Janet Jackson visits a ‘posh’ pawnbrokers shop in London

This must be the most unlikely place you’d expect to see a member of her super-rich family, but pop star Janet Jackson has been spotted at a pawnbroker’s in Chelsea.

The American singer, 55, who has an estimated fortune of £150million, was seen leaving Prestige Pawnbrokers where a Hermes handbag can cost up to £29,000.

Janet was clutching a blue jewellery box as she left under a sign which read ‘Posh Porn’ and got into a Range Rover parked outside.

An onlooker in the store told MailOnline: ‘Janet was in Prestige Pawnbrokers for quite some time, she was looking at the jewellery for a while and seemed quite interested in a Hermes bag. 

‘She was clutching a blue jewellery box, but it wasn’t clear what it contained. She seemed to be very friendly and was chatting away with the staff asking questions about various items on display.’

At Prestige Pawnbrokers the most expensive Cartier ring and earrings can cost up to £79,950 each and the most expensive Hermes bag costs £29,000.

Hermes bags can go for £250,000 in some shops and there are huge waiting lists for them.

Janet — whose brother Michael Jackson died in 2009 — has lived in London on and off since marrying Qatari businessman Wissam Al Mana in 2012. 

The couple, who married in 2012, announced their separation in April 2017 just four months after the birth of their son Eissa, five.

Janet and Al Mana said they were committed to co-parenting after going their separate ways, but Janet’s brother Randy Jackson claimed she suffered ‘verbal abuse’ during their marriage. 

Janet moved back to London in 2019 after previously moving out of the townhouse she shared with her estranged husband, Qatari multi-millionaire businessman Wissam Al Mana.

The superstar went low key for her outing to the Prestige Pawnbrokers, which featured in the Channel 4 series ‘Posh Pawn’, dressing in a long black coat teamed with a colourful silk scarf and quirky platform sneakers.

She wore black framed glasses and carried her phone on a cross-body strap for the outing.

Prestige Pawnbrokers, which specialises in designer handbags, provides loans for items. It also allows rich clientele to buy and sell rare high-end luxury items.

Videos on the company’s website shows them selling Sharon Osborne’s Fendi handbag as well as luxury goods such as a £1 million bottle of wine.  

A five time Grammy winner, Janet is a member of the iconic Jackson music family who also enjoyed great success as a solo artist.

The Rhythm Nation hit-maker has sold over 180 million records during her career, and has also made the jump to Hollywood with roles in Poetic Justice, Nutty Professor II, and Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married.

In 2016, before her split with Al Mana, Janet was pictured wearing head to toe in billowing black clothes — an oversized poncho, baggy trousers and a hood that covered her hair — making her look almost unrecognizable.

So dramatic was her image overhaul — and her new, low-key lifestyle since marrying Qatari-born Al Mana in 2012 — that there was even speculation she had converted to Islam to appease her stanchly religious other half (though her so-called ‘Muslim dress’ was later revealed to be £1,000 designer menswear from Adidas).

The couple split in 2017 soon after their son was born. Sources say a clash of cultures has driven Janet and Wissam apart, made worse since the birth of baby Eissa, over whose upbringing and day-to-day care they disagree.

While Janet is keen to be a hands-on mother, Wissam, a wealthy businessman with £800 million to his name, has strict views on how his son should be brought up, and has hired round-the-clock staff to wait on his wife and child in their Belgravia home.

The baby has never been seen in public, and Janet was reportedly forbidden from leaving the house while she was nursing. Wissam, too, has disappeared from sight.

Janet and Al Mana met in 2010 at the summer opening of a new hotel in Dubai. Though known on the Middle Eastern social circuit as something of a VIP, Wissam was far from a playboy.

In fact, he was renowned for his religious principles and sensible business acumen.

Born in Qatar to a wealthy family, he moved to London aged two and grew up to join the family business, Al Mana, which represents major fashion companies including Dolce & Gabbana and Emporio Armani.

Though now a leading global businessman, Wissam rarely gives interviews, shuns social media and claims to spend his spare time ‘looking at antiques and reading’.

Earlier this year Janet released a two-part documentary about her childhood, fame and love life.

The revealing film saw the star speak out about the infamous ‘Nipplegate’ scandal, 18 years after Justin Timberlake, 40, accidentally exposed her breast to 140 million viewers at the 2004 Super Bowl.

The entertainer, 55, said in the Lifetime and A&E documentary that she and Justin ‘are very good friends,’ two decades on.  

To officially clear the air Janet said, ‘Honestly, this whole thing was blown way out of proportion.’