Janet Jackson Waiting on ‘Michael’ Before Signing Over Her Biopic Rights: His ‘Story Comes First’

Janet Jackson has been approached with lucrative offers to tell her story as a musical biopic or even a massive TV documentary, but a source exclusively tells In Touch she’s waiting for the current film about Michael Jackson to complete its production and promotion run lest she crowd the space and steal attention away from her late brother.

“Janet is holding off on any career retrospective project of her own for the time being out of respect for the rest of her family,” the insider explains, noting this is “including her niece and nephews, who control Michael Jackson’s estate and her nephew, Jaafar [Jackson], who is starring in the Michael Jackson biopic.” 

Antoine Fuqua is directing the upcoming film, titled Michael, which explores the life and tragic end of the King of Pop. It’s being made with the full permission of his estate and is understood to be a sweeping portrait of his life, detailing events “from his childhood of being the star of the Jackson 5, through times of abuse by his father Joe Jackson, to his hit ‘Thriller,’ and the purchase of Neverland Valley, into his tragic and unsuspected death on June 25, 2009,” according to the movie’s synopsis.

Jaafar, 28, the son of the late superstar’s brother, Jermaine Jackson, is making his acting debut starring as his uncle. The source notes that in addition to the first-time leading man, the whole Jackson family has been pulling toward making this movie a success and getting the story of Michael’s life out in the open and away from gossip.

“The effort everybody in the extended family has put into getting [the biopic] Michael off the ground — It’s truly been a group effort,” the source adds. “It’s easily the most anticipated film of the recent musical biopic trend.” 

Michael comes on the heels of a series of wildly successful biopics with returns that are certainly keeping the trend going. The 2022 hit Elvis gave Austin Butler a huge career boost and Timothée Chalamet’s role as Bob Dylan in the recent film A Complete Unknown won him some serious praise from critics. Jeremy Allen White also sported a similarly dour mystique playing Jon Bon Jovi in Deliver Me From Nowhere.

But that’s by no means a guarantee. The source notes that, “Janet, like everybody else, is extremely curious about how it’s all going to turn out.” 

“She’s not making any decisions about how she will portray her own legacy until the fate of the Michael movie is determined. That said, Janet knows she has an amazing personal and professional story to tell that is totally different from her late brother’s.” 

“From her unlikely breakthrough in the late eighties to her three marriages, to ‘nipple gate,’ Janet has had a crazy career and made music that went around the world,” the insider explains. 

“She will get around to telling her story eventually, but right now, Michael’s story comes first and the whole family is rallying to make sure that the movie is successful.”