Watch Video: Janet Jackson Breaks Down Into Tears During Performance Of ‘What About’ Amid Divorce

Janet Jackson got real, raw and emotional during a Sept. 9 concert in Houston. While performing ‘What About,’ her song about domestic violence, Janet – who’s in the middle of a divorce – broke down and started crying!

For a moment, it seemed as if Janet Jackson, 51, wasn’t going to finish her show. As the music icon was performing “What About,” off of her 1997 album, The Velvet Rope, the song’s subject matter seemed to overwhelm Ms. Jackson. As her backup dancers performed scenes of domestic violence – as the song is about surviving an abusive relationship – Janet broke down in tears. As she regained her composure, she gestured to the women, saying, “This is me.” The crowd responded by showering Janet with love and support, as she regained her strength to finish the show.

“What about the times you yelled at me? / What about the times I cried? You wouldn’t even hold me,” the lyrics to the song read, according to Entertainment Tonight. “What about those things?/ What about that, what about that? /What about the times you hit my face? /What about the times you kept on when I said, ‘No more please’ / What about those things?” Though it’s been twenty years since Janet released the track, the song still resonates with her, perhaps because she’s going through a divorce with Wissam Al Mana, 42.

Janet and Wissam called it quits in April 2017, mere months after she gave birth to their son, Eissa. The two have been married for five years, but they’ve been together since 2010. The last time Janet outright spoke about her split was in May 2017, when she released a video to announce that her “State Of The World” tour would resume, according to ABC News. She had put the tour on hold due to her pregnancy, and in the video announcing its return, she said she and Wissam “are in court and the rest is in God’s hands.”