Andy Cohen, Senior Vice President of Production and Programming at the Bravo cable television network, revealed on his blog this morning that he recently met with Janet for a pitch meeting:
We had a pitch meeting with Janet a couple months ago and she was as lovely as you want her to be. She was wearing her hair like "Penny" from Good Times and I made a big deal of that (how could I not?). She said the hair-in-a-ball-on-head look actually began pre-Penny, in Vegas performing with her brothers. Janet, loveyoooo ...
Cohen did not reveal what was discussed at the meeting or if anything resulted from it.
Janet made a surprise appearance this evening at the BET Awards where she gave a short speech on behalf of the Jackson family thanking everyone for their support following the death of her brother Michael.
"My entire family wanted to be here tonight, but it was just too painful, so they elected me to speak with all of you," she said from the stage. "I'm gonna keep it very short, but I'd just like to say that to you, Michael is an icon. To us, Michael is family. He will forever live in all of our hearts. On behalf of my family and myself, thank you for all of your love, thank you for all of your support. We miss him so much. Thank you so much."
The previously scheduled awards show ended up turning into a tribute to the King of Pop, who was honored throughout the entire night.
It was Janet's first public appearance since her brother's passing. Her father Joseph was also sitting in the audience.
Janet's manager Kenneth Crear released the following statement a short time ago, as reported live on CNN:
"Janet Jackson is grief stricken and devastated at the sudden loss of her brother. She is in pre-production for a movie and is flying immediately to California to be with her family."
Michael Jackson passed away this afternoon in Los Angeles after suffering a cardiac arrest and being taken to a hospital, according to multiple reports including the Los Angeles Times.
The Janet Xone community expresses condolences to the entire Jackson family.
Janet has been working with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis in Los Angeles over the past several weeks on new music. While there has been no official announcement concerning the details of the new project, music programer Tremaine Williams is working with Jimmy Jam on the production and has been posting regular updates to his Twitter acocunt.
Also, filming has started on "Why Did I Get Married, Too" in Atlanta, Georgia. Janet's character Patricia from the original film is being reprised along with the entire original cast. According to accessatlanta.com, filming began on Monday, June 22 at a house in Inman Park.
While there have been no reports of Janet on the set, Tremaine Williams posted on his twitter account this week that Janet was about to start work on the film, and implied that Jimmy Jam had "other projects" lined up while she was filming.
Release of "Why Did I Get Married, Too" is expected in April 2010.
Finally, Janet recently returned from a trip to London where she attended several events with her friend Prince Azim of Brunei. including his birthday party and a charity event for the Make A Wish Foundation. More images and information at lovebscott.com
