Janet Jackson Returns to the Stage Since Welcoming Her New Baby Boy

When Janet Jackson received the Billboard Icon Award on May 20, she made history as the first African-American woman to do so. But the mom of 17-month-old Eissa used her moment to recognize all women in the #MeToo movement, saying, “I stand with” the women who’ve “made it clear that we will no longer be controlled, manipulated, or abused.”

Janet, 52, who’s had No. 1 hits in every decade since the 1980s, also sang a medley of her songs — the first time she’s performed on TV in nine years. Following the birth of her son, Janet had been laying low.

Janet at the Billboard Music Awards.

“I maintain a let-it-happen-when-it-happens approach” to writing music, told Billboard in the magazine’s May 19 issue. Still, she’s now working on new songs and has been rehearsing for a summer tour. “This is the life I love,” she said. “Now more than ever, performing, whether in the studio or onstage, brings me a satisfaction I find nowhere else.”

As for life with her baby boy, Janet couldn’t be happier. “My son, even in his short 17 months on the planet, has [shown] me that love, no matter how deeply you believe you have experienced that emotion, can always go deeper. Love is limitless. And for someone like me, raised in show business where self-concern is always a priority, how fortunate I am now to be concerned, first and foremost, with the welfare of someone else,” she told Billboard.