...It is a FACT that Michael had vitiligo, which creates discoloration and light, splotchy, unsightly areas on the skin. This discoloration eventually spreads across the entire body in severe cases. With the consultation of a specialist, he underwent a process to even out his complexion, which meant they had to bleach his entire body.
His entire life, his father Joe constantly ridiculed him and told him he was ugly and had a wide, flat nose and nappy hair. This happens often in African American communities and causes people who don't like themselves to want to change. Because of their upbringing and the pain they felt for the way they looked, they wanted to change into someone else, usually white people. So he changed himself because he never had support from people who raised him...
All of this is quite touching. I had heard Michael mention the vitiligo in an interview he did years ago. Also...someone who knew him said that as Michael began to mature, he saw that he was looking more and more like his father and with their terrible relationship, did all he could to look as far from that as possible.
For whatever reason, he ended up taking all of this way too far. As an adult, Michael Jackson looked his absolute BEST at the time of 'Thriller'. Even a few years later with 'Bad', it was getting a little odd, but still 'lookable', considering the enormous talent. By the last few years, he needed red lipstick, eyeliner and finally, dark sunglasses because God only knows what his eyes looked like.
He went to far with children as well. Never a convicted pedophile, he showed disrespect for the court while on trial and was admonished by the judge for showing up late and improperly dressed. After getting into trouble the first time and having to pay somebody off to drop a case, you would think he would know to be careful with kids, no matter how loving and nurturing he felt he could be. But just a few years ago came the famous, 'warm milk and cookies, not sexual but charming' statement.
The 'King of Pop', the star behind the greatest selling album of all time, was $400 million in debt at the time of his death and full of god knows how many prescription medications and on a very poor diet. I read a story that many years ago, when dining at dinner Katharine Hephurn's house he plopped a glob of butter into his soup, and ate nothing and barely spoke the the entire evening. Shy? Maybe...except before leaving he requested a photo taken of himself and Ms. Hephurn, probably so he could have it in his collection. She refused.
Look, yes the talent was a blessing and a curse. Yes, his childhood was tough, his father a bastard. Yes, he was a really nice guy and I'll never forget the sight of his embracing Ryan White's mother after the boy's death. Yes, he loved children and wanted all of them to enjoy the innocence he had ripped from his life far too soon. But he became Michael Jackson. He made millions for charities. But...I saw the interviews he did over the years, he made bad choices and he felt sorry for himself.
Like so many geniuses, he didn't seem to really like himself; didn't seem comfortable in his own skin and had a strange pattern of trying to establish some kind of link or even compete with other recording legends who came before him, as if he felt he couldn't justify his own status.
He married the daughter of Elvis.
He used John Lennon's son Sean on one of his mini-movies.
He established a friendship and made recordings with Paul McCartney...and then snatched up the rights to Beatles songs, then felt bad that McCartney was so mad about it.
God knows how much he spent on bad plastic surgery that he didn't know when to stop. God knows how much he spent on the medications. He should've been spending money on a really good therapist. Even if he was...he may have just been a hopeless case from the word go, one of so many stars who just cannot handle success and finally takes a long spiral down that ends with the grave.
It's a shame. While we celebrate his genius and his music and his artistry that can never, ever be denied, Don Cardi is right ... it's almost impossible to respect the man as a person.
How can we...when he apparently never respected himself?
Apple
Last edited by AppleOnYa; 06/27/0910:42 PM.
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.
