Why did Michael Jackson change his appearance?

by african GB Member 22 Replies latest watchtower medical

• 

  african GB Member

  Was there a logical(medical or otherwise) reason for him to change the way he looked?
• 

  cameo-d

  I think Mindmelda gave the best explanation for this.

  Here is a quote from Mindmelda:

  I think he put all his energies into his creativity and recently, his children, and was afraid of sexual contact and intimacy because of his body dysmorphia. That's an extreme form of obsessive compulsive disorder where you feel too ugly to be loved and see yourself as disfigured, and can be addicted to extreme dieting, exercise regimens and plastic surgery. Social phobia and depression tend to go along with it. Jackson exhibited all of these things. People with it tend to be secretive about their disorder and can mistakenly be thought of as being vain because of their preoccupation with appearance. They're just the opposite, they feel defective and often become very reclusive out of fear of inflicting their defects upon others.

  People with dysmorphic disorder tend to avoid intimate contact, feeling undeserving of sexual intimacy, too. They believe they're too hideous to ever be loved. I do think he enjoyed being around children more than most adults and that was for a couple of reasons. He felt children are less judgmental about appearances and more accepting in general (they aren't, actually, by age 5 children have definite views about who is fat, ugly, pretty, slim, etc), and also he felt he'd been deprived of his own childhood.

  Even Jackson's preoccupation with dwarves and "The Elephant Man" were manifestations of body dysmorphia. He felt he had physical defects and these were people who he identified with. The method he used to have children is how a person who is "defective" has children, they cannot have them naturally, so they use a surrogate mother. It's been discussed publicly whether these children are even his biological offspring. They don't look like him at all. He may have wanted children but not wanted to pass on what was to him his genetic "defects". Again, manifestations of body dysmorphia.
• 

  chickpea

  my FtM transgender son and i
  had this discussion and he said
  he can relate to the sense of
  never being able to just "be"...

  being out of place in your own skin....
  what a horror of a scenario and add
  to that the nightmare of being a JW...

  PLUS having wanker Joseph for a parent

  that guy didnt have a chance....
• 

  Leolaia

  He mentioned how his dad teased him for his nose. His plastic surgeries started with his nose. He also said that he loved his dad but despised him more than any other person. Someone here had the theory that he saw his dad in his face and he wanted to change the features that reminded him of him. Who knows, but that sounds like as good explanation as any. But remember too that much of his changing appearance and behavior had to do with his physical conditions. The lupus is quite obvious in Thriller-era photographs and his vitiligo had started then too (as witnessed by the use of his white glove to hide it). Then he stuck to only long-sleeved shirts, which hid the progress of the discoloration in his arms. Photos from the Bad and Dangerous eras where you can see his chest clearly show marked vitiligo patterns. More recent photos of his arms show only a few isolated dark spots. But without an explanation from him on why he seemed to be changing from black to white until he appeared on Oprah Winfrey, people were left to wonder for years whether he was ashamed of his race. But in fact he did have a real skin condition. He also had the burn to his scalp which may have involved more plastic surgery (or hair grafts) to deal with, or which at least negatively impacted his appearance.

  I personally think he looked his best in the Thriller era. His facial features were quite attractive and sexy (especially his eyes and lips). It is sad that he ended up with such a disfigured appearance. As Klein said, he didn't know when to stop.
• 

  Black Sheep

  Thank you Leolaia, you beat me to it.

  There is a lot of silly stuff spouted about Michael by people who haven't bothered to do their homework.

  I knew a dark Maori with vitiligo on his face. He is not with us any more. May he RIP. It is very disfiguering on dark skin. I'm OK, I only have it on my bum where it seldom sees the sun and I'm white anyway so very few people have ever noticed it, but I can understand how devastating it would be to have it on your face and/or hands especially if you were a public figure.

  So there you have it AGB. You didn't have to ask that on an ex-JW website.

  A quick Google would have answered your question for you.

  There is an interview on CNN with Mike's dermatologist that covers the subject. Use Google to find it.

  Cheers

  Chris
• 

  White Dove

  I changed my name because I hated what it represented: A loser and freak.
• 

  mrsjones5

  Geez, the brown stuff (melanin) does not rub off nor can it be bleached white. It's not like a spray tan.
• 

  The Almighty Homer

  MJ stated once that he thought Afro-Americans were an ugly race, which may have been induced by his unthoughtful father's comments when

  he was a teen trying to establish self confidence. From the first nose job he continued with reconfiguring his face to that of a white person

  including straightening his hair. Its true he may have been psychologically impaired with dysmorphic disorder, in conjunction with a strong bout of narcissism.

  The sad part of his story is that I think the plastic surgeons that he connected to, took advantage of his situation and monopolized on it to make them rich.

  Just like the so called doctors that were said to be in his care, they were more or less PHD drug pushers that gave him whatever he wanted just so they would

  be kept on staff and on the payroll. All a bunch of Hollywood blood Suckers
• 

  Leolaia

  These two photos are among my favorites of Michael Jackson, but you can see the lupus very clearly on his face:

  

  

  And even more here:

  

  As for his vitiligo, you can see it through the lightening makeup on his chest here (notice also the arms):

  

  

  

  
• 

  Black Sheep

  Geez, the brown stuff (melanin) does not rub off nor can it be bleached white. It's not like a spray tan.

  Patients in whom the condition affects more than 50 per cent of their body surface sometimes opt for medical depigmentation by applying a drug to the normal skin until its colour matches the areas affected with vitiligo. The results are permanent and irreversible. In addition, by undergoing depigmentation the individual will always be abnormally sensitive to sunlight. http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/skinandhair/204975.html