Why Janet Jackson became embroiled in family feud involving Michael's kids

Even the most dysfunctional families have their sane one, and in the famously chaotic Jackson clan, that member has always been Janet.

Until now.

This past week, the family feuded publicly over the late Michael’s estate, with his children taking to Twitter to accuse their Aunt Janet and others of kidnapping their grandmother and legal guardian, Katherine, in order to wrest away control of the King of Pop’s fortune.

At the public memorial service for Michael on July 7, 2009, it was Janet who soothed an emotional Paris, then just 11 years old, as she tearfully remembered her father as “the best daddy,” and it was into Janet’s arms she flew after emotionally collapsing.

Nearly three years to the day, things are quite different. Last Monday, 14-year-old Paris Jackson not only defied her 46-year-old Aunt Janet but also defied the way the Jackson family has traditionally operated: Instead of keeping this latest family feud private, Paris, frantic over her relatives’ refusal to let her speak to her grandma, took to Twitter and declared matriarch Katherine missing.

The national media were quick to go on red alert, and Janet was caught on camera confronting her niece in the driveway of Katherine’s estate.

“You’re a spoiled little bitch!” Janet yelled.

“This is our house,” Paris shot back. “Not the Jackson family house. Get the f--k out!”

On Thursday, Paris’ brother Prince Michael, 15, posted a text message he’d sent to several relatives, including his famous aunt, listed in his iPhone simply as “Janet Jackson.”

“This is enough,” it read, “so I am texting you for the simple fact that WE DEMAND TO SPEAK TO MY GRANDMA NOW!!!”

Janet’s reply was terse: “Don’t let them pls.”

What’s happened to Janet Jackson? How is it that the seemingly calmest, most soft-spoken sibling could be so vicious to her niece and nephews?

Why would a woman who launched her solo career by publicly emancipating herself from her overbearing family — her 1986 breakthrough album was called “Control” — allow herself to become enmeshed in such an ugly family feud? And why would Janet — the only one of 10 Jackson siblings to have a career nearly as successful as Michael’s — allow her image to be tarnished this way?

One Jackson family member tells The Post the answer is simple: It’s all about money. She’s got some; Michael’s estate has more — Billboard recently estimated its net worth at $1 billion — and her siblings have none. She lives in fear of supporting them.

“Janet’s last three tours have failed to sell tickets, and she’s cut each of them short,” the sibling says. “She hasn’t had a hit record in more than a decade, and she no longer has a recording contract.”