“Willis'” and “Charlene’s” romance wasn’t just an on-screen acting gig for Todd Bridges and Janet Jackson…it was realer than we thought back in the day, when we were watching their teen love on “Diff’rent Strokes.” It turns out Todd (then 17) and Janet (then 16) dated at that time, but it was Todd who ultimately decided to reject Janet and end things, but he had a very good reason for it.

In a past interview on the “Today Show,” Todd revealed that he and Janet were really diggin’ each other, but when Janet started making more aggressive advances toward him he backed away from her. I guess she wasn’t in that “Let’s Wait Awhile” frame of mind back then, LOL…I joke I joke, I kid I kid!.

Moving On…

Todd said although he and Janet were REALLY “in love” with each other, he had to reject her because he was doing what most teen boys would do in his position with a million groupie females chasing after them, willing to do any-and-everything they wanted…he was hookin’ up with chicks and then moving on to the next one…and the next one…and the next one. So Todd confessed that he had WAY too much respect for Janet to ever dog her out like that, so he had to back away when she wanted to take their relationship to the next level.

What Todd Revealed About Janet Jackson:

Here’s what Todd Bridges also revealed to Oprah about Janet:

“I backed away from her [Janet] because she was such a nice person and so good to me that I just couldn’t see myself hurting her like that… (but) we went out for a little while.”

Good lookin’ out Todd! And Besides, Janet had SIX brothers and a tough Pops who probably wouldn’t have took too well to you treating their precious sister and daughter like a ‘hit it and quit it.’

Now, Todd wasn’t like that with ALL of his celebrity hookups, in particular, his “Diff’rent Strokes” co-star, the late Dana Plato, whom he respected, but said that it was Dana who pursued him when he was 13 and she was 15. She was the first female he’d had sex with and he appreciated her for giving him his first heterosexual experience and letting him see that he was 100%, without a doubt heterosexual…

The reason Todd needed that confirmation was because at that time, his young mind was confused after having been repeatedly sexually molested at age 11 by his then-male publicist/mentor. It took Todd many years to get over that pain, as you could imagine and his molester should have been put UNDER a jail in my opinion.

In regards to his past situation with Dana, Todd said that they would hook up, but it wasn’t anything too serious and that he was still getting with a bunch of other girls.

But again, Janet was different to him and he’s glad that he followed his heart and not his lust when it came to Janet “Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty” Damito Jo Jackson.

Todd talks about all of this in his book, “Killing Willis,” which is a VERY good read by the way.