There’s something quietly interesting about the way Paris Jackson talks about breaking up with Justin Long. Not poison. Do not use drama. A woman who was 28 years old was sitting next to a podcast host and making it clear that she needed to be happy but wasn’t. Tho it’s kind of nice, it breaks my heart at the same time.
Jackson talked about her husband on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast on August 12, and she didn’t waste any time. She said, “It was a choice I needed to make to be happy” when asked why she broke up with him. That’s it. Clean, sure, and clearly earned the hard way.
She confirmed they were no longer together in July 2025 by writing on X that she was crying over the breakup. The engagement wasn’t made public until December 2024, which was after being together for about two years. The time frame was short by any measure. But from what Jackson said, it was clear that the emotional weight was much heavier than the date would have suggested.
The conversation is worth listening to because people are being honest about their doubts. Jackson said she had more than once tried to end things but was able to talk herself out of it. It was like, “But what if, however long down the line?” she said, describing a feeling that most people who have been in the wrong relationship for too long will recognize right away. It’s the voice of hope going against what you want to do. She held on. After a while, she stopped.
“I need to be sure,” she said about herself. Must be sure for sure.” She said there was a “whole council” of people around her who were asking her the right questions about why she would stay. She said that even she didn’t think her answers were good enough. To reach that moment of honesty, no matter how small it sounds, you need to be very clear.
Take a moment to think about what she said about Long in particular. “Just because someone is a good person doesn’t mean they’re my person,” she said to Cooper. “The fact that you’re a good person and won’t cheat on me doesn’t matter,” she said again, this time with more anger. Don’t stay because of that. That line might mean something different to each person who hears it. It may feel too good to be true for many, especially those who have stayed in relationships that were good but wrong.
Jackson also said almost by accident that this was the second time she had to cancel an engagement. The first one she carefully described, saying that it happened when she was high on drugs, that the ring was bought with her own money without her knowledge, and that she didn’t want to name the person who did it. It was this: “The love was so real for me in that first one.” You don’t need to say anything else to understand the sadness in that sentence.
She is now 28 years old and the daughter of one of the most famous people in history. For most of her life, her private moments have been talked about in public. That situation is important. It’s simple to forget how clear her choice is to tell this story herself, in her own words and with her own perspective.
When asked about her love life, she purposely kept it vague, saying only that she’s happy and no more. It was very clear that she was going to raise the bar from here on out. She said, “It’s historically been very low,” which sounds like a mix of humor and seriousness.
