Music industry icon Janet Jackson is styled by Julia von Boehm in radiant images by Robbie Fimmano for In Style US October 2018./ Hair by Cassidy Blaine; makeup by Preston Meneses

In spite of her stardom, the first time Janet Jackson felt truly sexy and confident wasn't until she was well into her 30s. "I got out of a funky relationship and finally got back to me," Jackson tells Laura Brown in her interview. "I went to therapy, which was all about finding that thing you like about yourself. The realization that, you know what, you're not so bad after all. I'm not saying you're great or you're the best, but it's not as bad as you were made to feel that it was." How did she overcome some of her biggest insecurities? "A lot of it has to do with experience, getting older. Understanding, realizing that there isn't just one thing that is considered beautiful. Beautiful comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors. "

It's difficult to process the lack of confidence about her own beauty that the star reveals.“At first, I couldn’t find anything. I would look in the mirror and start crying. I didn’t like that I was not attractive. I didn’t like anything about me. But I wound up falling in love with the small of my back. And then from there I found more things.”

In particular, it's so sad to read this superpower talent refecting about her smile . . . about "finally realizing my smile isn't that bad after all. I thought I looked like the Joker because it was so big," Jackson comes clean with InStyle.

“And then finally realizing my smile isn’t that bad after all. I thought I looked like the Joker because it was so big,” Jackson tells InStyle.

When it comes to what makes other women beautiful, Jackson explains it’s “lots of different things,” sharing: “It’s vulnerability. It’s power. It’s confidence. It’s happiness. It’s seeing the goodness in the soul. It’s spirituality. It’s being selfless and what you do for others before doing for yourself.”

Amen Janet Jackson.