Did Michael Jackson want to be white?

12:12 AM


By Natalie ClarkeLast updated at 11:23 PM on 26th June 3009

Photographs of the cute, fresh-faced child with the big Afro hairstyle bear little resemblance to the man Michael Jackson became in later life.

Was he trying to turn himself into a white man? It certainly seemed so.
His paranoia about his appearance stemmed from childhood. Apparently, one of his father's insults was to call him Big Nose.





Changing face of the King of Pop: Michael Jackson's Afro-American features receded further with every plastic surgery operation
The taunt stayed with him into adulthood and as soon as he could, he had his nose reshaped.
The cover of Thriller, the album that marked his ascension to global superstardom in 1982, was a turning point.

It shows Michael as a sweet-faced young black man with naturally curly hair and a full nose.
Five years later, his Diana Ross lookalike cover photo on the Bad album revealed a face that bore little resemblance to the Jackson everyone had known.

Five years after that, in 1992, even he had to acknowledge what everyone else had been saying and admitted his skin was becoming whiter.

There are two versions of what happened. According to Jackson, he had developed a rare skin-lightening condition called vitiligo.

1971: Teenage heart-throb



1986: At the peak of his fame


1992: The surgery starts to show


2002: Shocking signs of damage



2003: Pale shadow of himself

It is not entirely clear what causes vitiligo, but it is believed to be an auto-immune disorder where the body attacks the melanocytes, the specialised skin cells that manufacture the skin pigment melanin.


And in keeping with this diagnosis, Jackson's complexion did become steadily paler. But some critics have never believed the explanation that he was suffering vitiligo, preferring instead to believe that he was trying to turn himself into a white man.


Dr Pamela Lipkin, a New York surgeon, says Michael had been having plastic surgery since his teens, including alterations to his brow, chin and cheeks, as well as skin bleaching.


As a child, he had a classic shaped African-American nose, full and broad. In later years, no one can argue that at the time of his death the nose was thinner, daintier and rather feminine.

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1 jari dompok

  1. "Every time I look in the mirror I see a black man. I just know I'm black." "I'm a black American, and I'm proud of my race."
    "This is the situation, I have a skin disorder where it destroys the pigmentation of my skin and it's something that I cannot help, okay? But when people make up stories that I don't want to be who I am, it hurts me."
    As a teenager he developed a skin disorder called Vitiligo, that destroys the pigmentation of the skin in patches. It slowly got so extensive that instead over covering the light spots caused by the disease, they needed to cover the darker spots with makeup.
    Michael Joseph Jackson was beaten, teased, and called ugly by his father. As a grown man with lots of money, in 1983 he had his first cosmetic surgery. A nose job. Before, in 1978, while practicing for a tour, he fell and broke his nose, resulting in having to have reconstructive surgery. In 1986 he had his second cosmetic surgery, a cleft in his chin. In 1987, he had his third, and last, cosmetic surgery.
    Cheekbones and jaw became more prominent due to weight loss, eyebrows more arched because of makeup, and lips thinner because of aging.
    This is an example of how the media distorts facts.

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