Janet Jackson has recalled how even her brother, the late Michael Jackson, teased her about her appearance as a child.

The singer, 55, who admits she always struggled with body image issues throughout her life, opened up about her journey to self-love in her new documentary, titled Janet.

"When I was 10 years old, I did [the sitcom] Good Times and that's the beginning of having weight issues and the way I looked at myself," she said in part three of the four-part documentary.

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"I was developing at a very young age and I started getting a chest and they would bind my chest so I would look more flat-chested," she added.

Jackson went on: "And then there were times when Mike used to tease me and call me names. He used to call me 'pig,' 'horse,' 'slaughter hog,' 'cow.' It wasn't out of malice on his part at all. Brothers tease sisters, sisters tease brothers, and it was just kind of funny."

However, she says the words had an emotional impact on her for years to come.

"But then there was somewhere down inside that it would hurt. I mean, you have someone say you're too heavy. Even if it was out of love, it affects you," she added.

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The singer has spoken before about the teasing from Michael, who died in 2009.

In a 2011 interview with Extra, she said: "I got called 'slaughter hog,' pig,' 'cow,' 'horse, 'dung.' I got called a lot of names but...he didn't mean it in a malicious way at all."

"I held it all inside and it really took its toll on me and I carried it into my adult life," she added.

Elsewhere in the documentary, the star said her second husband, dancer and songwriter René Elizondo, was "constantly on me about the way I looked" and allegedly told her she needed to look the way she did in her music videos when she went out.

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The pair divorced in 2000 after 9 years of marriage.

"I'm an emotional eater," she said in the documentary. "So, when I get stressed or something's really bothering me, it comforts me and I'll try and do things to bring [my weight] down, try to diet. But I can't keep it down."

When asked if she would have felt differently had she not been in the public eye, the singer said: "I probably would have wound up not having a problem."

Featured image credit: Sipa US / Alamy

Janet Jackson says brother Michael Jackson criticized her weight and called her 'pig' as a child