Insiders Reveal The Sad Truth Behind Michael Jackson's Appearance
While Michael Jackson’s reputation lives on in a mixture of both infamy and glory, there is plenty about the iconic artist that remains unclear. One of the most looming questions centers around his dramatically changing appearance over the years. From the smiley, afro-haired Black boy in The Jackson Five, Michael transformed into a vaguely unsettling, porcelain white doll-like man. He may have denied ever having had much cosmetic work done, but ever since he passed away, insiders have been revealing a grim truth. Were the motivations behind altering his face with surgery rooted in childhood abuse and trauma?
The boy who chose not to grow up
Growing up with Joe Jackson as the head of the household wasn’t an easy experience for Michael. Joe’s singing and dancing sons were his meal ticket, and Michael was performing and recording albums from the age of five.
In his teens, he would come to realize he had been robbed of a normal childhood, and as an adult, he would do anything he could to recapture it. As his confidante Rabbi Shmuley said, “Some argued that Michael was a case of arrested development. I disagree. Michael Jackson chose not to grow up.”
He wanted to be a kid, but had to work
Schmuley conducted 30 hours of candid interviews with the King of Pop and published them in The Michael Jackson Tapes in 2009. Michael told a heartbreaking tale of the loneliness and envy he’d felt as a famous child who just wanted to be a normal kid.
At his core, all Michael had wanted were friends he could hang out with. He told Schmuley, “I wanted so badly to play in the park across the street because the kids were playing baseball and football, but I had to record.”
He felt trapped by the music business
Michael continued, “I could see the park, right across the street. But I had to go in the other building and work until late at night making the albums. I sat there looking at the kids with tears running down my face.”
He continued, “I would say, ‘I am trapped, and I have to do this for the rest of my life. I am under contract.’ But I wanted to go over there so bad it was killing me, just to make a friend to say, ‘Hi.’”
As an adult, he would try to befriend strangers
Michael went on to reveal that, when he was a 24-year-old pop icon recording his seminal Thriller album, he was still crippled by loneliness. He told Schmuley, “I used to walk the streets looking for someone to talk to.”
He added, “I was so lonely I would cry in my room upstairs. I would think, ‘That’s it. I am getting out of here,’ and I would walk down the street. I remember really saying to people, ‘Will you be my friend?’”