Pop icon Janet Jackson and millionaire Qatari businessman Wissam al Mana have parted ways after nearly 5 years of marriage, a source tells the UK’s Daily Mail exclusively.
“Sadly, Janet and Al Mana have decided that it wasn’t working and to go their separate ways,” said the source.
“They’re both busy people but determined to be good parents, even if they’re apart. It’s amicable and Eissa will stay with his mother, who is basing herself in London.”
The couple wed in 2012 after dating a few years and Janet converted to Islam to please her Muslim husband.
Janet may have arranged to have a baby at age 50 to save her marriage after Al Mana took a younger mistress as per his custom. Janet reportedly left Al Mana in the months before their 3-month-old son, Eissa, was born on January 3. There are persistent rumors that Janet took a page from Beyonce’s book and hired a surrogate, out of desperation, to give Al Mana a son that he yearned for.
Prior to meeting Al Mana in 2010, Janet was engaged to Atlanta businessman Jermaine Dupri. They split after she learned he sired a daughter with a stripper.
Janet was previously married to singer James DeBarge in 1984. The couple split the following year and the marriage was annulled.
She thought she found love with her background dancer Rene Elizondo. They wed in 1991, but the marriage ended in divorce in 2000. Elizondo walked away with a reported $10 million divorce settlement.
In an interview following her divorce from Elizondo, Janet bemoaned her inability to keep a man. Janet suggested she was “unlucky” at love.
“I thought I was jinxed,” she said. “Maybe marriage isn’t for me. Maybe it’s my fault it never works. I was always faithful. I put up shields to protect myself from being hurt.”
Janet lives in London with her mother Katherine Jackson, who moved to the UK to be with her daughter and grandson after the break up.
Al Mana, 42, is the CEO of his own multinational corporation with a reported personal fortune of $800 million. But others say he is not worth nearly as much as the tabloids report.
Janet’s personal wealth is estimated to be just $200 million. She cancelled a world tour after announcing her pregnancy in 2016. There is speculation that Janet hired a surrogate to carry her baby.
