Seriously? OMG! WTF?

Janet Jackson has never been afraid to expose some skin. The 40-year-old singer, newly svelte after losing some 60 pounds, appears on the cover of Vibe magazine wearing a skimpy bikini bottom and a necklace made of large shells. Her right arm covers her breasts.Will she ever stop posing for sexy photos? "Of course. When I’m 80," she tells Vibe. "That’s when I’ll call it quits."Two years ago, Justin Timberlake pulled off a part of Jackson’s bustier, briefly exposing one of her breasts, during the Super Bowl halftime show.In an interview in the magazine’s September issue, on newsstands Aug. 15, Jackson says the incident – variously referred to as "Nipplegate" and the "bra-ha-ha" – is history. "It’s just over and done with. It’s old. It’s the past. It’s history. I’m onto something new. Everybody got their licks in – those who wanted to – and it’s done," she says."I came to realize that younger men had less of a problem with who I am than older men," she says. "With the younger guys, there was less ego. Things were less competitive. They weren’t threatened by who made more and who made less."She says that with Dupri, she feels as if she’s met her match."When I look at Jermaine, I see myself," Jackson says. "I feel as if I’m looking in the mirror. The connection I feel with him I have never felt with anybody else."The pop star recently said she had packed on extra weight for a role in the upcoming movie "Tennessee," which she ultimately had to pass on because of her new record.When asked if she’d rather have a hit album or win an Oscar, she says: "Win an Oscar. It’s just a passion. But can’t I have both? Everybody in my family says I’m spoiled anyway. I want both…"

MyWay 

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Janet Jackson is turning over the artwork for her upcoming album, "20 Years Old," to fans via a contest with Yahoo! Music, Billboard.com can reveal. Beginning today (July 18) at noon PST, fans can download 33 images of Jackson for use as part of their own covers. Jackson will personally choose four finalists, whose creations will appear on "selected publicly distributed copies" of the album, according to Virgin.Sixteen finalists will win Jackson’s complete album discography on CD. Each design uploaded to the contest site will be assigned a unique link that can be shared.As previously reported, "20 Years Old" is due Sept. 26. The set was produced by Jackson’s boyfriend, Virgin Urban president Jermaine Dupri, as well as longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.

Billboard 

It seems that being the King of Pop is no guarantee that you can crash any party in town. When Michael Jackson made an appearance at London’s Hard Rock Cafe, he was simply turned away. Jacko, in London to promote a Hurricane Katrina charity single, heard about the restaurant’s re-launch party and an operation burger-style mission ensued. A source told the Daily Mirror: "(Jacko’s publicist) approved it and sent a message back to Michael’s entourage to start the next stage… His security and his management arrived at the restaurant at 10.30 and also gave the thumbs up. They even found a secret back door for him." But, the Beat It singer missed his 11.15 ETA and staff said the place was simply too packed.Poor Michael missed out on schmoozing with the likes of Lord Brocket, Liberty X and Kelly Osbourne…A restaurant spokesman said: "It was just too much of a security risk. There was no diva-style tantrum though." The star’s publicist commented: "Michael was disappointed he could not attend the party as he likes Hard Rock Cafes. He’d like to come down to the restaurant before he leaves the UK." So, he’ll get that burger after all.

Ananova 

The day Michael Jackson was acquitted of child molestation charges, his teenage accuser, a cancer survivor, thought life couldn’t get any worse. "Why didn’t they believe me? I told the truth. Why didn’t they believe me?" the anguished boy cried when prosecutors broke the news to him by telephone. But in the year since the verdict June 13, 2005, the 16-year-old’s existence has sunk to an even lonelier hell. His mom has turned her back on him, blaming him for the courtroom loss, for the alleged abuse by the pop idol, even for welfare fraud charges filed against her, the Daily News has learned. "His mother barely speaks to him. She won’t cook for him. She treats him like dirt, and she won’t let him go to counseling to deal with the trauma. She blames him for the whole mess and says she wants to move on," said a source familiar with the boy’s plight. Living under an assumed name in Orange County, Calif., the boy is torn between hiding his past from the world and paying for it every time he walks through the door of his home. "Mentally, he’s really messed up right now. He never knows what verbal abuse will be thrown at him when he goes home," said the source. The 38-year-old mother, who has a documented history of mental problems and could not be reached for comment, often tells the boy it’s his fault the pop singer allegedly molested him, the source said. "She screams at him, ‘You allowed him to touch you! You allowed him to do it!’ And she blames him for not getting the jury to believe him," the source says. But several jurors on the case said it was the boy’s mom – with her rude finger snapping, pointing and irrational tirades on the witness stand – who rubbed them the wrong way and made them doubt the family’s credibility. Fueling the boy’s problems, his step-dad, Army Reserve Maj. Jay Jackson, was deployed to the Middle East last August while the mom was pregnant with her fifth child, a baby girl now several months old. The couple, who married in 2004, also has a 2-year-old son. "The mother has her new family now with Jay. Maybe she has no energy for her older kids from her first husband," said the source. When he testified at Jackson’s trial last year, the teen was playing high school football and making honor-roll grades, but this year his marks started slipping, the source said. "He has to work now. He rides his bike across town to his job [in a fast-food joint] and buys his own food. His mother won’t cook for him. It’s a terrible situation," said the source. The mom even blames the boy for the welfare fraud charges she is facing in Los Angeles County because her alleged $8,000 scheme was unearthed by investigators working for Michael Jackson during the criminal case. "Everything is his fault," the source said. The desperate boy recently reached out to a family friend, who is trying to intervene and get him help. The accuser’s younger brother, who still says he saw the pop star molesting his sleeping sibling in 2003, is "just plain angry at the world. He keeps saying, … ‘I saw him do it!’" the source said. "[The accuser] just keeps saying, ‘I wish I never met Michael Jackson. He ruined my life,’" said the source.

New York Daily News 

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