And we’re guessing that Strawberry got more dates

This may come as a shock, but Janet Jackson has always thought about sex — a lot. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that I had a very active sexual mind at a very young age. I hope that doesn’t sound bad,” she tells Blender magazine.

“My first crush was on Barry Manilow. He performed on television, and I remember taping it. When no one was around, I used to kiss the screen.”

Jackson also recalls having a “major crush” on Teddy Pendergrass when she was 12.

“I thought he was singing to me,” says Jackson, now 38. “When you’re a kid, you have little fantasies, but I saw myself being with him as an adult, not as a kid.”

These days, when she’s not baring her breast before millions of people on national television, Jackson says she expresses more grown-up urges through one of her alter egos, named Strawberry: “She’s the most sexual of them all, the wildest.”

The other character living inside her is Damita Jo, which is her middle name and the title of her latest album.

Damita Jo, she says, is “a lot harsher, and quick to put you in your place.”

On the J.Lo road to the altar

Though Jennifer Lopez‘s people continue to deny that she’s engaged to singer Marc Anthony, their potential path to wedded bliss just got a bit clearer,

A judge in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday approved a divorce for Anthony and former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres. He must pay Torres $3,500 a month in alimony, plus $13,000 a month for support of their children, Cristian, 3, and Ryan, nine months.

Hit me with your best … what?

Energizer has enlisted 1980s rocker Pat Benatar to boost sales of hearing-aid batteries.

“Our generation has helped shape American culture, especially since we’re the first to be raised on rock ‘n’ roll,” Benatar, 51, says in a brochure for Energizer’s new marketing campaign, “It’s Hip to Hear,” adding: “From Aerosmith to the Rolling Stones, our music defines us, but all those years of rockin’ are beginning to take a toll.”

Just a chip off the old rocker

Johnny Depp hopes to have Rolling Stone Keith Richards on board for the sequel to “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” — as his father.

Depp based his flamboyant character in the film, Jack Sparrow, largely on Richard and wants to pay tribute to him in the follow-up.

“Johnny was slightly embarrassed by all the praise for Pirates because he was really just being Keith,” said a source. “A good way of thanking Keith would be to get him to do a walk-on in the sequel.”

It had the ring of untruth

Speaking of Johnny Depp, an item in Wednesday’s column incorrectly said that he and partner Vanessa Paradis were husband and wife. The couple cohabitate, but are not married.

Quoteworthy

Jessica Simpson, on her upcoming tour: “There’s no dancing. I mean, I’ll be shaking my booty a little bit, but no, there’s no choreography, no dancers, because I had that before, and personally, I’ll let other people, like Madonna, and Janet Jackson and Britney (Spears) and Christina (Aguilera) and all those girls, they can do that. I want to do something different.”

The birthday bunch

Actor Dennis Weaver is 80. Actor Bruce Dern is 68. Country singer Freddie Fender is 67. Singer Gordon Waller (Peter & Gordon) is 59. Actor Parker Stevenson is 52. Singer El DeBarge is 43. Actor Scott Wolf (“Party of Five”) is 36. Actor Noah Wyle is 33. Comedian Horatio Sanz (“Saturday Night Live”) is 30. Actress Angelina Jolie is 29.