Janet Jackson Married to Wissam Al Mana: Songstress Hides Secret Marriage for Over a Year, No Need for 'Extravagant' Engagement

Janet Jackson is MARRIED...and she has been wed for over a year now. This news comes as a shock to the public since Janet was able to successfully shield the secret marriage to her billionare businessman beau Wissam Al Mana for quite a while.

Us Weekly broke the news of the pair's engagement in December 2012, not knowing that Jaclson had "someone to call her lover" and husband for months already. Jackson hasn't worn her ring publicly, a source claimed, because "she's afraid it will get lost, so she keeps it locked up!" Rumors circulated that the couple was in the process of planning a huge spring wedding.

In a statement released to Entertainment tonight on Monday. "The rumors regarding an extravagant wedding are simply not true. Last year we were married in a quiet, private and beautiful ceremony," the couple set the record straight. "Our wedding gifts to one another were contributions to our respective favorite children's charities. We would appreciate that our privacy is respected and that we are allowed this time for celebration and joy."

This private "escapade" shared between the youngest Jackson sister and her husband began back in 2010, according to US Weekly, after she spliit from longtime boyfriend Jermaine Dupri in 2009.

It is the third attempt at marriage for the multiplatinum star who was previously wed to James DeBarge in 1984, which was annulled a year later, and to Rene Elizondo who she divorced in 2000. Jackson was also successful at keeping these relationships out of the public eye as well, which is surprising for a member of the Jackson family who always seems to be under constant scrutiny from the media.

A Jackson source recently revealed that the "Rhythm Nation" singer, now age 46, is eager to start a family with Al Mana. "She wants kids," the source told Us. "If she can't have them, she will adopt.

Janet cerainly had everybody fooled by keeping her marriage under wraps and doing it on her own terms without public "feedback."