On ‘Call Her Daddy,’ Paris reveals the therapy breakthrough, unmet needs, and hard questions that made her walk away from a nearly planned wedding.
ByBernadette Giacomazzo
August 12, 2026
Key Takeaways
- On Call Her Daddy, Paris Jackson said she called off her engagement to producer Justin Long after realizing, through therapy, that key emotional needs in the relationship weren’t being met and that “just because someone is a good person doesn’t mean they’re my person.”
- She described agonizing over the decision despite wedding plans already in motion, ultimately choosing her own happiness and affirming that her “non-negotiables are allowed to be non-negotiables.”
- Jackson, who has been sober from alcohol and heroin for five years, also reflected on a previous engagement during a period of drug use and said she’s now taking the idea of future marriage “a day at a time.”
Paris Jackson is giving more context about why she ended her engagement to Justin Long, saying the decision came down to choosing her own happiness and recognizing that some needs in the relationship were not being met.
Appearing on the Wednesday, August 12, episode of Call Her Daddy, Jackson spoke with host Alex Cooper about the breakup, which she confirmed after previously saying emotional photos of her crying were the result of “breakup tears.” The singer-songwriter said calling off the engagement was not an easy or impulsive move.
“It was a choice that I needed to make to be happy,” Jackson said. “There were times where I did try and end it, but there was this little <a href="https://comicvibe.com/meet-the-futurama-characters-voice-actors/” title=”Meet the Futurama Characters & Voice Actors”>voice being like, ‘What if however long down the line?’ This is a voice that a lot of us have, of, ‘If I had just hung in there a little bit longer, it would have gotten better.’”
Jackson said she needed to feel fully certain before making the call. “I’m the person that needs to be sure — really, really needs to be sure,” she added.
The comments mark the first time Jackson has publicly explained the split in detail. She and Long, a music producer, got engaged after roughly two years together. Jackson announced the engagement in December 2024 with an Instagram post that has since been deleted, writing at the time that she “couldn’t dream of anyone more perfect” for her.
That same month, Long joined her on the red carpet at the Tribeca Festival premiere of her film One Spoon of Chocolate.
But on Call Her Daddy, Jackson said therapy helped her sort through whether the relationship was truly right for her. She said she worked with a therapist, a clinical psychologist, and a “whole council of people” who helped her ask harder questions.
“[They were] like, ‘Honey,’ and asking me the right questions of, ‘Why would you stay?’ And my answers weren’t good enough,” Jackson said. “Just because I’ve realized just because someone is a good person doesn’t mean they’re my person, and I have to be happy, and I realize that my non-negotiables are allowed to be non-negotiables.”
She continued, “If these big major needs are not being met, it doesn’t matter that you’re a good person and you’re not going to cheat on me. That’s not a reason to stay.”
Jackson also reflected on a previous engagement, saying it was connected to a difficult period in her life. “This is also my second engagement that I called off,” she said. “The first one, I don’t know if you could count the first one, [but it] was real to me, even though we were strung out on drugs and the ring was one that he bought with my money without me knowing.”
Jackson, the daughter of Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe, has been open about her sobriety and celebrated five years sober from alcohol and heroin addiction in January. She released her debut album Wilted in 2020 and has since continued releasing music while building her acting résumé.
As for whether marriage is still part of her future, Jackson said she is taking things as they come. “I don’t know,” she said of a possible third engagement. “It’s a day at a time kind of thing for me.”
