Jackson and DeBargeโ€™s short-lived relationship and marriage, which the singer claims only started because she turned to him to help escape from her oftentimes controlling father, Joe Jackson.

โ€œI was just incredibly innocent,โ€ the documentaryโ€™s subject shares with tears running down her face. โ€œItโ€™s just, to me, hurtful for someone to see that and just try to take advantage of it.โ€

As Radar previously reported, besides touching at length upon the rumors of having a secret child with DeBarge, Jackson also focuses on her relationship with her brother Michael in the documentary, as well as her trauma following her infamous wardrobe malfunction โ€“ and the harsh fallout it caused to her career โ€“ during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show with Justin Timberlake.

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