Paris Jackson Says She Identifies as Black: My Dad Told Me Be Proud of Your Roots
Paris Jackson (David LaChapelle for Rolling Stone)
Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris Jackson, identifies as Black and counts her father telling her to embrace her heritage as the reason. The middle child of the pop icon is defending her late father in a new interview and is denying the ongoing rumor that she is not his biological child.
Paris agreed to address the issue head on for the first and only time to Rolling Stone. Rather than take the approach of her older brother, Prince Michael Jackson, who doesn’t think there is a point in revealing the answer, 18-year-old Paris assured the magazine that Michael is her dad.
“He will always be my father,” she said. “He never wasn’t, and he never will not be. People that knew him really well say they see him in me, that it’s almost scary.
“I consider myself Black,” Paris said, noting the “Thriller” singer “would look me in the eyes and he’d point his finger at me and he’d be like, ‘You’re Black. Be proud of your roots.’ And I’d be like, ‘OK, he’s my dad, why would he lie to me?’ So, I just believe what he told me. ‘Cause, to my knowledge, he’s never lied to me.”
Paris explained many people who don’t know her believe she is white. She said interracial children can have light eyes and pale skin and pointed out “Prison Break” actor Wentworth Miller as an example.
“I’ve got light skin and, especially since I’ve had my hair blond, I look like I was born in Finland or something,” she said.
Paris Jackson (David LaChapelle for Rolling Stone)
The model also revealed her struggle with depression and suicide. Paris made headlines in June 2013 when she cut her wrists and was rushed to the hospital. She said that was one of several times she tried to end her life.
“It was just once that it became public,” she said. “It was just self-hatred, low self-esteem, thinking that I couldn’t do anything right, not thinking I was worthy of living anymore.”
The actress later discussed her thoughts on the circumstances surrounding her father’s death and said she “absolutely” believes Michael was murdered.
“All arrows point to that,” she said. “It sounds like a total conspiracy theory and it sounds like bulls—, but all real fans and everybody in the family knows it. It was a setup. It was bulls—.”
Michael Jackson died in 2009 after his doctor Conrad Murray gave him an overdose of the drug Propofol, which is used for sedation during surgery. Murray administered it to the King of Pop as a sleep aid. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslauther and sentenced to four years in prison. The cardiologist was released after serving two years.
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