[UPDATE: PHOTOS HAVE BEEN REMOVED]
Is it too soon to start commenting about Michael Jackson's family? I'm going to try and tread carefully here because obviously, it is terribly sad for them that they have lost the only parent they have ever known. A tragedy.
But I have to say I felt terribly sad for those kids way before Michael Jackson died. Photos of the children are being published now that confidentiality clauses are presumably null and void and when I saw this one today, I was reminded of seeing it many years ago……
…..and wanting to say something but having nowhere to say it.
What I wanted to say was this: what kind of parent bleaches their kid's hair? These two photos are the only ones I can find to share with you online but there are many more being published in newspapers of Prince Michael at this age, I'm guessing he's around 3. And his hair is bleached. Yes, yes, I know many kids have white-blonde hair when they're young. I was one of them. However. Children with naturally white hair do not have black roots. They do not.
Now, I have also bleached my hair white as an adult (well, as a teenager anyway). And you know what? It really hurts. I'm sorry but what kind of parent subjects their kid to a painful procedure to change the way they look for purely superficial reasons? Because they want a blonde kid?
In later years, obviously Michael Jackson gave up with the bleaching or perhaps someone around him shook some sense into him. Because in more recent photos, Prince Michael has dark hair. So why am I bringing up something so seemingly trivial?
Because in the rush to memorialise Michael Jackson, I think it's important to also remember that he was an incredibly mixed up individual who – I believe – probably should never have been allowed to have sole custody of kids. Sure, he was a great musician and incredible dancer and all those things (although not so much in later years…he seemed to peak in the 80s and then get frozen there, musically, around the same time he began to butcher his face and put himself in disturbing situations with young boys
Like many, I have been listening to his music since Friday and remembering what a musical genius he was. It's some of my favourite music in the world. But was he a great parent? And is there a cloud over his relationship with children throughout his adult life?
Much more will come to light in that regard now that he is gone. Maybe the lesson here is that fame at a very early age can take a horrible toll. What think you?
NOTE: YOU CAN READ MY RESPONSE TO THE COMMENTS ON THIS POST HERE….
Top Comments
I'm old enough to remember when Michael Jackson was a little black kid with an afro. He started to change appearance in the early 80s and by the 90s was a shadow of his former self. I know he had a skin condition which can alter pigmentation, but I do mean his total appearance. I think it relected the state of his inner/mental health. I'm sure he loved his kids and was a devoted dad, but he would not have been an average dad. Those kids would have led a very "interesting" life sheltered away on his compound. The fact that he was a drug addict as well is not particularly responsible of him. I hope that their lives settle down and they can live as normally as possible.
I agree with you. Michael Jackson was a sick individual. I feel sorry for his kids and his nieces and nephews. He was a great entertainer but somewhere along the line, something happen to his emotional and mental stability. Normally, I am quick to defend black entertainers at whatever fault they have. In Michael's case, I stop considering as a black person once he bleached his skin. Prince and Paris obviously do not look anything like Michael. Blanket may have his DNA. I don't know. It's unfortunate that people with fame and money can do whatever they want.