Janet Smollett is a mother of actors and was in the spotlight when her son and ‘The Empire’ star Jussie Smollett staged a fake hate crime assault on himself and filed a false report from police.
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Early life and family
Janet Faye Harris was born on November 27, 1952 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of African American descent. There is no information available about her family and her growing up years, except that she was an active member of the American civil rights movement when she was young, along with Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, who were the founders of the Black Panther Party. It is said that one of his first mentors was Julian Bond, who was a leader of the civil rights movement. Her level of education has not been revealed, but she is believed to be a teacher.
Jussie Smollett and her mother Janet Smollett 💛.
Posted by Jussie Smollett Fan Family on Saturday, December 10, 2016
Private life
Janet is from New Orleans and Joel Smollett is from New York, and they met in the Bay Area where they campaigned for civil rights. Joel, born October 8, 1956, is Jewish and the son of immigrants from Russia and Poland. They were married and have six children – Jojo, Jazz, Jussie, Jurnie, Jake and Jocqui. The family lived a nomadic lifestyle and moved coast to coast thirteen times across the United States; however, it has not been revealed why they lived this way and for how long, possibly because of their support for the civil rights movement. Wherever they ended up staying, Janet had a ritual of turning hardwood planks into a long table that usually took three days to complete.
This is where she served home-cooked meals to her children and where they celebrated holidays and other milestones. Another tradition they have is for children to perform at birthdays and Mother’s Day celebrations. Singing, dancing and poetry readings were the standard entertainment. In addition to creating happy family memories, all of these events have helped the children bond.
She made sure the kids also played sports, read Langston Hughes poetry and got to know characters like Malcolm X. She taught her kids that they should never start a fight or they’d get in trouble. they did. However, if someone comes after them, they must defend themselves. When they were young, they received a toy from their mother if they fought to defend themselves, a brother or a friend.
She instilled in them a strong sense of justice – to speak up and fight for what is right and what they believe in.
Joel wasn’t around while the kids were growing up, and it’s unclear what the reason was. Some reports said he left the family and came back to their lives later, but stayed in touch. No one really knows for sure why and how. However, not being there does not mean that there was some animosity from the children, as they expressed their love towards their father. On January 7, 2015, Joel lost his battle with cancer at the age of 58 – Jussie posted a picture on his Instagram of his father wearing him when he was still very young and said: ‘…my family lost our king but we gained a righteous angel; showed us the deepest strength and dignity until your last breath.
You’re not just a fighter… You’re the CHAMPION.’ The youngest daughter, Jurnee, also posted on Instagram how she felt about her dad, saying, “I love you daddy.” Keep flying high up there. Until we meet again… Love your little girl.
The Smollet Children
All six kids have been playing since they were young and there doesn’t seem to be any sibling rivalry. They were all cast in 1994 for the ABC sitcom, “On Our Own,” with the eldest at 17 and the youngest just a year old at the time; it only lasted one season. They each went on to pursue acting, singing, producing, and other interests. After two decades, the Smollett siblings were able to work together again in 2016, for the Food Network, in a cooking show called “Smollett Eats.”
They shared family favorite recipes as they cooked and baked for a birthday party for the kids or a midnight barbecue for friends.
Who is Jussie Smollett
Jussie Smollett, Janet and Joel’s middle child, was born June 21, 1982. He starred in films such as ‘The Mighty Ducks’ (1992) and ‘North’ (1994) when he was younger, but rose to prominence in 2015 when he starred as Jamal Lyon on the hit Fox TV series, “Empire,” for which he co-wrote two songs on the Season 1 soundtrack.” He signed a contract recording with Columbia Records the same year and released his debut album, “Sum of My Music” in March 2018 through his own label. Interestingly, he came out as gay in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres shortly after the release of his character in the television series.
The staged racist and homophobic attack on Jussie Smollett
On January 29, 2019, Jussie turned himself in to the Chicago Police Department saying he was the victim of a hate crime and was assaulted. He said as he was walking home around 2 a.m. in the affluent neighborhood of Streeterville in downtown Chicago, two masked men physically assaulted him — beat him, poured him a unknown substance and even put a noose around his neck. They also hurled homophobic and racial slurs at him and shouted, “This is MAGA country,” which refers to President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
After investigation, Chicago police said the attack could have been staged, as the masked men turned out to be Nigerian brothers, who previously worked as extras on ‘Empire’, and claimed to have been paid 3,500 $ by Mr. Smollett to assault him. .
The brothers, Abel and Ola Osundairo, were born in the United States, had financial difficulties and each declared bankruptcy in September 2016. Apparently Jussie approached Abel and wanted him and his brother to help organize the attack. They said Jussie orchestrated the whole thing; he gave instructions on what to do and what to say, and where the assault had to take place in order to be filmed. After being detained and questioned by the police, they have not been charged and are acting as cooperating witnesses in this case.
Police said Jussie wanted to stoke publicity because he was upset about his acting salary on ‘Empire,’ which was said to be between $65,000 and $100,000 per episode, however, according to Fox, Jussie had no raised no objections to his salary.
According to Abel, Jussie was also unhappy with how his studio handled the death threat he received on January 22. The letter reads, “Smollett Jussie, you will die black”, followed by anti-gay slurs, and it was also mixed with a powder that turned out to be crushed ibuprofen, which was turned over to the FBI. Police say Jussie sent the letter to himself to get attention.
Lawyers for Jussie Smollett say he is innocent, but the Chicago PD gave a detailed report on how Jussie staged the attack. In February 2019, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office charged him with 16 counts of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report, but the charges against him were dropped in March and his file has been erased according to his lawyers. He forfeited his $10,000 bail payment and would be doing community service.
March 2, 2018… Debut album… #SumOfMyMusic pic.twitter.com/chnmPrQSYw
—Jussie Smollett (@JussieSmollett) February 21, 2018
The Chicago police and the city’s mayor take their case against Smollett. Police ordered Jussie to pay $130,000 to cover the cost of labor used in the investigation, and when he refused, they sued him for three times that amount. A special prosecutor was appointed in October to investigate the reasons for the dropping of charges.
There was an outpouring of support from many people, including his ‘Empire’ co-stars, celebrities Steve Harvey and Viola Davis, politicians such as Senator Kamala Harris and fans after the report initial attack. People were in conflict over what to believe after the result of police investigations was made public. Most of the support and sympathy for Jussie turned to disappointment and anger; the family has stood by Jussie and fully supports him. The producers of “Empire” reportedly said Smollett’s character would be dropped from the final two episodes of this season.
Interesting facts and rumors
- Janet is good friends with Angela Davis, an American activist and author, who celebrates Mother’s Day as a family
- Janet is rumored to be a cousin of US Senator Kamala Harris as her maiden name is Harris but they are not related
- She is an excellent cook and her recipes were even included in a cookbook called “The Family Table: Recipes and Moments from a Nomadic Life”, by Jazz, Jussie, Jurnee and Jake.
- She is Jussie and Jurnee’s acting coach.
- Janet is an ‘Empire’ fan and calls Jussie every Wednesday to talk about this week’s episode
- She is a fan of Whitney Houston
Jussie beautiful family his brother Jake sister Jurnee and his beautiful son Hunter with their beautiful mother Janet🌺❤️🌺
Posted by Jussie Smollett Fan Family on Wednesday July 19th 2017
Appearance
There were often photos of Janet posted on her children’s IG accounts, and she looked great and dressed just as fashionably as her daughters. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She is 1.6 m (5 ft 6 in) tall and weighs approximately 51 kg (112 lb). His vital stats were not disclosed.
Net worth, salary
There is no information about any business she owns or her work, although some reports indicate that she is a teacher. It has not been revealed how much she received from the cookbook which was published and published in 2018 with her recipes on it, but sources estimated her net worth at around $250,000 in early 2020.