Becoming a mega star is what every little kid dreams about becoming, but not many imagine the thought of dealing with having to shelter yourself into privacy. Michael Jackson pretty much accomplished everything that he put his mind to, but plenty of extra baggage came along with his success. One would ask why would a person of high power, try to stay under the wrath. Beeler, 2008)
Michael Jackson was an abused child, and it’s easy to forget all this because we are so stunned at the death so young of someone who has made such an impact on music. When Michael was a child, his father Joseph did things like, held Michael upside down with one leg and “pummeled him over and over again with his hand, hitting him on his back and buttocks,” per brother Marlon (Beeler, 2008). Joe Jackson claimed that he did not try to abuse Michael as a kid, but push him to success.
Jackson first spoke openly about his childhood abuse in a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey and said that during his childhood he often cried from loneliness and would sometimes get sick or start to vomit upon seeing his father (Kattenburg, 2009). Most parents believe that pushing their kids will better them for their future, but in most cases it often pushes the child away. Perhaps to ease his loneliness and to try and create the childhood he never had, he often invited children over to his fairytale and theme park-like Neverland Ranch.
Just this sort of thing is what got Michael in trouble in 1993 and 2005 when both times he was accused of sexual abuse of a child. In 1993, a 13-year-old boy accused Michael Jackson of sexual molestation and on January 25, 1994, Michael Jackson settled the civil lawsuit paying an undisclosed amount to his accuser (McClish, 2004). After Michael Jackson’s death Jordan Chandler admitted that he had lied during the 1993 case at the direction of his father.
Michael Jackson was indicted on 10 counts for allegedly molesting a then-13-year-old cancer patient conspiring to hold him with the charges included four allegations of molestation, one of attempted molestation, four of serving alcohol to a minor and one for conspiracy (Bonne’, 2012). Even while just trying to enjoy his childhood at the privacy of his own home, trouble somehow still seemed to follow Michael Jackson. During the midst of the child molestation trials, Michael Jackson had secretly had a wedding during the spring of 1994.
It took the world by surprise that during the child molestation charge that Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley had secretly got married. Presley, then 27 and Jackson, then 37, were secretly married in May 1994 in the Dominican Republic and they initially denied tying the knot, and when they finally admitted it, many dismissed the union as a publicity stunt to distract from child molestation charges against Jackson (Connor, 2009). Many people believed that this was all a publicity stunt due to the fact that Michael was facing charges of child molestation.
On November 15, 1996 Jackson’s marriage to Debbie Rowe, a former nurse, that knew Jackson for 15 years before they were married, and was apparently six months pregnant at the time of their marriage (Total Divorce, 2009). People often found it odd, that Jackson and Debbie Rowe had wed, but after Michael Jackson’s death Debbie Rowe admitted that Michael had used her to mother his kids. One would wonder why would a man with all the success and popularity in the world would want to shelter himself behind closed doors.
Could it have been because of the child molestation charges, crazy marriages, or the fact that he was abused as a child? We often wonder why celebrities always try to hide their privacy from the public eye, well if you had to live the life that Michael Jackson lived, and then you wouldn’t have to ask yourself that question twice.
References
- Beeler, B. (2008). Michael Jackson: The Sad Legacy of Child Abuse. Retrieved June 11, 2012, from It Dawned on me: itdawnedonme. wordpress. com/2009/06/27/michael-jackson-the-sad-legacy-of-child-abuse/
- Bonne’, J. (2012). Jackson not Guilty on all Counts. Retrieved June 11, 2012, from Associated Press.
