Inside Janet Jackson's Long History With Paula Abdul

In 1986, pop icon Janet Jackson was about to drop her seminal album "Control," which was inspired by a tumultuous time in her life. She had just divorced her first husband, James DeBarge, and she had fired her father Joe Jackson as her manager, per Jezebel. The album is full of songs that show she was more than just Michael Jackson's baby sister. Songs like "Nasty," "What Have You Done For Me Lately?" and "Control" are fierce, feminist, fiery, and in your face. For the accompanying music videos, she was going to need someone to choreograph dance routines that espoused her new outlook, vibe, and stance.

Enter stage right: Paula Abdul. In the '80s, Abdul was not yet a pop star and definitely not yet a judge of "American Idol." She was a cheerleader for the LA Lakers basketball team, and her squad was affectionately known as the Laker Girls. Still a teenager, she had her first brush with the famous Jackson family in 1984 when she was brought in to choreograph The Jackson's "Torture" music video, per The LA Times. That's when opportunity knocked. "I'm very grateful, because this was really the big start to my career," Abdul told Rolling Stone in 2014 about choreographing the "Nasty" music video. "I was really, really excited to work with her." Abdul also acted in the video, and then choreographed, "What Have You Done For Me Lately?" and "When I Think Of You." 

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