Just one year ago, Janet was almost unrecognizable. Tabloids speculated that her weight gain was due to stress, but in reality, she says she was preparing for a film role. Janet says after binging on junk food and putting on 60 pounds to get into character, the project was delayed just days before filming was to start. The new filming schedule would conflict with her upcoming tour, so she had to drop out and the lead was recast with Mariah Carey.
"I was upset ... [that] I wasn't able to portray this character, more than being upset that I had to gain all this weight and then turn around and lose it—because I had to lose it regardless after [filming]," Janet says.
Janet says carrying the extra weight on her 5'4" frame was "very uncomfortable."
"It was a lot of weight on my joints. The only time I felt okay is when I was sleeping because I was lying down. So when I would get up, my ankles would swell all the time and my knees would hurt."
Seeing her own reflection was also difficult, Janet says. "I didn't want to get used to the person that I would see in the mirror. I didn't want to, because it's very easy to get comfortable in that weight and [enjoy overindulging]."
