As mentioned before, rumors of Janet Jackson having a secret daughter have plagued her career since the 80s. There were also rumors of Janet’s niece Stevanna Jackson, who bears a striking resemblance to the singer, actually being her daughter. Stevanna is the daughter of Janet’s brother Randy Jackson and Eliz Shaffe.
Unfortunately, at 25 years old, Stevanna is too young to be the daughter of Janet and DeBarge. Randy and Eliz didn’t marry until 1989, five years after Janet’s alleged pregnancy, and gave birth to Stevanna a year later. A pregnancy during this time would’ve been impossible to conceal as the year Stevanna was born was also the year of Janet’s global Rhythm Nation Tour.
DeBarge also put to rest rumors of Janet’s sister Rebbie Jackson raising the secret daughter for Janet. According to DeBarge, his secret daughter was raised by adoptive parents. In fact, it was the adoptive mother who revealed the secret on her death bed:
“One of her adoptive parents died. Her adoptive mother and on her death bed said she told her. She confirmed it on the deathbed.”
“I hadn’t known [that Janet had a baby]… not for sure,” he said. “I went on a search. Someone went through some serious changes to make it impossible for me to find. This had to be some serious inside work being done with the paperwork. Someone was working with them.”
On His Reaction to Finding Out He Had A Secret Daughter with Janet:
“I was hurt and I didn’t know why I was hurt,” he said. “I think I was hurt because I had mixed emotions. I felt kind of left out and I felt like it was unfair. At first, I felt like this was the worst thing in the world that happened to me. I was so depressed by it at first” – read more on NEXT PAGE.