Robert De Niro and Christian Bale were widely praised for gaining and losing disgusting amounts of weight for roles. These seven celebrities have undergone equally terrifying changes to their appearance, only without anyone paying them to do it.

7 Janet Jackson

In 1986, everything was right with the Jacksons: Michael was a year away from releasing Bad and sister Janet had just released the album Control. She also happened to be incredibly good looking, and with song titles such as "The Pleasure Principle," "Control" and "Nasty," the album seemed to suggest Janet was some kind of child-prodigy dominatrix. She insisted we call her Ms. Jackson, and as a nation we said, "Yes, ma'am ... you're over 18, right?"

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In 1993, Janet peaked when she appeared topless on the cover of Rolling Stone, looking phenomenal.

In 2000, the photo was named the "Most Popular Cover Ever," proving the theory that breasts are something of a crowd pleaser. And, just in case anyone hadn't seen her sweater puppies the first time around, Janet would give America another opportunity in 2004, this time in full-color.

Keep in mind she was close to 40 during that infamous Super Bowl performance. No matter how old you are, when you're getting to second base on national TV with hands that will soon squeeze the chestaloupes of Scarlett Johannson, Cameron Diaz and Jessica Biel, you are hot. But a mere two years after that Super Bowl performance, Janet Jackson looked like she'd be making her next Super Bowl appearance as an offensive lineman.

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Of course, our real reason for tracking these changes is to make us feel better about ourselves, since Janet seemed determined to assume the shape of the average Cracked staffer. But when it came time to do a movie (Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?), she snapped her fingers and magically looked like this again.

How do they do that?