SINS OF THE FATHER:
BLAME IT ON JOE JACKSON
Michael Jackson was an incomparable artist with a tragic personal life. His inability to maintain healthy, romantic relationships, his self-mutilation through repeated cosmetic surgeries, his obsession with childhood (“I am Peter Pan!”) and his inappropriate and suspicious interactions with little boys underscore Michael Jackson’s triumphs.
Whatever was wrong with Michael Jackson no doubt had multiple roots. But one of the deepest goes back to the self-esteem-crushing relationship he had with the man who raised him.
Long before vitiligo, the scalpel and God knows what else ruined his complexion, Michael Jackson had bad skin. As a teenager, he had awful acne. Pimples are embarrassing enough for everyday kids, so you can imagine how self-conscious Michael must have been given his worldwide fame and natural shyness. But acne outbreaks themselves weren’t the worst part. The really horrible part was the verbal abuse Michael suffered from someone who was supposed to love and nurture him: his own father, Joseph Jackson. Michael first opened up about that during a primetime interview with Oprah Winfrey back in 1993:
Michael: I had pimples so badly it used to make me so shy. I used not to look at myself. I’d hide my face in the dark, I wouldn’t want to look in the mirror and my father teased me and I just hated it and I cried everyday.
Oprah: Your father teased you about your pimples?
Michael: Yes and tell me I’m ugly… those were sad, sad years for me…there’s a lot of sadness about my past and adolescence, about my father and all of those things.
We’ve all heard and read the stories of Joseph Jackson pretty much intimidated his entire family with his volatile temper, brutal discipline and generally domineering manner. Michael explained that he grew up so terrified of his father that he would actually vomit when his dad showed up. That started in childhood and continued after Michael was a grown man. Michael was 34 when he revealed all of that to Oprah, and he was still so frightened that he finished by asking his pops not to be angry. “He’s never heard me say this. I’m sorry, please don’t be mad at me.”
Lord, have mercy.
Now, here’s the kicker. Later in the broadcast, when Oprah interviewed Joe separately and confronted him with what Michael had said, that old bas — I’m sorry. That “gentleman” actually had the nerve to say, “If he was regurgitating he was regurgitating all the way to the bank.”
No remorse. No regret. No realization. Just defensive, cruel, cold-hearted arrogance. How contemptible, utterly disgraceful and completely without excuse.
I was blessed with a good father and I grew up around a lot of other good fathers and father-figures. So, I know the difference between a firm dad who sets high expectations and a cruel S.O.B. Mr. Jackson belongs in the second category.
If what Michael Jackson said was true – and I can see no reason to doubt him – then Joseph Jackson was a nightmare of a father. He was an abusive parent who screwed his child up royally and inflicted emotional and psychological wounds that contributed to or caused much of the bizarre, shocking and sad behavior that marked Michael Jackson’s off-stage existence.
Michael Jackson was never happy. He didn’t know how to live life. And that’s his daddy’s fault.
Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my Two Cents!
THINK! IT AIN’T ILLEGAL…YET!
Cameron Turner is a Los Angeles-area native whose editorials, entertainment news features and audio documentaries have appeared on national radio networks, online and in print for over 20 years.
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