Photo credit: Jamie Lamor Thompson / Shutterstock.com

Janet Jackson has finally opened about her intense battle with depression.

The 52-year-old singer and mother-of-one penned an emotional and heartfelt essay for Essence magazine’s July/August issue – which ironically just so happens to be the ‘Happiness’ issue.

“I was happy when my brothers came home from performing on the road,” she wrote about her teen years.

“I was happy when my mother lavished me with love. But I wasn’t happy with the way I looked.

Janet Jackson went on to say that her thirties were extremely difficult for her, unable to shake feelings of low self-esteem and depression…

“These were difficult years, when I struggled with depression,” she continued.

“The struggle was intense. I could analyze the source of my depression forever. Low self-esteem might be rooted in childhood feelings of inferiority.

“It could relate to failing to meet impossibly high standards. And of course there are always the societal issues of racism and sexism. Put it all together and depression is a tenacious and scary condition.

“Thankfully, I found my way through it.”

We’re glad to hear that she has overcome it. And we think we’ve found the root of her new happiness… her baby, Eissa!

“The height of happiness is holding my baby son in my arms and hearing him coo, or when I look into his smiling eyes and watch him respond to my tenderness,” she said.

“When I kiss him. When I sing him softly to sleep. During those sacred times, happiness is everywhere. Happiness is in gratitude to God. Happiness is saying, ‘Thank you, God, for my life, my energy and my capacity to grow in love.'”

Aww! You can read Janet Jackson’s emotional letter in full in the latest issue of Essence, out tomorrow!