Making 40 The New 25

Janet Jackson appeared on Oprah Winfrey's talk show yesterday to promote her new CD, '20Y.O.', due in stores today. The album is a celebration of the 20th anniversary of her 'Control'. 'Control', when it was originally released, was a celebration of sorts for Jackson, who had just fired her father, Joe Jackson, as her manager. At 40, Jackson looks amazingly youthful and, perhaps, has had some help along the way to help her achieve the status of '40 is the new 25'. She will be touring soon with her dancers and expect to see her perform many of her hits from the 'Control' era along with all the same dance moves. She recently lost 60 pounds (weight she had originally gained for a movie role, which was scrapped), with the help of a nutritionist and trainer. The secret to the weight loss? Nothing drastic. She had to eat about 5-6 small meals a day of lean meat, fish and vegetables and workout 5-6 days a week for at least 30 minutes a day. She discussed the wardrobe malfunction "for the first and last time" that drew ugly press for her after the SuperBowl XXXVIII and felt that she was the brunt of all of it, while Justin Timberlake escaped unscathed by it. Although Jackson says that Justin did reach out to her since that time, she has not yet spoken with him, but will do so in her own time. She feels that they are friends, but as friends, he didn't necessarily have her back (my words, not hers) so she is keeping him at arm's length for the moment. Justin only has spoken about the incident during a recent MTV interview promoting his own new CD by saying that he probably only got 10 percent of the blame for what happened that night and that America is harsher on women and those of different ethnicities. The overall tone of the interview was more upbeat though since Janet has had a long-standing relationship with a man "who has taken her places she's never been before", Jermaine Dupri, a celebrated record producer in his own right. Although there was no mention of marriage for the two (who knows, maybe they are secretly married already), they both expressed an interest in starting a family soon.