Michael Jackson: The Tortured Path of A Pop Icon
June 26, 2009
Michael Jackson, tortured pop icon.
Michael Jackson’s life story has ended, but Michael Jackson the legend in many ways has just begun.
In death we suspect that the sum total of his legacy will have just as many sides as his life had. He was born the seventh child in a family of entertainers. At 11 he debuted as a pivotal member of the popular vocal group, the Jackson Five. In 1971 he went solo for the first time, eleven years later in 1982, he released his album Thriller, with worldwide sales estimated to be as high as 100 million copies, it is recognized to this day as the best selling album of all time.
In May of 1984 he was invited by President Ronald Reagan to the White House to be honored for his contributions to charities dedicated to helping people overcome their addictions to drugs and alcohol. One year later in 1985 he co-wrote with Lionel Richie, the smash hit We Are the World, a charity recording made for USA Aid for Africa, the recording sold 20 million copies and raised millions of dollars for famine relief.
Not long after these celebrated public moments, Jackson’s life began to go terribly wrong.
No matter what his accomplishments as an entertainer, his fame will be forever tarnished by that other Michael Jackson, a character that started to emerge in 1986 and came to be known in the tabloids as “Wacko Jacko.” It started with stories of his sleeping in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to retard the aging process and expanded out from there. There was Bubbles the pet chimpanzee that Jackson claimed he shared a toilet with, and his claim to have purchased the bones of the legendary Elephant Man. In time most of these and other stories were revealed as fictions started by Jackson himself.
What certainly was no fiction were the seemingly endless series of changes that Jackson’s physical appearance underwent. From skin that started out medium brown in color as both a child and young adult, which then became ever whiter with the passing years; to a face that underwent countless surgical procedures. Jackson’s nose alone was redesigned more times than any number of tabloid reporters could possibly recall. The Jackson entourage claimed repeatedly that the his ever changing skin was the result of two chronic diseases; as to the changes in the structure of his nose, lips, chin, checks and brow, that was all far more difficult to explain.
Additionally, there was Jackson’s loss of body weight, which often was ascribed to his desire to maintain a “dancer’s lithe physical form.” More likely as doctors have suggested Jackson suffered from a condition known as “body dysmorphic disorder,” a psychological state in which the sufferer has lost the ability to understand how they are perceived by others.
On top of money troubles that haunted Jackson for the last two decades of his life, the darkest side of his life story is his involvement with pre-pubescent males. It began with the credible accusations of 13 year-old Jordan Chandler that led to the first police investigation of Jackson and his central California home known as Neverland Ranch. In 1994 Jackson settled a $22-million lawsuit filed by the Chandler family but the story of his alleged pedophilia would not go away as Jackson’s older sister La Toya accused her brother of being a pedophile. It was during this period of his life that Jackson, hailed by Nancy Reagan for “just saying no to drugs,” developed a recurring addiction to pain killers.
Then in 2003 an even more spectacular case exploded in Jackson’s life, this time involving a boy named Garvin Arvizo. Jackson acknowledged in various television interviews that he had “shared his bed” with the boy but insisted that there had been no improper behavior on his part during the boys “sleep overs” at Neverland Ranch. The criminal trial that grew out of this episode, the People v. Michael Jackson, lasted five months and ended in May of 2005 with an acquittal on all counts; making this the most broadly condemned jury decision since the sensational murder trial of O. J. Simpson. Shortly after the trial, Jackson left the country and moved to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.
In spite of a life filled with conflicting stories and controversial behavior the world stopped and took note of Michael Jackson’s passing yesterday as newspapers from London to Tokyo, Paris to New York all reconfigured their front pages to acknowledge his death.
Jackson was a talent of unequalled star power in life. In death he will be a puzzle that will continue to draw attention until the tortured path of his life is fully revealed.
Perhaps the best way to remember Michael Jackson is by celebrating his talent. This video does just that:
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June 28th, 2009 at 9:51 PM
Michael Jackson was the living embodiment of identity crises.
He turned his back and struggled with his own blackness.
The troubled soul surpassed his talent, and as time went by, he got whiter and weirder.
Jackson lived at the poles of black pride and insecurity. He claimed to have a skin condition called vitiligo. Although, his face itself told the story of a torn soul.
I may be wrong, but it looks like his children were subjected to the same type of life style, “Unusual Childhood”. They’ve been raised in an exclusive and unique circumstance…I often wonder how adjust they really are!
Jackson has told of being whipped and mentally abused by his own father.
In despite of all, at least he has a mother, and no matter how bad things are, it always a tremendous comfort having a mother around.
In contrast of what have transpired in his childhood…from day one, unusual arrangements where made, and Michael Jackson offspring were all separated from their mothers at birth.
Though, Michael Jackson got away with it all, because he was the “King of Pop”.
What was the difference, from the horrible life he claimed to have on his early days, to the ones he provided to his own children?
Regardless, I loved his sequence of steps, he was an amazing entertainer and I will always appreciate his music.
It may take some time, but at some point, his soul will merge his double self into a better and truer self, meet terms, and mend with what was left behind.
Peaceful be His Next Journey.