JANET REVEALS HOW AN ANONYMOUS COWBOY HELPED HER OUT OF A DEPRESSION + CANDID PICS OF SINGER ON LARRY KING.

Janet Jackson has credited a mystery cowboy for helping her to overcome her depression after suffering a bout of clinical depression in the mid-to-late 1990s, which she addressed on 1997's The Velvet Rope. And she admits she only managed to conquer the illness with the help of the stranger, who has since become one of her closest friends. Speaking to Larry King, Jackson says, "I had the love of my friends and family. But there was someone who came to me actually. And I never tell his name, but he was this cowboy. A true cowboy, an older man. And just certain things he had said to me, it was as if he knew me and knew what I was experiencing, as if he had seen my entire life in a film. I went to this resort and he happened to be there. And I just threw caution to the wind and said I'm going to give him a call. And we still speak to this day. I spoke to him not that long ago. What a wonderful man. And he really was a great help to me."

These days, everything's all good. Janet has her longtime beau of nearly 8 years, Jermaine Dupri who serves as her best friend, colleague, advisor and best of all, her man. "We worked together and became friends. Aside from being amazing, it was the things he'd shared with me. The kinds of things I'd never share with anyone ... Not bad -- just so far left. Married or not, it's not important. It's been about eight years. He's just a sweetheart. Truly a good-hearted person."

Check out pics of Janet and Jermaine Dupri leaving The Larry King Show in Los Angeles last Thursday.

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