Jackson splits from husband

Singer Janet Jackson is said to have found Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana, seen here at an Hermes fashion show in 2015, too controlling, dictating even her appearance.
Singer Janet Jackson is said to have found Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana, seen here at an Hermes fashion show in 2015, too controlling, dictating even her appearance. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

NEW YORK • Pop star Janet Jackson has split up with her third husband, Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana, months after giving birth to her first child, say reports.

The break-up was confirmed by People magazine and first reported by the Mail on Sunday.

Jackson, 50, and Al Mana, 42, quietly married in 2012 and welcomed a son, Eissa, in January this year.

New York Post's Page Six gossip column quoted a source as saying it was an amicable split.

But another source was quoted as saying: "She thought he had become too controlling during the pregnancy and she had already allowed him to dictate her appearance and even the way she performed at concerts."

Al Mana manages a business empire that spans fashion, media and real estate, said People.

Page Six said he insisted that the family live under strict Muslim customs, which included forbidding Jackson to nurse the baby in public. She had to cover up her body on her concert tour, added the report.

She also appeared to have toned down her music. When her last album, Unbreakable, arrived in 2015, The New York Times noted how chaste her songs had become. It called one of the songs, No Sleeep, "a reticent, PG-rated version of the far more explicit ways Jackson used to tease".

She was married to soul singer James DeBarge from 1984 to 1985 and to dancer Rene Elizondo Jr from 1991 to 2000.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 11, 2017, with the headline Jackson splits from husband. Subscribe