Janet Jackson finally addresses the decades-long rumor that she had a secret child with her first husband

• In her new documentary, Janet Jackson denies the rumor that she had a child with James DeBarge.
• "Back in the day they were saying that I had a child and I kept it secret," she said.

The second episode of her new documentary series on A&E, Janet Jackson addresses the rumor that she had a secret child with her first husband James DeBarge, saying she would never keep a child away from their father.

"Back in the day they were saying that I had a child and I kept it secret," the singer said in the documentary. "I could never keep a child away from James. How could I keep a child from their father? I could never do that, that's not right."

Jackson and DeBarge secretly wed in 1984, when she as 18 and Debarge was 21. The marriage was annulled just a year later, in 1985.

In the documentary, Jackson rationalized that she thought the rumors came from a focus on her weight. At the time, Jackson had a recurring role in the hit TV series "Fame," and fans paid attention to her physical appearance.

"A lot of the kids thought I was pregnant because I had gained weight," Jackson said. "I had started taking birth control pills, and back then, you could pick up weight taking them. And that's what happened to me. So that rumor started going around."

At the time, the speculation took different angles. The documentary explains that tabloids suggested Jackson's sister Rebbie was raising the child or even that Jackson's adopted niece was really her own child.

In the "Janet Jackson" documentary, the singer's "Fame" costar Debbie Allen makes an appearance. She laughs off the possibility of Jackson keeping a pregnancy secret during that time period, given that she spent so much time around her costars while filming the show.

The story about a "secret child" didn't just come from tabloids. It was later fueled further by DeBarge himself while Jackson maintained her silence around the matter. In 2017, Debarge told Radar Online that the existence of his child with Jackson was "not a secret" and that a woman had contacted him to reveal herself as his daughter. According to a later report from Radar Online, the woman and DeBarge eventually took a paternity test that proved they weren't related after all.

Jackson only has one child, born just a few years ago. On January 3, 2017, Jackson and her then-husband Wissam Al Mana welcomed their son, Eissa Al Mana.

The "Janet Jackson" documentary premieres its second set of episodes on Saturday, January 29, on Lifetime and A&E.