Yesterday Jermaine Jackson confirmed the news that the Jackson 5 would be reuniting and touring together and said that his brother Micheal, 50, would even be joining them.

“”This has been a long time coming for the Jackson family to get back together,” [Jermaine] Jackson said.

“It is just the timing, so what we’ve been doing is working on the music and all the logistics.

“It is going to be more like a family affair, Janet’s going to open and, of course, the original Jackson 5 … Michael, Randy and the whole family … we’re in the studio, we’re planning on being out there next year.”

[From News.com.au]

The only problem is that it’s not true. Maybe Michael indicated that he would get involved and that’s why Jermaine thought he would, but now Michael is saying through his rep that he has his own career to attend to and wishes his family well but won’t be adding his talent to the reunion tour:

On Thursday, the pop star’s spokesperson issued a statement from Jackson explaining, “My brothers and sisters have my full love and support, and we’ve certainly shared many great experiences, but at this time I have no plans to record or tour with them. I am now in the studio developing new and exciting projects that I look forward to sharing with my fans in concert soon.”

[From OK! Magazine]

You can’t blame Michael for trying to do his own thing and get back a fraction of the success he had as a younger singer. He is planning a come back tour to take place in 30 cities next year and is recording a new album. His sister Janet isn’t doing as well with her tour and after a hiatus due to chronic migraines she’s barely selling a third of the seats at some of her venues. Maybe people assumed she wouldn’t show. It’s game of her to join her family and open up for their upcoming tour. The rest of the Jackson family hasn’t had as much success as Janet or Michael and could surely use the cash.

Here are photos of Jackson out with his kids in different costumes last night. Credit: Bauergriffinonline

Janet Jackson has released a YouTube video thanking her fans for their love and support during her recent illness. Jackson was diagnosed with vertigo and migraines that forced her to cancel numerous concerts on her tour. But she’s better now and wants the world to know so she posted the video on boyfriend Jermaine Dupri’s Living the Life YouTube channel.

Dispelling rumors that Janet and Jermaine have split up, the pair playfully pretended to put makeup on Dupri since he was sitting in Janet’s chair, showed off Dupri’s new camera and laughed off the notion that Jackson had kicked him to the curb because he puked on her.

Jackson, 42, also showed her silly side: After pretending to put rouge on Dupri’s cheek as he sat in her makeup chair, she dismissed rumors that the two had split.

“Baby, they say you broke up with me because I threw up on you,” a laughing Dupri said as he held the camera.

“How lame is that?” Jackson deadpanned. “Because you threw up on me … Well, there’s no real love there, is it?”

[From People]

Ah, yes, true love will allow ralphing in your lap, anytime, anywhere. If you can lose your lunch, or in this case your one-too-many Bacardi and cokes, on your partner and they still love you just as much as before, you know you’ve got a keeper!

Janet looks gorgeous as usual, backstage at a concert now that she’s back on the road. If you’ve never had migraines, thank your lucky stars! If you have, I know you feel incredible empathy for Jackson. I can’t even imagine having a migraine with stage lights in my face and music at ungodly decibels coming from all directions. I can’t even handle a slit of light through the drapes or the sound of the furnace kicking on when I have them.

Janet Jackson is shown performing in Atlanta on 10/19/08. Credit: WENN

Janet Jackson has had to cancel nine concerts for her “Rock Witchu” world tour due to an undisclosed illness. The “undisclosed” part had people speculating that Janet was pregnant – or she was faking the illness due to slow ticket sales. Turns out neither is true: Janet was diagnosed with a rare form of migraine that causes symptoms similar to vertigo. Not fun.

According to her manager, the veteran pop star will be returning to her Rock Witchu tour Wednesday night at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., after being forced to postpone nine shows while she struggled with a previously undisclosed illness.

“After a thorough medical evaluation, it has been confirmed that Janet’s symptoms are being caused by a rare form of migraine called vestibular migraine or migraine-associated vertigo for which she is currently receiving treatment,” read a statement released by Jackson’s camp and obtained by E! News.

The “Together Again” singer has not performed since falling ill Sept. 29 during a sound check before a show in Montreal.

“Janet wanted very much to resume her tour so as not to disappoint her fans, but she continued to suffer from vertigo and could not perform,” her manager, Kenneth Crear, said.

[From E!Online]

According to the Johns Hopkins Neurology Department web site, symptoms of vestibular migraine include vertigo, imbalance, dizziness, unsteadiness and extreme sensitivity to movement – along with all the other symptoms associated with regular migraines such as pain, ringing in the ears and sensitivity to light. Given that Janet’s entire stage show demands constant movement, loud music and bright lights, it probably wasn’t such a good idea for her to be performing. But the good news is, this form of migraine is treatable with medication, so hopefully Janet will be able to carry out the rest of her tour dates. Get well, Janet!

Janet Jackson is shown at her boyfriend Jermaine Dupri’s birthday party in NYC in September 2008. Photo Credit: WENN.

It’s been over a week since Janet Jackson suddenly canceled several of her concerts, blaming the rapid onset of a still-unexplained mystery illness. Since then she’s supposedly shown up for several of her sound checks but had to cancel every time because she still wasn’t better. Everyone’s got the right to keep their medical issues private, but when thousands of people are repeatedly put out like that, it’s natural to wonder what’s going on. As yet, Jackson hasn’t bothered to give any explanation more specific than the celebrity version of “the dog ate my homework.”

However ABC’s Luchina Fisher has a pretty good theory exactly what malady is plaguing Jackson. “Mid-life career slump” as she puts it.

Is it vertigo, as her brother Randy reportedly said last week, or is Janet suffering from an ailment more common to aging ’90s pop stars: a mid-life career slump? At 42, Jackson is certainly not the only middle-age female pop star rocking the concert circuit. Just look at Madonna, 50, whose “Sticky and Sweet” tour is virtually sold out and getting rave reviews. Or Tina Turner, who is about to embark on another tour at nearly age 69.

Why does Jackson, seemingly the most stable of the Jackson clan, appear to be losing her footing? “Her music hasn’t really evolved as she has aged as a person, said Jonathan Cohen, a senior editor at Billboard magazine. “She’s still doing the sex kitten thing, which, at 42, really isn’t believable.”

[Jackson family friend known only as Phoenix says] “They are pulling out due to bad ticket sales. Janet might have been one of the greatest pop icons in her time. But Janet Jackson, at 42 years old, does not have the same appeal as in ’89 with ‘Rhythm Nation.’ Other artists took that throne — Ashanti and Beyonce. This is what you call a publicity stunt.”

Janet’s latest album “Discipline” – which was supposed to be her big comeback – hasn’t even sold 500,000 copies.

[From ABC News]

I think Jonathan Cohen hit the nail on the head when he said, “Her music hasn’t really evolved as she has aged as a person.” That is absolutely correct. Even the look of the clothes Jackson is wearing screams 1989. She looks like one of the backup singers from Jem and the Holograms. A stale look combined with a stale sound is a bad combination. It’s such a cliché and I get so tired of hearing it, but it’s correct: Madonna stays relevant because she is constantly reinventing herself. Janet hasn’t done anything new since “janet.” which was in 1993. Everything she did afterward sounded like she was pulling from the discards of various old CDs.

I’m guessing Janet is suffering some anxiety attacks or something of that nature. She might be canceling as a power play but that seems so petty and unprofessional that I’m sure it would do more harm than good. She needs to come out with a fresh look and a killer, unusual show – to remind everyone exactly why they should give her a shot again.

Note by Celebitchy: While I understand the skepticism, I think people should give Jackson the benefit of the doubt. She may indeed be having medical problems and, as often happens, doctors might not know what’s wrong yet and that’s why she hasn’t issued a statement. It’s unfair to speculate that she’s having some sort of psychological problem. Vertigo can happen for a lot of reasons and it’s very disabling. It’s also frustrating to go to doctors when you’re sick like that and it usually takes a while to get a diagnosis. I feel for her and hope she pulls through this. Now is not the time to criticize her career and I doubt she would pull out of so many concerts without a legitimate reason.

Janet Jackson is shown performing in Rosemont, IL on 9/25/08. Credit: Adam Bielawski / PR Photos

Either Janet Jackson wasn’t as ill as everyone thought, or her boyfriend is a jerk. That’s what the tabloids are deducing this morning, anyway. While Jackson was being hospitalized for an undisclosed and sudden illness that prompted her to cancel a show in Montreal and two more dates in the U.S., her boyfriend, producer Jermain Dupri, was reportedly out clubbing with rapper T.I.

First, there was the report that he threw up in longtime girlfriend Janet Jackson’s lap during his birthday party at Tenjune.

And while Janet was in the hospital last night, Jermaine was seen out partying. He was spotted at Patrón’s Music in Motion Tour Finale at Marquee nightclub in NYC.

Not only did he stay for T.I.’s performance at 12:30 a.m., but he stuck around while DJ Berrie spun music late into the night.

“He was definitely having fun with his boys,” says an onlooker. “He was one of the last people to leave the event.”

Maybe he didn’t know she was in the hospital, or had spoken to her and knew she was going to be released. Or maybe it was something else. But just to be safe, we’d recommend flowers or jewelry or a hit song, stat.

[From E!Online]

Montreal is about an hour away by plane, and Jermaine is totally loaded, so if it were a real health emergency, he could have been by Janet’s side fairly quickly – that is, if he had been notified. Janet stayed at the hospital for two hours and was released, which indicates that it couldn’t have been anything too serious. Then again, the singer did cancel two East coast dates to recuperate from whatever is making her sick, so who knows? Either way, I’d give Dupri the benefit of the doubt on this one- I’m going to guess that he didn’t know his girlfriend had fallen ill. Otherwise, I’m sure he would have canceled his boy’s night out.

Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri are shown at the John Paul Gaultier Haute Couture runway show in Paris on 7/2/08 Credit: ANG/Fame Pictures

Janet Jackson had to be rushed to the hospital for an undisclosed reason right before she was scheduled to perform in Montreal last night. She has to cancel her concert, part of her “Rock Witchu” tour. Her next scheduled performance is tomorrow night, October 1, in Boston and from what I can tell it is not yet known if she’ll be able to make it.

A representative for Janet Jackson says the singer has been hospitalized after falling ill shortly before a concert.

According to statement released by W&W Public Relations, the singer canceled her concert in Montreal on Monday after she “got suddenly ill” during her sound check and had to be rushed to the hospital just before show time.

The statement says Jackson is being monitored at the hospital and hopes to reschedule the show. No further information was given about Jackson’s condition.

[From AP via News.Yahoo.com]

Yesterday a story came out in the NY Post that Janet’s longterm boyfriend, Jermaine Dupri, leaned over and got sick right on her skirt when they were partying last week in NY for his 36th birthday party. I would speculate that maybe she caught some kind of stomach flu, but that was last Tuesday and usually you catch a virus like that soon and within a day or two it runs it course. She performed two other dates last week and was fine. It sounds like the puking incident was caused by too much booze within a short period of time.

Janet Jackson is shown performing in Chicago on 9/25/08, credit: WENN

Janet Jackson’s longterm boyfriend and producer, Jermaine Dupri, is said to have been so sauced at this 36th birthday party and he couldn’t even hold in the sick until he got to the bathroom. At his party at NY club Tenjune last Tuesday, he leaned right over and puked on Janet’s lap. Janet left right afterwards, and there’s no word how much longer Jermaine lasted that night. He was said to be downing champagne and tequila before he was no longer able to hold it in:

JERMAINE Dupri had a little too much of a good time celebrating his 36th birthday. The other night, Dupri and his squeeze, Janet Jackson, went to Tenjune, where, spies say, they shared bottles of Jay-Z’s Ace of Spades Champagne and Patrón tequila with Ne-Yo, Busta Rhymes and Ice-T – until Dupri “vomited in Janet’s lap. Ms. Jackson bolted out of the scene and sped off in her chauffeured Maybach.” A rep for Jackson and Dupri didn’t return calls. A rep for Tenjune declined to comment. Meanwhile, we hear Dupri is under some stress at work. The head of urban music for Island/Def Jam put out his lady’s last album, “Discipline,” which flopped. Our insider said, “[IDJ head] L.A. Reid had wanted to make changes to the album, make it fresher with some newer artists added in, but Janet said no – and Jermaine backed her up. He looks silly right now.”

[From The NY Post]

Have you ever been with a friend who got sick on someone like that? I once witnessed a woman upchuck directly on the bar, which seemed pretty remarkable to me at the time. How do you make it up to loved one when you puke all over them at an event? Do you bring flowers, a card saying ‘I’m so sorry I ruined your dress’?

If Dupri did do this, he’s got to be mortified now that the news is out. It also sounds mighty stupid for him to be insisting on creative control over Janet’s next album. He left Virgin records over the fact that Janet’s last album with Virgin, 20 Y.O., didn’t do that well on the charts. Janet’s Discipline, out earlier this year through Island, only peaked at 19. It sounds like Dupri is determined to have his way at Island and will drive this one into the ground too.

Here is Janet performing on the “Rock Witchu Tour 2008″ in Chicago on 9/25/08. Credit: PRPhotos. Janet Jackson and Jermain Dupri are shown in the header at his birthday party on 9/23/08. Credit: WENN

I never thought I’d say this, but Janet Jackson is really upping the ante when it comes to controversy. Janet is currently on her “Rock Witchu” – which I mistakenly thought sounded rather benign. While she does manage to keep her own clothing in place, she’s certainly not shying away from private areas – mostly others.

Forget eye-popping wardrobe malfunctions. Janet Jackson’s kinky side was front and center during her concert last night at L.A.’s Staples Center.

During her performance of her sex-oozin’ S&M-filled song, “Discipline,” Jackson gave a male fan quite an elaborate lap dance after she announced, “I think it’s time I found a new man.” She called the fella to the stage, where he was tied to a wooden frame and hung by a harness. At one point, Jackson lay on the stage and the guy was slowly lowered on top of her.

He could be seen on the concert’s LCD screens mouthing, “I love you, Janet.” And then Jackson went for it, and the two locked lips for a few seconds.

It didn’t stop there. Ms. Jackson also grabbed his crotch! She was surrounded by her dancers, some of whom were wearing oversize silver and black codpieces. The audience went wild.

[From E! News]

So that sounds fairly shocking, but not “gasp, oh my God I can’t believe she just did that” shocking. But if you head on over to TMZ’s website, you can see a picture of the guy in the outfit (sorta NSFW). And when you see his getup and then jog through what you just read, you get quite the mental video.

For the eight people out there who still believed the line about the accidental “wardrobe malfunction” and how it was all such a terrible, horrible, unplanned mistake… I think seeing just a few of Janet’s proclivities so openly displayed should end any lingering questions.

Here’s Janet performing at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Images thanks to WENN.

After what seems like a billion (but was actually just four) years, Janet Jackson’s boob is no longer in trouble. Or at least it won’t have to pay a huge fine for getting into trouble in the first place. After a long and contentious legal battle with the FCC, CBS had the $550,000 fine thrown out. And considering how long it took, I’m guessing they spent a hell of a lot more on legal fees than the actual indecency fine. CBS and their nipple principals. It’s cute.

The long-running legal saga involving the escape of Janet Jackson’s right breast during the halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl has apparently come to an end as a federal appeals court today tossed out the $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. In its ruling, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Federal Communications Commission “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” when it issued the pricey penalty against the network for the boob slippage.

But in today’s decision, the three-judge appellate panel ruled that the FCC had overreacted and ignored its 30-year practice of only fining for indecent programming that is “pervasive as to amount to ‘shock treatment’ for the audience.” Nipplegate didn’t fit the bill, the justice’s [sic] ruled.

“Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second-guessing,” the court said. “But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of and a reasoned explanation for its policy departure.”

The panel also said CBS shouldn’t be held financially accountable for the singers’ actions because they weren’t network staffers. “The FCC cannot impose liability on CBS for the acts of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, independent contractors hired for the limited purposes of the halftime show.”

[From E! News]

The Parents Television Council was shockingly infuriated, saying that the judges had “hijacked the will of the American people.” Tim Winter, the president of the PTC, also alleged that the judges were morons, noting that their decision bored on “judicial stupidity.” How kind of a conservative group that represents a minority of the public to believe his opinions to be such absolute fact that they represent all Americans.

While the whole debacle was really annoying, pissing off the Parents Television Council to this level makes it almost worth it. And let us never speak of nipples again.

Paris Fashion Week (Haute Couture, Autumn/Winter Season 2009) is in full swing across the pond and everybody who’s anybody who needs something overpriced to wear is there. At the kick-off Claudia Schiffer was giving us Virginia Woolf as a secretary and Eva Mendes looks like a double scoop of Rainbow Sherbet with sprinkles

Patricia Arquette at the Elie Saab show looks amazing. SO amazing in fact, I’m not even gonna mention the fact that she and the woman to her left should have switched shoes. Her hair is gorgeous and I love it grown out. Her make-up looks effortless and that dress is completely charming and becoming. It looks like the star of Medium is living LARGE!
OH! Here are some pics from the catwalk

Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri arrived at the Armani show as a matchy-match Sadie Hip-Hop-Hawkins couple out to win first prize. Her outfit is a ruffle dickie away from being a Texas polygamist FLDS prairie dress and his outfit is so big on him you’d think he was wearing her old clothes circa The Nutty Professor era. Miss Jackson’s hair however, is flawless. LOVE the colour (I added the ‘u’ because they are in Paris), the bangs and the length… sigh, I do miss me the curls from her ‘IF’ video though…

Linda Carter was also at the Armani show, looking stunning. At 56 years old her skin is still flawless, her clothes are still bold AND she remembers pick one thing to star in your own personal fashion show and leave the rest to support it. Those beaded wedge sandals are the perfect blend of fashion, class and the understanding of both.

Here’s Liv Tyler at the Givenchy show apparently VERY excited about putting her new found Origami skills to work! “Wonder Twins power activate! Form of: Satin Bondage!” She is with her sister, Shirley, and Marie de Villepin. Here are a couple pics from the Givenchy runway:

This was what was sitting front row at the Chanel show. They are Her Royal Highness (I SWEAR!) Clotilde Courau, Canadian actress and 2003 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress award winner Marie-Josée Croze and Supermodel Audrey Marnay. (I know, who?) The point is, the only reason I’m putting this picture here is because on our left is Clotilde Courau, Princess of Venice and Piedmont. Now she may BE a princess, but when I saw this photo, I was all: “Who’s the lady reenacting Mommy Dearest doing an impression of the mother from Flowers in the Attic?” Yikes Princess: lighten up!