Janet Jackson & Adam Rodriguez star in... "Before Sunset".

When: May 12th 2010. Where: East Hampton, New York. Who: Superstar Janet Jackson and
CSI Miami/I Can Do Bad actor Adam Rodriguez.

Singer and actress Janet Jackson turned director for the day as she directed her photoshoot for the August issue of Essence magazine. For this photoshoot, Janet specially cast her “co-star” in the form of Adam Rodriguez.

Janet Damita Jo Jackson is a woman with an obvious fondness for the world of cameras and make-believe. In our rendition of Before Sunset the veritable triple threat takes a star turn as a stunning socialite on a clandestine rendevouz with an impossibly sexy polo player, played by the equally stunning Adam Rodriguez. Why Rodriguez? Well, to understand that you’d have to understand where Janet is at this point in her life. “I’m so fortunate.” She coos in a voice so honeyed it gives license to use the word mellifluous. “I’m a free agent. I’m not trapped in a contract where I’m unhappy. I’m very free, and I love this feeling. I can do whatever I want.”

And what Janet wanted, in this case at least, was the 35-year-old Bronx Cuban and Butter Rican heatthrob of CSI Miami fame. When Rodriguez heard Janet had requested him to play her love interest on our shoot, he was beyond flattered. On meeting her, he says she has a “genuine sweetness. It’s a beautiful thing to see someone with that kind of lifelong success hold on to something that most people lose so easily when put in the spotlight.”

Words: Adam Rodriguez Connection/Essence. Photography: Yu Tsai.
Scans: Adam Rodriguez Connection