Janet Jackson has done almost everything in her decades as a star, but she recently shared one thing she had the chance to accomplish but didn’t: playing a superhero on the big screen.
In a teaser clip of her appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show which airs Friday (April 26), Ms. Jackson (if you’re nasty) discussed how she was offered the role of Storm in one of the 2000s X-Men movies, a gig that eventually went to Halle Berry.
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The segment began with a photo of Janet at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards (see photos of her at the event here) dressed in a Matrix-esque all-black outfit.
One of the show’s hosts used the picture as a prompt to say they had heard that Jackson was “almost in The Matrix.”
“No,” the pop icon responded. “This is horrible. I can’t remember the film, but Halle Berry played Storm. But I couldn’t [take the part] because I was just embarking on the Janet Tour.”
Jackson elaborated on the story on The Steve Harvey Morning Show back in 2022.
“I’ve always wanted to play a superhero in a film,” she said at the time in answer to a fan’s question. “I’ve wanted to do that since the ’90s.
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“As a matter of fact, [X-Men director] Bryan Singer came to me to play Storm for X-Men before going to Halle Berry, and unfortunately, obviously, I didn’t do it. I couldn’t do it, because I was on the Janet Tour at the time. Storm was always one of my favorite Marvel characters.”
Prior to discussing her near-miss superhero turn, Janet Jackson was in the headlines for her birthday message to ex-boyfriend Q-Tip.
The “All For You” singer took to her Instagram Stories earlier this month to wish the A Tribe Called Quest legend a happy birthday as he turned 53.
Alongside a black-and-white portrait of Tip, she wrote: “30 + yrs of friendship…so special to me. Thank you for coming over last nite. Happy bday [blowing kiss emojis].”
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The suggestive post sent the internet into a frenzy, with many speculating that the former couple have rekindled their romance.
Q-Tip first met Jackson on the set of John Singleton’s classic 1993 film Poetic Justice, where he played her boyfriend at the beginning of the film. Four years later, they collaborated on the smash hit “Got ‘Til It’s Gone.”
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“We started dating after that,” Tip said in a 2021 interview with Math Hoffa. “It be cool and shit. She be making eggs and shit and I’ll be chilling like, ‘Yo, that’s Penny!’ to myself. I love her to death and she’s a Jackson — that’s Black royalty.”
The pair dated for a few years until calling it quits in 2002, although it’s unclear what led to their breakup.
