Janet has appeared on the cover of Jet Magazine in stores now. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Janet Jackson has arrived at a place she’s never been before. And it took her four decades to get there.
“Paradise,” she tells Jet. “I really feel that way. I’m at the most blissful point I’ve ever been in my life. I’m happy with myself. I’m happy with my life and my relationship, and for all those to come together at the same time, that’s the first. That really is a first.”
This couldn’t have happened at a better time for her.
Two days before the Jet interview Janet was celebrating her 40th birthday during a private party given by her boyfriend, hip-hop music mogul Jermaine “JD” Dupri.
Janet and JD arrived at the hot new Los Angeles spot Shag in a black Bentley and were greeted by 300 family members and close friends.
Among the guests were Janet’s brothers, Jermaine and Randy, Jimmy Jam, one- half of the Grammy-winning production duo who helped shape Janet’s music career, Nia Long and Paris and Nicky Hilton.
Stevie Wonder, a longtime family friend, helped to make her day even sweeter by singing to her a special rendition of Happy Birthday.
Then JD, her steady beau of five years, topped off her milestone day by presenting his sweetheart with a 2006 white Porsche Cayman as a gift.
Dressed in all white, Janet was radiant, flashing a bright smile and showing how fine and fabulous she is with her svelte new physique.
She admits that she shed more than 50 pounds recently after she put on the extra weight for a film role. Lee Daniels, the Oscar-winning producer of Monster’s Ball, cast her as a waitress in the South in his upcoming indie drama Tennessee.
The role, she says, required her to be a bit full-figured. “He wanted the weight on me,” she says. “I didn’t recognize the person in the mirror and he loved it. And I thought it was great for the character.”
Janet, whose film roles have included Poetic Justice and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, adds, “I’ve always been passionate about acting. So if I needed to go there (gain weight), I was willing to go there. No problem at all. And when he had to change the date of the film, it didn’t work with the schedule of the album. So I had to make a choice.”
Pick up this issue on newsstands now for the entire article.
Janet has left a new message for fans on her official website at 
Entertainment Tonight was on the set of Janet’s album cover shoot for ’20 Years Old’ and asked her about the weight she put on towards the end of last year. Explaining it was for a film role, Janet said, “I put on the pounds for a film I was to do with Lee Daniels, the producer of ‘Monster’s Ball,’ which a lot of people didn’t know. They wanted a full-figured woman. She’s from the South, a waitress.”
Janet goes on to say that as the start of filming was then pushed back, she had to cancel her role in the movie in order to work on the new album. She reckons that Mariah Carey will now take the role.
Janet’s new album is set to hit stores around the globe on Monday September 25th. Titled “20 Years Old” as a homage to the 20 years since Janet released “Control”, executive producer Jermaine Dupri said, 
