Janet Jackson announces birth of first child - a baby boy - at age of 50

Pop star Janet Jackson gave birth on Tuesday to her first child, a boy, at the age of 50, her publicist said.

"Janet Jackson and husband Wissam Al Mana are thrilled to welcome their new son Eissa Al Mana into the world," the singer's representative said in a statement to People magazine.

"Janet had a stress-free healthy delivery and is resting comfortably," the statement said.

Jackson and Qatari businessman Al Mana married in 2012, and the singer in April postponed her "Unbreakable" world tour so they could focus on starting a family.


In October, she showed off her baby bump in an exclusive photo for People magazine.

Jackson, the fiercely private youngest child of the famed Jackson singing family, has not given any details of the pregnancy or where the baby was born.

The singer, who has 27 nieces and nephews, had long spoken of her desire to have children. But she fought to keep the news of her own pregnancy under wraps.

Her marriage to Mr al Mana was not made public until a year after it had happened.

The couple met at a party to launch a hotel in Dubai, in April 2010.

The same year, aged 44, she said: “I’d love to have a family. But really, it’s in God’s hands. So, if it’s meant to be, I’ll have one. I hope it does.”

A year later, she returned to the subject, telling CNN: “I hope I’d be a good mother."

She continued: "Everyone tells me, for the longest time they’ve told me: ‘Oh, you’d make a great mother.’

"And I’m like, ‘Why?’

"People would tell me: ‘You’re very nurturing. You’re very mothering and you take care of people all the time.’

"And yada, yada, yada. And so, I don’t know."

Mr al Mana is the singer's third husband.

She married dancer Rene Elizondo in 1991, divorcing him in 2000.

She was also married to R&B recording artist James DeBarge from 1984 until 1985.