All About Janet Jackson’s Son, Eissa Al Mana

The following is Janet Jackson’s top priority right now: her 6-year-old son Eissa

On January 3, 2017, the 50-year-old singer and her then-husband Wissam Al Mana welcomed him. After five years of marriage, Jackson and Al Mana divorced three months after Eissa was born.Jackson quickly adapted to motherhood, telling The Sunday Times in June 2019, “I’m in a great space. I have a beautiful son.” “My friends call me Superwoman,” she added. “God knows I’m not. But I think what they are seeing is the energy and that extra drive I’m getting from the inspiration of Eissa.” She has also been open about how becoming a mom has impacted her life, including her music career. For Essence magazine’s July/August 2022 issue, she spoke about her plans to release new music but noted that motherhood is her new top priority.

“Even though it’s something that I absolutely love, it still is my work, my job,” she said. “There will be music at some point. Exactly when? I can’t say just yet, but there will be. I love it too much not to do it. This is all I know. There’s so much that I want to do — but my number one job is being a mama.” Since his birth, Jackson has kept Eissa largely out of the public eye, seldom sharing photos of him on social media. She has, however, shared a few sweet anecdotes about her son over the years. Keep reading for everything there is to know about Janet Jackson’s son, Eissa Al Mana.

He was born on Jan. 3, 2017
Jackson and Al Mana welcomed Eissa on Jan. 3, 2017. “Janet Jackson and husband Wissam Al Mana are thrilled to welcome their new son Eissa Al Mana into the world. Janet had a stress-free healthy delivery and is resting comfortable,” a rep for Jackson shared with PEOPLE at the time.

Members of the Jackson family celebrated the news, including the new mom’s siblings, La Toya and Jermaine Jackson, who shared congratulatory messages on social media. Her father, Joe Jackson, also celebrated the birth of his grandchild, both on social media and his website.

He made his social media debut at 14 weeks
Jackson shared the first photo of her son when he was 14 weeks old, just a few days after she and Al Mana split. The photo featured the infant yawning as Jackson pressed a kiss against his forehead.“My baby and me after nap time,” she captioned the selfie.

He lives in London
While Jackson spent her childhood in Indiana before moving to Los Angeles, her son is growing up across the pond. The singer is co-parenting Eissa with her ex-husband in London.

He loves music
Eissa is already following in the footsteps of his musical family. During a February 2020 appearance on The Tonight Show, Jackson told host Jimmy Fallon that her toddler was already starting to show an interest in music. During the interview, she also revealed that Questlove, the frontman of The Roots, gave her son a drum kit that he “loves.” When Fallon joked that he’d give Eissa a harmonica, Jackson responded, “He has that already. He’s incredibly musical.”

He plays the cello
In the same interview with Fallon, Jackson said that her son first chose to play the violin when he was 2, but he soon changed his mind and swapped it for a different string instrument. “He loves classical music. First day of school, he took the violin to school. Third day of school, he says, ‘Mama, I want to take a cello to school,’ ” she explained. “I said, ‘Baby, you don’t have a cello.’ He says, ‘I’ll take one but turn my violin into a cello, please Mama.’ ”

He loves Bruno Mars

“During and after his birth, I comforted myself with Brazilian jazz, music that always relaxes me,” she added. “Then when the baby began crawling, Bruno was breaking out big and on the radio all the time. That delighted both of us.”

He doesn’t have a nanny
Jackson is a hands-on mother. In several interviews during the first years of Eissa’s life, she spoke about being a working mother, telling the Daily Telegraph’s Stellar magazine in August 2019: “It is hard being a working mother. I don’t have a nanny, I do it all myself.”