James DeBarge, former member of the R&B group DeBarge, is opening up about his whirlwind relationship and short-lived marriage to pop icon Janet Jackson, teasing potential revelations about the long-rumored secret child the couple allegedly had together.

In a new interview with Wild Moguls TV, DeBarge described his relationship with Jackson as "the right love at the wrong time" and confirmed they eloped in 1984 despite strong opposition from her father, Joe Jackson.

"We fell in love and got married. Snuck off and got married," DeBarge said, reflecting on the clandestine nuptials that took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Their connection began years earlier, when Jackson was 13 and DeBarge 18, after being introduced over the phone by his brother Bobby, who was dating Jackson's sister LaToya at the time.

"Of course he is going [to hook up] his little brother," DeBarge recalled. "She called me every day all the time. I had the phone on lock."

The two didn't meet in person until Janet was 18. Despite their intense connection, their marriage was annulled just one year later, in 1985.

DeBarge pointed to pressure from Jackson's family and their busy schedules as major factors. "She'd been on the road, I'd been on the road.

We didn't have enough time to be together to work things out," he explained. "A lot of interference from the company she was with, and their father not agreeing with it."

DeBarge acknowledged that Joe Jackson disapproved of the relationship but clarified, "He didn't like me or the relationship.

Most daddies don't. I know I don't like my daughters' boyfriends." He said there were no physical threats from Jackson's father.

The marriage was further complicated by DeBarge's struggles with drug addiction, something Janet Jackson has addressed in past interviews.


She claimed that he vanished on their wedding night for hours and that she would sometimes search the streets for him. "She had to leave your home in the middle of the night to find you," one social media commenter noted after the recent interview aired.

One of the couple's long-rumored secrets is a child the couple had together.

DeBarge has long maintained that Jackson gave birth to a child and gave it up for adoption, while Jackson has consistently denied the claim.

"I could never keep a child away from James," she said in her 2022 documentary. "How could I keep a child from their father? I could never do that, that's not right."

In the new interview, DeBarge hinted that he will finally address the rumor head-on. "I'm doing a movie right now," he said. "I'm going to disclose a lot of things, so that I can end it all once."

The interview has stirred social media, with reactions ranging from sympathy to skepticism. "He didn't fumble JANET, he lost JANET," one commenter said.

Another noted, "Janet still gets emotional till this day talking about their relationship."

The couple's story continues to captivate fans nearly four decades later, particularly given the legacy of the Jackson and DeBarge musical dynasties.

Whether DeBarge's forthcoming documentary will bring clarity to one of pop culture's most enduring rumors remains to be seen.

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Janet Jackson