Paris Jackson has explained why she identifies as a Black woman, despite having ‘light skin’.
Paris, who is the eldest of Michael Jackson‘s children, had addressed her ethnicity after some people have claimed the the actress, model and singer is white.
Paris was born to parents Debbie Rowe and Billie Jean hitmaker Michael in 1998, and has gone on to follow in her father’s musical footsteps.
Gary Miller/WireImage
Michael shot to fame as a young pop star in the band Jackson 5, alongside his siblings in the 1960s, and went on to find worldwide success. Several of their hits include I Want You Back, Blame it on the Boogie and Can You Feel It.
While in later life Michael had fair skin, the hitmaker was African-American and had a darker complexion when he first became famous.
He was said to have Vitiligo, which caused the pigmentation in his skin to go lighter as he got older.
With Michael’s African-American heritage in mind, his daughter Paris says she identifies as Black.
Discussing the matter with Rolling Stone magazine in 2017, Paris said that she ‘considers [herself] Black’, saying: “[Michael] would look me in the eyes and he’d point his finger at me and he’d be like, ‘You’re black. Be proud of your roots.’
“And I’d be like, ‘OK, he’s my dad, why would he lie to me?’ So I just believe what he told me. ‘Cause, to my knowledge, he’s never lied to me.”
Paris also addressed her lighter skin and noted that many people who don’t know her say presume that she’s white as she looks as if she is ‘from Finland or something’.
But the budding actress pointed out that other mixed-race people also look like her, noting that Prison Break star, Wentworth Miller, was born to a Black father and white mother.
Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
Paris received some criticism at the time the interview was published, with the likes of US talk show host Wendy Williams saying: “I get that she considers herself black and everything, but I’m just talking about the visual because you know… black is not what you call yourself, it’s what the cops see you when they got steel to your neck on the turnpike.
“It’s what they see. But that’s cute and good for her.”
Paris’ father faced much speculation over his changing appearance over the course of his career and always denied bleaching his skin.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1993, the ‘Thriller’ star insisted that the only cosmetic procedure he’d had was a nose job and that the depigmentation of his skin was due to his Vitiligo.
“I am proud of my race. I am proud of who I am,” he told Winfrey at the time.
Featured Image Credit: Gary Miller/WireImage/Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Michael Jackson
Niamh Shackleton
Elton John admitted Michael Jackson was ‘a disturbing person to be around’
The ‘Tiny Dancer’ singer revealed his thoughts on The King of Pop
Elton John once described Michael Jackson as a ‘disturbing person to be around’.
In his 2019 confessional memoir, Me, the 77-year-old British pop icon recalled his various interactions with the ‘King of Pop’, who passed away in 2009 at just 50 years old.
The ‘Candle in the Wind’ singer also described Jackson as ‘mentally ill’ and ‘a disturbing person to be around’.
The singer explained that he wasn’t always like that, however.
Taylor Hill / Contributor
In fact, when he’d first encountered the ‘Thriller’ hit-maker when he was a child, he was just a sweet kid.
“I’d known Michael since he was 13 or 14,” Elton wrote.
“He was just the most adorable kid you could imagine. “But at some point in the intervening years, he started sequestering himself away from the world and away from reality, the way Elvis Presley did.”
The singer went on to say that he believed it could have been caused by his reliance on prescription drugs.
“God knows what was going on in his head, and God knows what prescription drugs he was being pumped full of, but every time I saw him in his later years I came away thinking that the poor guy had totally lost his marbles,” he continued to say.
“I don’t mean that in the lighthearted way. He was genuinely mentally ill, a disturbing person to be around.”
Elton’s revelation about Jackson’s alleged mental state came after the release of high profile docu-series Leaving Neverland the same year, which investigated the sex abuse allegations made against the singer and followed him until his death.
Phil Dent / Contributor
While Elton didn’t comment on the allegations, he did briefly mention that Jackson appeared to prefer the company of children to adults.
He wrote: “For whatever reason, he couldn’t seem to cope with adult company at all.”
But Jackson wasn’t the only famous person that Elton opened up about in the memoir.
Oddly, he also wrote about the late Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away last year (8 September) at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
“I know the Queen’s public image isn’t exactly one of wild frivolity, but… in private she could be hilarious,” he wrote.
The singer also spoke about his famous friendship with Princess Diana, calling her the ‘People’s Princess’ to him and that she had been ‘blessed with an incredible social ease, an ability to make people feel totally comfortable in her company’.
Featured Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images / Kevork Djansezian-Pool/Getty Images
Topics: Michael Jackson, Music
Britt Jones
Lisa Marie Presley’s final haunting conversation with Michael Jackson revealed
The actress and King of Pop were married for two years in the 90s
Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter has revealed the chilling final conversation her late mom had with ex-husband Michael Jackson before his death.
The tragic exchange was published in Presley’s posthumous autobiography, From Here to the Great Unknown, which released earlier this month.
Riley Keough, the daughter of Presley and musician Danny Keough, helped to complete the book after her mom’s death last January.
Presley and the King of Pop married in May 1994, when Presley was 25 and Jackson ten years her senior. She had divorced Keough only 20 days prior.
The ceremony, held in the Dominican Republic, lasted 15 minutes – and the same can be said about their marriage.
Presley filed for divorce in January 1996, but it wasn’t finalized until May 2004.
In her book, Presley revealed Jackson was ‘very controlling and calculating’.
She theorized: “I figured that Michael would have me have the children and then dump me, get me out of the picture. I could read him like a clock.
Riley Keough released her mom’s memoir, ‘From Here To The Great Unknown’ on October 8 (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
“I understood everything about him because all we did was bare our souls to one another. I knew his nature.”
The book goes on to detail the exact moment Presley knew she needed to end her relationship with Jackson.
Keough wrote that Presley’s private jet almost crashed ‘in the middle of nowhere’ en route to seeing Jackson on tour in South Africa.
Keough explained: “[It] felt like a bad omen to my mom.”
She also discussed the rather haunting final words Presley and Jackson had exchanged. After calling him up one day, Presley recalled that the singer ‘didn’t sound sober.’
Jackson supposedly responded: “You were right,” before adding: “Everybody around me wants to kill me.”
Jackson and Presley at the 12th MTV Video Music Awards in 1995 (Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
Jackson died of a heart attack at the age of 50 on June 25, 2009. Coroners concluded his death was caused by acute propofol intoxication – the anaesthetic Jackson had used to help him sleep.
The death was ruled a homicide and in 2011, Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in jail.
Keough wrote about Jackson’s death: “My mom was in London, writing a record, when Michael died. My mom later told Oprah that Michael often said he was afraid of ending up like her father.
“He was forever asking my mom about when Elvis died, how it happened, where, why. Michael said: ‘I feel like I’m going to end up the same way’.”
