LOS ANGELES — Janet Jackson is opening up about her brother's alleged prescription drug use, telling ABC's Robin Roberts that her family tried several interventions over the years to rid the King of Pop of his troubles.
"Of course, that's what you do," the 43-year-old singer reveals in an interview airing Wednesday night. "Those are the things that you do when you love someone. You can't just let them continue on that way. And we did a few times. We weren't very successful."
While the interventions failed, Jackson says the music icon understood that his family had the best of intentions.
"How do I say this? Understanding. I guess that will be the best way to — understood that it was out of love, because of caring. But when it's something like that, people can tend to be in denial," she says.
When asked if Michael was in denial, Jackson replies, "Possibly."
"I wish he could answer this question for you and not me. I felt that he was in denial," Jackson says.
"You can't make 'em drink the water," she adds. "I'm a true believer in prayer, a big believer in prayer — but it's, it's something that you can't do for them. Something they have to do for themselves."
Jackson also tells Roberts that she hasn't seen This Is It, the concert film released last month that is comprised of rehearsal footage shot during Michael's preparation for his comeback shows in London.
"I definitely won't, not right now. I don't know if I will ever see it," she says. "It's hard when I see a poster, you know, the This Is It posters that are around the city. That's tough. I've seen the commercial. They advertise — the trailers — on TV. That was tough."
Jackson also puts to bed rumors that she was married to music mogul Jermaine Dupri, while also denying that the couple is back together.
"I adore him. Absolutely adore Jermaine," she says. "Love him to death and we're still very good friends to this day. Very good friends, but that's all I'll say."
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