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Janet Jackson Secret Daughter: Exploring The Myth That Has Perpetuated For Years

By Bernadette Giacomazzo
Published on: 04:16 PST, Mar 15, 2017

For decades, rumors have been swirling about the “Janet Jackson secret daughter” that the singer had with her ex-husband, James DeBarge. Now, a woman has come forward claiming that she’s the so-called “Janet Jackson secret daughter” that people have been talking about since the 1980s. And while many people doubt her claims, there have been rumblings about this child for quite some time. How did the rumors get started, and is there any truth to the woman’s claims?

Part of the myth surrounding the alleged “Janet Jackson secret daughter” myth comes from James DeBarge himself. According to Entertainment Tonight, DeBarge made the claim on an episode of Growing Up Hip-Hop on WeTV late last year. The singer, who eloped with Jackson in 1984, but the marriage was annulled less than a year later.

“I’m tired of the secrecy,” DeBarge tells his daughter, Kristinia, when she confronts him about an article she read in which he discusses the claims. “I’m tired of the truth not coming forward, and people being a coward when it comes to it. And I thought it was wise for me to speak out now because it needs to be addressed.”

“To be honest with you, I didn’t know,” he continues. “I was under the impression that there was no baby, and I wanted to believe it’s not true. But it is.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKUY49nyP3M

James is not the only one who thinks there’s a “Janet Jackson secret daughter” running around out in the world. According to Inside Edition, James’s mother, Etterline DeBarge, made the claim back in February. What’s more, said Etterline, she has a DNA test that conclusively proves that Jackson and DeBarge had a child together.

“DeBarge said she has been contacted by several women over the years claiming to be Jackson’s secret daughter. But one day, she heard from a woman she thought could be a match. ‘I told her, The proof is in the pudding. Let’s go get a DNA test,’ she said. ‘The DNA test results showed “the probability of relatedness of 96.7 percent,’ she said. The woman, who lives in Philadelphia, is now 31, which makes her the right age. But is she really Janet Jackson’s secret daughter?”

According to Oxygen, the “Janet Jackson secret daughter” that both James and Etterline have talked about is a woman by the name of Tiffany Whyte, and she’s finally coming forward to tell what she calls “her truth.”

Whyte, who claims that the DNA tests back up her claims of being Janet’s daughter, says that she was tired of hiding the truth.

“Now that I got the DNA from my grandmother, that it is a possibility… No, it is for sure that they are my parents, she’s my grandmother, those [sic] are my family and it’s time for me to tell the truth.

“Most people will probably say that Whyte is looking for a minute in the spotlight, but she mostly just seems sad and looking for answers.

“‘I don’t want to get famous off of this,’ Whyte says. ‘Trust me, I don’t. I don’t. I just want my mother. I want my father. I want the woman who I could never get a chance to be held by as a child, to sing to me, to tell me that she loves me. I want to know the truth…I want to know her.'”

What do you think of the claims about the so-called “Janet Jackson secret daughter”? Do you think Tiffany is telling the truth? And if not, do you think that there’s a possibility of a child out there that belongs to her?

Leave your thoughts about the “Janet Jackson secret daughter” in the comments below.

[Featured Image by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images]

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