By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices

"It means a great deal to me," Janet Jackson said of her starring role in Tyler Perry's latest movie, 'Why Did I Get Married?' -- opening in theaters this Friday.

"I wanted to get back into acting and wanted to find the right script and the right role," she said of her role as Patricia, a therapist who grapples with her very own personal demons of the past.

Jackson 's last film was 2000's ''The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps,' where she played opposite Eddie Murphy in a super-sized likeness of an overweight teacher and his overweight family members.

The 41-year-old pop music icon said the main reason why she chose to star in Perry's mature romantic comedy was for the fact that she would appear in it alongside an array of actors including Malik Yoba, Sharon Leal, Tasha Smith, Richard T. Jones, Denise Boute, Michael Jai White and others.

"I didn't want to be a lead for a film because I didn't have enough time to dedicate to it at that point," she explained, adding, "so trying to find an ensemble piece that I felt really good about [made it] perfect" There was a major time issue too: The multiple Grammy Award winner revealed that Perry (who struck box-office gold with his first two films 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' and 'Madea's Family Reunion.') reached out to her less than a week before principal photography of 'Married' was set to begin.

"So there was no time to prep ... those were the things that kept me up at night," she added.

When it comes to relating to her character -- a very well put together best-selling author, lecturer and professor -- Jackson admitted that she did see a little bit of herself in her. "I'm obviously not a therapist or else I probably wouldn't have had two divorces, or got married twice (chuckle), however way you can look at it," she quipped. "But some of my friends call me the therapist for some reason and they ask for advice and I do the best that I can as a friend and try to be there for them and just be someone to listen if they need."

"I see the person that does that in Patricia but yet doesn't want to look in her own background and just doesn't want to deal with it ... she's not ready to face her own issues, and I did a lot of that in the past, in my past relationships," she continued. "And then at one point I was forced -- I guess it was God -- to look at everything. So I brought a part of my own world in Patricia's life."

On the horizon for the former 'Good Times' and 'Fame' actress is a new album, which will reportedly be executive produced by Antonio " L.A. " Reid for Island Def Jam.

While she seemed to gloss over answering specific questions about that project, Jackson did share that she was penning a memoir.

"I'm in the midst of writing a book on my journey of my weight transitions in my life and my nutrition about it," the Gary, Ind. native revealed.

In talking to The BV Newswire some light had to be shown on her roller coaster weight fluctuations -- which always seem to make major tabloid fodder.

It's been documented that Jackson tends to lean on the more heavier side when she's not releasing a project, but when she does put out something new it's much buzz about her miraculous weight loss.

"I don't read any of the stuff they say but I wouldn't put anything a pass them," she said of media reports making a big deal about it. "But at the same time, I don't think there's any wrong in that. It's just like a fighter getting ready for a fight.

"But I haven't always been that way," she rationed. "For the 'Nutty Professor,' I was up in weight with [the song] 'Doesn't Really Matter.' I was going through my divorce at that time and that was a troubling time for myself, but it's been a journey."

"I can't even say that I've been there," Jackson said about the possibility that she can relate to Spears. "I don't know what she's going through. I don't have two kids. She's the oldest in her family, I'm the baby. I hear she doesn't really talk to her mother. I've never had that type of relationship with my mother. And I've always had my brothers and sisters. So I don't know what she's going through."

"The only thing we have in common," she concluded, "is that we're both female, we're both into music and we're both in the public eye and we've both been successful at it, and we both have our issues."