Washington – Pop superstar Janet Jackson on Wednesday abruptly halted her global tour, saying that she wanted to start a family with her husband.

Jackson, who turns 50 next month, dropped the bombshell in a video message to fans after repeated delays in her tour led to speculation of ill health.

“There actually has been a sudden change. I thought it was important that you’d be the first to know,” she said.

With a slight pause and a smile, she said: “My husband and I are planning our family, so I’m gonna have to delay the tour.” “Please, if you can try and understand, that it’s important that I do this now. I have to rest up – doctors’ orders,” she said.

But Jackson said that she would resume the tour “as soon as I possibly can.”

The singer married the Qatari businessman Wissam Al Mana in a quiet ceremony in 2012.

She did not reveal any further details about her plans for a family. Natural pregnancies are less common as women enter their late 40s, although in vitro fertilizations can extend the age range.

Her brother, late King of Pop Michael Jackson, had three children after well-publicized efforts to try to start a family.

He had two children with Debbie Rowe, who worked at his dermatologist’s office and married him, and a third through an undisclosed surrogate.

Janet Jackson performed on March 26 at the Dubai World Cup, closing the lucrative horse race that takes part in the emirate, but otherwise halted her “Unbreakable” tour after a leg in Japan in November.

On Christmas Eve, she announced a delay in her North American tour, saying that she needed an urgent operation, and gave no other clarification other than to deny rumours she had cancer.

She later called off a European tour and had been due to resume performances on May 14 in Las Vegas.

Jackson last year released “Unbreakable,” her first album since the death of her brother, and had announced an extensive tour.

Janet Jackson helped reshape the concert landscape in the late 1980s with her “Control” and “Rhythm Nation” tours, considered landmarks for their elaborate dance routines and messages of empowerment.