This Saturday, La Toya Jackson’s new reality show, Life with La Toya, will premiere on OWN.
In the 10-episode series, fan’s will see Jackson in her day-to-day life as she manages her businesses, mends broken friendships and begins dating for the first time in her life. The season won’t be all about the happy times. Jackson will unpack much of her emotional baggage and even share what really happened between her and her ex-husband and manager Jack Gordon, who by her account, abused her and held her captive.
When asked why she has decided to let cameras into her private life, Jackson said it’s time to start over—a reference from her 2011 memoir Starting Over. “I truly believe it’s never too late to start over in your life… But it’s up to us if we don’t like what happened. No matter what we go through… I was very abused by my ex-manager who married me without my permission. A lot of people say, ‘But you’re La Toya Jackson. You could have gotten away.’ I couldn’t. I was living in fear. I was afraid. He promised that if I didn’t do what he said that he would kill me, he would kill my brother and I believed him… I knew that one day I would eventually try to get away and escape and I did. I want everyone out there who has been abused to know it’s never too late to start over.”
Despite her rocky past with her ex-husband, Jackson’s trying her hand at dating. Above all, she claims she just wants a honest sincere guy who loves his mother. “That’s very important to me because that tells me who you are,” said Jackson. “And of course, a sense of humor.” She admits she’s not looking for a business man to date, but seeks a man with a “good heart.”
Life with La Toya aires on OWN this Saturday at 10:30 p.m. Check out a sneak peek below: