In her documentary, Janet recalled speaking with Justin “once” just after the Super Bowl incident. He said that he didn’t know whether he should make a public statement. He said that he didn’t know if he should make a statement. All of it is directed at me. “If I was you, I would not say anything.”
Janet rarely speaks out about scandals. When asked in 2006 by Oprah Winfrey if she felt Justin failed to adequately stick up for her, she replied, “To a certain degree, yeah.” She also told her that she regretted issuing an apology because, “it was an accident. The management that I was in at the time thought it important to do it…And I said, “Why am I apologizing? It was an accident?”
Janet also shared her memories of how the Super Bowl affected her and her family. She said that people would come up to a few of her brothers and tell them that they wished she would “be put away.”
You can feel it take its toll emotionally. She said that she remained focused on her work and remained close to family members. That was all that I needed to get through.
In a February 2022 interview, she made the same comments. Allure magazine, saying, “What’s really important is going back to having that foundation. God and not only my family. This is what truly pulled me through.