Janet Jackson talks father's death, adjust to fame at young age as she covers InStyle Magazine’s Beauty Issue

Janet Jackson is the cover star for InStyle Magazine‘s Beauty Issue where she speaks to the magazine about father, Joe Jackson‘s death, how she was able to adjust to fame at a young age, how she feels about her body now and a whole lot more.

Read excerpts below:

On the passing of her father: I didn’t know if I wanted to cancel the tour. But I think my father would’ve wanted me to continue. He is in a better place. I’ve said this before, but you’ll never forget [the pain]. The hurt is always there, but you learn how to move forward.

On adjusting to fame at a young age: From the beginning. It’s so funny — my brothers talk about it to this day. We would play to a crowd of 20,000 people, and the next day we were at home. My parents would make us get up at 7 in the morning. Why? We had to rake the whole yard. Now, we’re talking about 3 acres. Every leaf had to be gone out of that yard. You had to clean all the animal cages and wash all the animals. We had a house-keeper and chefs growing up. And the house-keeper was there to watch us take care of our rooms. Make our beds, vacuum the floor, mop the kitchen. She was there to making sure we did what our parents wanted us to do.

On self-image: I remember growing up and being in this business was always this important thing. Because it was the thing. And you had to be a certain size, you had to be thin to be an entertainer. Stupid crap like that. That’s just this business I’m in. I think it’s changed, thank God. People are more accepting of others. Which is the way it should’ve been from the jump? That can really mess with you.

On what she was insecure about before: I would have to say my body. A lot of it has to do with experience, getting older. Understanding, realizing that there isn’t just one thing that is considered beautiful. Beautiful comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

On what she thinks makes a woman beautiful:Lots of different things. It’s vulnerability. It’s power. It’s confidence. It’s happiness. It’s seeing the goodness in the soul. It’s spirituality. It’s being selfless and what you do for others before doing for yourself.

On when she feel most beautiful: I feel like I’m being corny here, but it’s just the honest truth: I feel most beautiful when I’m with my son, because of the gift that God has given me and that he allowed me to do so at that age. My baby is so sweet and so healthy, so happy and so full of love.

On what she loves about herself: 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. And then finally realizing my smile isn’t that bad after all. I thought I looked like the Joker because it was so big.

For more on Janet, visit InStyle.com