Despite their difficult past, Janet Jackson is honoring her father with love.
The same day TMZ reported that Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson has been hospitalized in the final stages of a battle with terminal cancer, his superstar daughter praised him in an award show speech, the website reported.
Janet, 52, made a point to honor Joe as she accepted the very first "Impact" award at the 2018 Radio Disney Music Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on June 22.
"It's beautiful and it's humbling to be recognized as someone who's had a positive impact but if I've been fortunate to impact others, it's only because I myself have been greatly impacted by positive people in my life," she began her speech.
"My mother [Katherine] nourished me with the most extravagant love imaginable. My father, my incredible father [Joe], drove me to be the best I can," she continued (see video at the 4:50 mark). "My siblings set an incredibly high standard, a high bar for artistic excellence."
The music star went on to praise young people whose idealism is inspiring social change as well as environmentalists, doctors and more. "Sometimes though, having an impact can be a simple act — it can be a smile, a handshake, a hug," she said to applause. "We expand our ability to give and receive pure, pure love by doing that."
Janet was clearly showing Joe, 89, love with her words. TMZ previously reported that he's in the end stages of cancer and last week was admitted to a hospital where he's been visited by Katherine, 88, other relatives and some of his grandchildren. "Our sources say the plan was for Joe to come back home where he could be comforted by family," TMZ writes.
According to "Entertainment Tonight," Joe is in a Las Vegas hospital and "has been battling the illness for a while now and doctors recently told members of the family that he has limited time to live because the cancer cannot be treated."
Joe has admitted he was incredibly tough on the nine kids he had with Katherine and in 2013 confirmed he physically disciplined them and had no regrets about it. "I'm glad I was tough, because look what I came out with. I came out with some kids that everybody loved all over the world. And they treated everybody right," Joe told "Piers Morgan Tonight."
In a 2011 interview with Piers on CNN, Janet revealed that her father had struck her when she was a child and admitted that they had a distant relationship at the time of the interview. "I think my father means well… and wants nothing but the best for his kids… but that is not necessarily the right way," she said at the time, as reported by the Daily Mail. "We don't speak that much… Honestly, it's not that often."
"I wish our relationship was different, but I know that he loves me," she added. In that interview, she also revealed that she wasn't allowed to call her father "Dad" when she was young. She explained that when she did, he told her, "You call me Joseph. I'm Joseph to you."
In his 2013 interview with Piers, Joe confirmed her story. "You had all those kids running hollering around. They're hollering, 'Dad, Dad, Dad,' you know, and it gets to be — it sounds kind of funny to me," Joe said. "But I didn't care too much about what they called me, just as long as they [were] able to listen to me and what I had to tell them, you know, in order to make their lives successful. This was the main thing."