Janet Jackson opens up about 'intense' battle with depression

The singer gets personal about facing depression in a letter for Essence magazine.
2:39 | 06/20/18

Coming up in the next {{countdown}} {{countdownlbl}}

Coming up next:

{{nextVideo.title}}

{{nextVideo.description}}

Skip to this video now

Now Playing:

{{currentVideo.title}}

Comments
Related Extras
Related Videos
Video Transcript
Transcript for Janet Jackson opens up about 'intense' battle with depression
We'll move on to our "Good morning America" cover story, Janet Jackson revealing her personal struggles in essence. Opening up about depression and what makes her happiest right now and Diane Macedo has the details. Reporter: Janet Jackson is notoriously known for being private. What she learned about happiness came largely from her struggles. At 52 Janet Jackson is once again taking control. ?????? ??? control ??? Reporter: The singer is opening up to essence magazine penning a letter about overcoming a life long battle, saying her 30s were especially tough. I struggled with depression, the struggle was intense. Low self-esteem might be rooted in childhood feelings of infearty and failing impossibly high standards and and of course there are always the societial issues of racism and sexism. Put et Alling to and depression is a tenacious and scary condition. The new mom said one major source of joy is her new son the height of happiness is holding my baby son in my arms and hearing him coo or when I look into his smiling eyes and watch him. During those sacred times, happiness is everywhere. Janet is also giving a nod to the me too and time's up movements. We're living at a time in history when women refuse to be manipulated, exploited or abused. We have found our strength and we won't relent. She echoed this sentiment last month when she won an icon award. You can read Janet's letter in its spi the july/august issue of essence. Janet is headlining the essence festival in New Orleans come July. Back on the stage. Just saw themovie. That's right. That's very true to what happens at the essence festival. It's wonderful. Great to see Janet doing so well. Thanks, Diane. We'll turn to duchess Meghan now, just over a month since we

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

{"id":56025225,"title":"Janet Jackson opens up about 'intense' battle with depression","duration":"2:39","description":"The singer gets personal about facing depression in a letter for Essence magazine. ","url":"/GMA/Culture/video/janet-jackson-opens-intense-battle-depression-56025225","section":"GMA","mediaType":"default"}