Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” opens in theaters worldwide today, and so far it’s getting mixed reviews. No one seems to be totally slamming it, but many watchers point out that Jackson doesn’t seem to have had the same energy that he used to. Well… he was fifty. It’s not often I write “duh”… but… duh. He’s not going to be the same at fifty as he was at 20. Are you? Thought so. Critics point out that there is absolutely no behind-the-scenes footage whatsoever, nor is there any hint at his private life. This isn’t some complex look into Michael the person. It’s very much about Michael the performer, and Michael the professional.

This Is It is a hybrid, half documentary and half concert film – but not quite either. As a documentary, it merely shows process, with little by way of explanation or exploration. As a concert film, we’re offered the practice sessions rather than the finished product. What does come through is that Jackson worked hard, really hard. He looks a tad thin, but otherwise appears healthy and energetic. We see him sweat through difficult dance routines, reach again and again for high notes, and go through complicated production numbers repeatedly until he nails them. He clearly had a vision, and he gently coaxes his musicians and dancers to make it into a reality.

What we don’t see is Jackson letting his hair down (literally, it’s almost always in a pony tail). We never catch him goofing off, blowing off steam or telling stories about his three children. Oh, sure, at times he prattles on about the power of love and his reverence for the environment, but these come off as pop pieties. The real Michael Jackson, at least as seen here, is all business. Ardent fans will be happy to gaze at their idol in action; moviegoers hoping to understand more fully who Jackson was and what made him tick, besides performing, won’t find answers here.

[From People]

Another People writer says it seems like Jackson was just going through the motions, but notes there are “flashes of brilliance.” The film has a 79% aggregate on Rotten Tomatoes, but a lot of the viewer comments come across as major Jackson fans, the kind that are likely to be biased towards him regardless. People also talks about all the big stars who came out for the premiere. Will Smith was definitely the biggest, joined by Paula Abdul, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Neil Patrick Harris, and Anne Heche, among others. Jackson’s brothers were in attendance and made mention about how this wasn’t “it,” this was just the beginning. Logically, because we know they’re going to milk every last dollar they can out of Michael’s memory.

Both People and Us Weekly mention that Jackson’s most personal stuff isn’t personal – he goes off about love and the environment, both of which come across as cheesy to the magazines. They also say his performances were great – it’s everything else that seems to be severely lacking. Since his passing, people have truly wanted to understand Jackson better, and this film isn’t going to get them any closer to it. It’s going to remind them why he became famous in the first place. For better or worse, it’s the last we have of him, and I bet it’ll do well anyway.

People choose some really strange stars to mention coming to the premiere – there were definitely A-list caliber celebs there. Pictured below: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Paula Abdul, Ashley Tisdale, Will Smith, Macy Gray, Anne Heche, Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, Jermain Jackson, Rosanna Arquette, Neil Patrick Harris, Lou Ferrigno, and Randy, Marlon, and Tito Jackson. Images thanks to WENN.com .

You know how LaToya Jackson was always considered the most messed up, crazy Jackson? Then Michael passed away and we were supposed to act like we didn’t think that about her. But it’s been about four months, and LaToya has spent much of that time thoroughly enjoying the attention of the press. So it’s time to throw out the kid gloves and say it: LaToya is still crazy.

First off, she thinks it’s totally appropriate to share with the world that Michael’s three children are in therapy. And then go into specifics about what each of their issues are. Heaven forbid we keep anything to ourselves here. Secondly, LaToya honest-to-goodness believes in ghosts, and thinks she’s being haunted/visited by Michael. I guess “haunted” isn’t the right word because that implies it’s unwelcome – and she’s totally encouraging it. But “visited” is a little too “I just stopped by to drop off this casserole.” It’s somewhere in between the two.

First, the details of the Jackson children’s personal sadness, courtesy of Aunt LaToya.

Four months after the death” of their father Michael Jackson, his kids Paris, 11, Prince 12, and Blanket, 7, have turned to therapy to cope with their grief, Michael’s sister LaToya Jackson tells London’s Mirror newspaper. “Prince just doesn’t want to speak about it,” LaToya said. “I do worry about him very much.”

Meanwhile, his sister Paris “thinks and talks about her father all the time. She’s doing very well, writes a lot and she wears his shirts every day,” she said. “They still smell of him and it helps her feel close to him.”

Michael’s youngest child, Blanket, “is just a very sad, shy little boy,” LaToya said. “He cries – he really does cry. It’s so painful for him. No one can bring his daddy back and it hurts so much. They all go to therapy and I truly hope Prince especially will be able to open up.”

LaToya says the whole family is rallying around to raise the kids the way Michael would have wanted. The children, who are home schooled, watch no more than two hours of television a day, limited to the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. And in an effort to keep the traditions they shared with their father, a huge Christmas celebration is being planned.

“Paris doesn’t know it but she has all the makings of a star,” says LaToya. “If she wants to go into showbiz I can see that happening. The boys like the idea of directing, which is what Michael wanted to do. Kids are resilient. He gave them so much love and that is helping them.”

[From People]

Of all the awful ways the Jackson family has tried to use Michael’s death for publicity, this one bothers me as much as the worst of them. Maybe the most. Children grieving for their dead father – that stuff is beyond private. And to think an aunt would repeat that. Whatever was said to LaToya, whether it came from the children directly or another relative, it wasn’t meant to be passed on to The Mirror. Those kids will never trust her. Using the death of their father to get some press. Despicable.

But it’s hard to hold LaToya completely responsible, since she is clearly 100% insane.

La Toya said, “When I go to his house I say, ‘Hello, Michael. How are you? If you’re here, please, please let me know’. And the lights start blinking. I can feel him. I can smell his Tom Ford cologne and I’ve felt him brush past me. It’s the most wonderful feeling and the biggest smile comes over my face. I tell him I love him so much and ask him to show me he’s here again. The lights blink again. I know he’s there, answering me and knowing he’s watching me is a huge comfort. I never believed that people could speak, hear and communicate in that sense. But I’ve witnessed it several times now and I want to investigate it further. I am certainly open-minded to speaking to a medium. No other members of the family have experienced it. Just me.”

[From the Mirror via Dlisted]

You know why you might still smell his cologne? Because that scent can linger for a long, long time, depending on the fabrics and whatnot. Most homes have their own smell, and it’s a combination of a lot of things, perfumes and colognes being a big part of it. Rarely is it indicative of a ghost. In fact I think the theory goes that ghosts don’t smell, since they don’t have corporeal form. When he brushed past you? That was probably your hair. I’ve startled myself a few times. Of course I didn’t instantly think “Michael Jackson’s ghost!” but more “Ahhhh, a bug!” only to realize it was my hair. And if the lights are blinking, it’s time to pay the electric bill. Just a thought. LaToya until you actually see him, assume you’re crazy. It’s the safest bet; that’s why the rest of us go with it.

Here’s LaToya shopping on Rodeo Drive on October 23rd. Images thanks to Fame Pictures .

The situation with paparazzi going to any lengths to get photos of celebs and their kids has been out of control for a long time. A couple of weeks ago we told you about an intentional fender bender involving new mom Nicole Richie, in which a paparazzi rear-ended her and then his co-hort snapped away while Nicole cried and the photog was led away in cuffs. Last night, a similar scenario played out in L.A. when photogs chasing the Jackson family rear-ended one of the cars – but sources say that only the security detail was in the car and not any of the kids. Still, injuries were reported.

A photographer following Michael Jackson’s children got into an accident Wednesday with one of the family’s vehicles in Los Angeles, according to police.

“The damage was minor and there were no injuries,” says Sgt. Ann Pickering. “A report was taken and it’s under investigation.”

It wasn’t known whose car was struck in the San Fernando Valley except that it wasn’t the one carrying the late singer’s children. The Jackson kids are often accompanied by a nanny and security guards.

[From People]

It must have been scary for the kids to hear about, but unfortunately it isn’t the first time they’ve been in one of these situations. Anyone who has seen the Martin Bashir documentary “Living With Michael Jackson” will recall the segment in which a Jackson fanatic approaches the children and starts touching them. Then, Jackson attempted to take the children, who were very young, to the zoo. The kids were swarmed by photographers and Prince Michael was poked in the eye by a cameraman. It’s sad, but these children are used to being chased and harassed. It’s just a good thing that no one was seriously hurt this time.

Eh, I hate this sh-t so much. Just reading this kind of crap gives me a tension headache. Okay, here goes: Joe Jackson is still hellbent on profiting on Michael. Joe’s latest scheme involves This Is It, the upcoming film that will feature Michael’s final rehearsals. Joe has made arrangements to “introduce” the film at screenings in England. Of course, his introductions come at a cost – the Chicago Sun-Times estimates Joe will be paid $250,000, but doesn’t specify if that figure is for the whole introduction series, or Joe will be making $250,000 per introduction.

One thing about Joe Jackson: He sure is busy cashing in on his superstar son’s death.

Given Michael Jackson’s final concerts had been scheduled for London and were instant sellouts, Papa Joe has moved to make some serious moolah tied to the release of ‘‘This Is It,’’ the upcoming film of Michael’s final rehearsals for that tour.

I’ve learned that when the film opens in England, Joe will introduce screenings during the first week at selected venues. Word has it, he will be paid about $250,000 for his, uh, efforts — which reportedly will include sharing a few stories about the King of Pop with audiences before the screenings.

‘‘He stands to make more from these London shows than from his Vegas deal,’’ said a source privy to the London project, referring to the VIP packages Jackson is promoting for ‘‘This Is It’’ openings Oct. 26 and 27 in Las Vegas, with prices ranging up to $3,000 per ticket.

[From The Chicago Sun-Times]

I don’t even want to go into how gross I find Joe Jackson and his whole deal. It’s just disgusting to me. So I’ll change the subject.

Justin Timberlake gave a recent interview to MTV about Michael’s legacy, and Justin is incredibly generous, gracious and thoughtful with his tribute to the performer he idolized. JT says: “If there’s anything that I think my generation of artists — including myself, obviously — emulate about Michael, it’s that he felt what he was doing so much that his vocal presentation of the song, you can tell when he was cutting the record he was probably dancing in the booth. At least that’s what it seems like to me. That type of energy, that kinetic energy into the music, I think that’s what we all try to emulate. From hip-hop to pop to rock and roll, I think that there’s inflection that he put into music as a vocalist that no one had ever really heard that way. I just heard certain songs that I loved as a kid and I gravitated toward those songs. It just so happens that 99.79 percent of his songs are perfect. They’re perfect songs. The other whatever percentage are works of art as well.” Aw… nice. Just think about Justin and forget about that crotchety, senile, gross, abusive, disgusting son of bitch Joe.

Looks like we may have had good reason to worry about the care and exposure Michael Jackson’s children received after his death. Us Weekly is reporting that Michael’s three kids will appear in the new A&E reality series The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty. From the way Us Weekly talks about it, they make it sound like the series has already been filmed for either a 5-episode or 10-episode release. Considering Michael took extreme pains to limit his kids’ exposure to the media and to the world, the choice to include the kids in the series is causing some controversy, even within the family:

The Jacksons are at odds over the inclusion of Michael Jackson’s three children in an upcoming A&E reality show about the famous family, Us Weekly reports in its latest issue (on newsstands now).

A source tells Us Weekly the buzzed-about program will include Michael’s kids — Prince, 12, Paris, 11, and Blanket, 7 — though not everyone’s happy about it.

Eldest sister Rebbie, 59, who has refused to be in the series (called The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty, tentatively set to air in December), “feels Michael would spin in his grave if he knew his kids would be on this show.”

While Janet, 43, is on board, mom Katherine “is just going along with things,” the source continues.

Still, one of the creators of the program — which will be either five one-hour episodes or 10 half-hour episodes — says the family shines on the series.

“We have 23 cast members with the last name Jackson,” executive producer Jodi Gomes tells Us Weekly. “They’ve done a great job opening up about losing a brother.” (A Jackson family rep couldn’t be reached.)

[From Us Weekly]

What son of a bitch reality A&E programmer thinks this is a brilliant idea? Because they should be fired. And Katherine Jackson shouldn’t have allowed this stuff. I don’t care if it’s handled in a classy, respectful way, they shouldn’t include Michael’s children in this stuff. If Michael’s brothers and sisters, all of the adult members of his family want to do a series, fine. God bless. It’s their choice. But don’t bring the children into it.

A new clip has been released of the upcoming DVD of concert footage from Michael Jackson’s ill-fated tour This is It. We saw in an earlier video of Jackson rehearsing, released shortly after his death, that he still had the moves. In this video of Jackson singing “Human Nature” a capella you can tell that he still had his trademark voice. The video is lit in a kind of a washed out blue light and even after watching it a few times it still makes my heart leap and my stomach flip a little. There’s something very ghoulish about it, and I think it’s the lighting coupled with the kind of exaggerated jerky movements that Michael is making. He also looks so tiny and frail up close. Of course there’s also the knowledge that Michael doesn’t live much longer than a few weeks after this footage, whenever it was taken.

In the earlier video, Jackson looked alive and kicking and in this one he looks stick thin and kind of ominous. At the end of the video, though, we see Jackson lit normally and it kind of takes away the super creepy effect of the blue light. This is nice, up close footage but couldn’t producers have picked something a little less scary-looking than this? Am I the only one that finds it off-putting?

The jerky hand movement that Jackson is making is part of a new dance move he was developing called the penguin.

TMZ has the breakdown of the expenses for both Katherine Jackson and Michael Jackson’s children, as detailed in recent estate documents. Katherine’s expenses amount to a whopping $26,804 per month, and the children’s expenses are $60,000 a month. A lot of that amount goes into salaries for people like personal assistants, nannies, and housekeepers. It’s still a hell of a lot of money. The Jackson estate is said to be worth $500 million and counting.

Up to now we didn’t know how much Katherine Jackson was getting by way of allowance while Michael Jackson’s estate gets probated. In legal docs just unveiled today, we now know the special administrators asked to pay her $26,804 per month.

As for the kids, the family allowance for them is $60,000 per month.

The docs also say “…the Estate assets consist of real and personal property exceeding $500 million and that the Estate is solvent.”

Katherine and Michael’s 3 kids will continue to get an allowance — which is subject to change — until the estate is probated. That could take between 1 and 2 years from now.

UPDATE: The docs also list Katherine and the kids’ expenses separately.

Now, the kids’ specific expenses are redacted — but it doesn’t matter, because the totals are still listed … and they’re HUGE:

– Salaries and payroll benefits: $315,580 per year
– Basic needs: $141,300 per year
– Entertainment and other: $159,120 per year
TOTAL: $720,000 per year

Katherine’s expenses per month:

– Assistant: $4,722
– Insurance for Asst: $475
– Housekeeper: $2,080
– Driver: $2,000
– Payroll and Taxes on gross salaries: $1,760
– Utilities: $3,260
– Clothing: $3,500
– Personal grooming: $1,000
– Entertainment: $1,500
– Car Expenses: $1,750
TOTAL (plus a few expenses we didn’t list): $26,804 per month

[From TMZ]

After reading how much it costs to care for the children every month I thought, “they could pretty much live at Disneyland and eat every meal there for that amount.” I forgot that I had just read that they were there, and that Disneyland staff set up a special private viewing for them of the 3D short with their dad, “Captain EO,” that stopped playing at Disneyland in 1998. The props were even set up from the original show. Jackson’s children, Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael III (Blanket), 7, had never seen the movie before and it must have been a real treat for them. $60,000 a month is a ton of money but I bet those poor kids would give anything just to have their dad back. Michael’s mom Katherine also seems genuinely distraught over her son’s death. Her husband, on the other hand, is another story.

Photos are from Jackson’s two funerals, on 9/3/09 and 7/7/09. Credit: WENN.com

A well-preserved Madonna opened the VMAs last night with a heartfelt speech in honor of the late Michael Jackson. For everything you can say about Madonna, she did seem to care about Jackson and want to memorialize him in her way. Madonna focused on how she identified with Jackson, and then she kind of explained that the pop star ended up as such an eccentric person for lack of a childhood. She spoke about her brief friendship with Michael in the early 90s, and explained that he seemed vulnerable and human to her and like he needed a friend. Then Madonna touched on Michael’s trial, and compared it to a witch hunt. She said that she and her contemporaries “abandoned him” in his time of need. Madonna’s speech was then followed by a quick performance by Janet Jackson, in which she paid tribute to her late brother with a brief dance choreographed to match Michael’s “Scream” video, which played behind her. Here’s the full transcript of Madonna’s speech:

Madonna surprised MTV’s VMAs tonight by opening the show with a long speech about Michael Jackson that was followed by a performance by Janet Jackson. The show closed with a spectacular look at This Is It, the film assembled from Jackson’s concert rehearsals. Read Madonna’s entire tribute here:

Michael Jackson. [Cheers] I have a little bit more to say than that. OK, here we go again. Michael Jackson was born in August 1958. So was I. Michael Jackson grew up in the suburbs of the Midwest. So did I. Michael Jackson had eight brothers and sisters. So do I. When Michael Jackson was six, he became a superstar, and was perhaps the world’s most beloved child. When I was six, my mother died. I think he got the shorter end of the stick. I never had a mother, but he never had a childhood. And when you never get to have something, you become obsessed by it.

I spent my childhood searching for my mother figures. Sometimes I was successful, but how do you recreate your childhood when you are under the magnifying glass of the world?

There is no question that Michael Jackson is one of the greatest talents the world has ever known. That when he sang a song at the ripe old age of eight he could make you feel like an experienced adult was squeezing your heart with his words. That when he moved he had the elegance of Fred Astaire and packed the punch of Muhammad Ali. That his music had an extra layer of inexplicable magic that didn’t just make you want to dance but actually made you believe you could fly, dare to dream, be anything that you wanted to be. Because that is what heroes do and Michael Jackson was a hero.

He performed in soccer stadiums around the world, and sold hundreds of millions of records and dined with prime ministers and presidents. Girls fell in love with him, boys fell in love with him, everyone wanted to dance like him. He seemed otherworldly — but he was a human being.

Like most performers he was shy and plagued with insecurities. I can’t say we were great friends, but in 1991 I decided I wanted to try to get to know him better. I asked him out to dinner, I said “My treat, I’ll drive — just you and me.”

He agreed and showed up to my house without any bodyguards. We drove to the restaurant in my car. It was dark out, but he was still wearing sunglasses.

I said, “Michael, I feel like I’m talking to a limousine. Do you think you can take off your glasses so I can see your eyes?”

Then he tossed the glasses out the window, looked at me with a wink and a smile and said, “Can you see me now? Is that better?”

in that moment, I could see both his vulnerability and his charm. The rest of the dinner, I was hellbent on getting him to eat French fries, drink wine, have dessert and say bad words. Things he never seemed to allow himself to do. Later we went back to my house to watch a movie and sat on the couch like two kids, and somewhere in the middle of the movie, his hand snuck over and held mine.

It felt like he was looking for more of a friend than a romance, and I was happy to oblige. In that moment, he didn’t feel like a superstar. He felt like a human being.

We went out a few more times together, and then for one reason or another we fell out of touch. Then the witch hunt began, and it seemed like one negative story after another was coming out about Michael. I felt his pain, I know what it’s like to walk down the street and feel like the whole world is turned against you. I know what it’s like to feel helpless and unable to defend yourself because the roar of the lynch mob is so loud you feel like your voice can never be heard.

But I had a childhood, and I was allowed to make mistakes and find my own way in the world without the glare of the spotlight.

When I first heard that Michael had died, I was in London, days away from the start of my tour. Michael was going to perform in the same venue as me a week later. All I could think about in this moment was, “I had abandoned him.” That we had abandoned him. That we had allowed this magnificent creature who had once set the world on fire to somehow slip through the cracks. While he was trying to build a family and rebuild his career, we were all passing judgement. Most of us had turned our backs on him. In a desperate attempt to hold onto his memory, I went on the internet to watch old clips of him dancing and singing on TV and on stage and I thought, “my God, he was so unique, so original, so rare, and there will never be anyone like him again. He was a king.”

But he was also a human being, and alas we are all human beings and sometimes we have to lose things before we can appreciate them. I want to end this on a positive note and say that my sons, age nine and four, are obsessed with Michael Jackson. There’s a whole lot of crotch grabbing and moon walking going on in my house. And, it seems like a whole new generation of kids have discovered his genius and are bringing him to life again. I hope that wherever Michael is right now he is smiling about this.

Yes, Michael Jackson was a human being but he was a king. Long live the king.

[From Rollingstone]

Is it true? Did people abandon Michael Jackson or did he somehow push them away, withdrawing further into his alternate reality? I really don’t know, and I honestly don’t have a firm opinion on his guilt or innocence. When someone is so caught up in addiction, though, it can be heartbreaking and almost impossible to help them.

Madonna told MTV news after her speech that she spent all week writing it and that it was a way to pay her last respects. She said “It was a privilege and an honor for me to say what I had to say.”

Here’s Janet’s opening performance:

Photos below credit: WENN.com

Jermaine Jackson’s concert in memory of his murdered brother Michae will now be postponed until next year, and the venue has been changed from Vienna to London. What’s more is that most of the artists he claimed in his press conference on Tuesday on were confirmed for the show have issued statements that they’re not actually confirmed.

The big-on-talk but short-on-delivery Michael Jackson tribute concert scheduled to take place in Vienna later this month has been postponed to June 2010 and relocated to London, with Jermaine Jackson blaming the move on scheduling conflicts with would-be headliners.

Organizers had been taken to task for its less than all-star lineup—25 acts were promised, only 13 had been named and arguably the three biggest, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige and Natalie Cole, weren’t exactly locked in.

“Numerous stars were just not able to change their schedules to make a live appearance at the Vienna event possible,” Jackson said this morning.

“Now we have eight months to put this monumental show together and not just eight weeks.”

[From E!]

Jermaine now has eight months to perfect that proposed ghastly virtual duet with his brother. Paula Abdul dancing with MC Skat Cat would be less inappropriate. At least get Janet to handle that portion!

The problem is that most of the musicians Jermaine claimed had signed up for the tribute concert have issued statements to the contrary. You know it’s bad if you can’t land Ike Turner protege Chris Brown. That bitch is lucky to be scheduling Home Depot openings at this point.

Blige’s publicist says she has another commitment. A person close to the situation told The Associated Press in Los Angeles that Brown won’t perform either and a spokeswoman for Natalie Cole suggested she, too, is iffy.

[From AP]

Why are the Jackson family’s activities always so shady? Couldn’t they at least pull this one off without looking sketchy? How about approaching the artists FIRST, or was Jermaine trying to guilt them into appearing? Any business person worth their weight knows that you secure the contracts first before shooting your mouth off. Yes, everyone loved Michael, or at least respected his contribution to popular entertainment, but the rest of his family isn’t going to inspire that sort of devotion. As we can see from Jermaine’s business dealings, they’re not entirely above-board. I just feel sorry for ticket holders at this point.

Jermaine Jackson is shown at a press conference in London on 9/9/09. Credit: WENN.com

I love me some Janet Jackson, and I can’t even describe why. She just seems like a really cool customer to me – in interviews, she seems shy, composed and intelligent, and yet when she’s singing or performing, she’s so hardcore. I love that dichotomy. So, as you can imagine, I’m all over Janet’s new interview in Harper’s Bazaar. She opens up a lot about her brother Michael’s death, but she doesn’t really talk about her split with Jermaine Dupri, only confirming that it happened. She does say that she doesn‘t know if she‘ll ever get married again (she‘s already been divorced twice), but she does say that when it comes to being a mother, “I’d adopt.” Read the full Bazaar interview here, but this is Us Weekly’s excerpt from the interview:

In her first interview since her brother Michael’s June 25 death, Janet Jackson says she been unable to watch television.

“It will drive you crazy,” she tells October’s Harper’s Bazaar. “People can have rhinoceros skin, but there’s a point when something’s going to hurt you. Not everyone is stone, stone. I haven’t watched the news in weeks. I had to ask my chef, ‘How’s Obama doing?’ I haven’t read a newspaper. On top of that, [we've lost] a family member.”

At times during the interview, Janet – who will perform a tribute to her late brother at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards – was at a loss for words.

“My brother is, I mean was…” she stammers when talking about Michael’s style. Shifting on the couch and staring at the floor, she adds, “You have to forgive me, because it’s really hard to believe he’s passed.”

Michael was laid to rest last week in a mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Calif. His death, caused by “acute propofol intoxication,” has been ruled a homicide; several doctors are under investigation. Though she did not discuss her brother’s prescription drug history, Janet says he seemed in good spirits the last time she saw him: May 14 at a family gathering two days before her 43rd birthday.

“We had so much fun that day,” she says, noting that ate Thai food and tormented each other. “We kept calling each other after and saying how great it was.”

So how is she coping? Recently spending three days on a beach helped, she says.

“It was the first time I had to myself since Michael passed, the first time I could get away since all of that,” says the singer.

She also has been throwing herself into work (she was on set in Atlanta shooting a Tyler Perry movie when she got the call that Michael had died).

“I’ve been doing okay,” she says. “Work helps focus all of that energy on something that is of value to you.”

Looking back at his death, she says she has learned a lot. She says she was touched after Michael’s daughter Paris, 11, spoke at her father’s public memorial. Fighting back tears, Paris told the crowd, “Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine.”

Says Janet, “I was really proud. People said to me that Michael’s daughter speaking really gave them a sense of how he was as a father, in her words. Paris is incredibly smart; they are all so smart. She’s a sweet girl. The kids are doing well. They’re with all their cousins; that family love will keep them going.”

She’s also learned she has her mother Katherine’s “strength.”

“Now at least I know that I can step up to the plate and not crumble when I’m needed,” says Janet. “When it comes to something like this that is so, so serious, so painful, so traumatic, I can handle it.”

Janet also confirms Us Weekly’s exclusive report that she’s split from beau of seven years, music producer Jermaine Dupri. The singer – who’s been married twice (as a teen to James DeBarge and to choreographer Rene Elizondo) – tells the magazine, “I don’t know if I’ll get married again. I’ll put it like this: If God wants me to, then I will.”

As for kids, “I’d adopt,” Janet says. “And I think that if I’m really supposed to have kids, it will happen, if that’s God’s plan for me.”

[From Us Weekly]

Sigh. I love Janet. Us Weekly missed a couple of excerpts that I thought were interesting, though. Janet says Michael nicknamed her “Dunk” and that he had a “corny, sometimes dry” sense of humor. Janet also talks about how protective they were of one another: “He was always very protective of me…When I was 14 years old, I would shop for him, washed his clothes, cleaned his room. When Mother would go out of town, she’d say ‘I’m leaving you in charge, take care of Mike.’ I would head home from school, see what he needed, then go straight to the stores.” Janet also reveals a big wardrobe secret – the iconic black sequined jacket Michael wore was their mother’s – “He grabbed that from her closet!”

Thanks to Harper’s Bazaar for the pictures.