Paris Jackson Opens Up About The Way Michael Jackson Raised His Kids

Apr 09, 2021 by apost team

The late Michael Jackson and his family have been surrounded by controversy and fame for decades. Despite her turbulent childhood in the spotlight and a difficult adolescence, Paris Jackson, the Jackson family’s 23-year-old middle child, is quite accomplished and successful as she enters into young adulthood. Not only has she built herself a career as a model but the young woman is also a musician. Her first full-length album, “Wilted,” debuted in Nov. 2020.

Born on April 3, 1998, in Beverly Hills, California, Paris was Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe’s second child and only daughter. Her parents named her after the city where she was conceived, as she explains in the below interview. Tragedy struck in 2009 when Paris was 11 and her father, Michael, passed away, leaving Paris and her two siblings to live with their grandmother, Katherine Jackson. Just seven years later, when Paris turned 18, she moved out of the house.

Since her teenage years, which were fraught with hardships and controversies, Paris has made a name for herself in the entertainment and fashion industry. When she was around 19 years old, she signed a contract with IMG Models, and shortly thereafter, she also made her acting debut on Fox’s musical drama “Star.” And now, Paris has broken into the music industry, following in her father’s footsteps. 

Her musical journey began with The Soundflowers, a duo she formed with ex-boyfriend Gabriel Glenn. Paris and Glenn performed their first concert in 2018 at a cancer fundraiser at Canyon Sessions, which is where the duo also debuted two original songs — “Daisy” and “In the Blue.”

Just two years later, Paris released her first full-length album under her name with label Republic Records. With the album’s success, Paris is once again on the interview circuit. In one of the most revealing interviews, a March 2021 virtual sitdown with British model Naomi Campbell, Paris spoke about her new album and her upbringing in the Jackson family.

Some of the most telling and interesting moments of Campbell’s interviews are when she asks about Paris’ childhood.

“I was raised kind of everywhere. The East Coast, the South, the U.K., Europe, the Middle East. We grew up everywhere,” Paris says of her upbringing.

“It was definitely a blessing and a privilege to experience so much at a young age. My dad was really good about making sure we were cultured, making sure we were educated, and not just showing us the glitz and glam, like hotel hopping five-star places. But it was also like — we saw everything, we saw third-world countries and we saw every part of the spectrum.”

Paris also explained that although people in the industry no doubt recognize her last name — and the implicit fame that comes with it — she wants to work hard for her accomplishments rather than feeling entitled.

“I’m also a full believer that I should earn everything,” Paris told Campbell. “I go to auditions, I work hard, I study scripts, I do my thing. Even growing up it was about earning stuff. If we wanted five toys from FAO Schwarz or Toys-R-Us, we had to read five books. It’s about earning it, not just being entitled to certain things … It’s working for it, working hard for it.”

apost.com

The hard work that Paris put into her debut solo album, “Wilted,” certainly seems to have paid off. Her performance of the track “let down” on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has more than 900,000 views since its upload to her channel in Dec. 2020. 

Critics have also been largely positive in their reviews of the album, which Paris wrote with the help of Andy Hull and Robert McDowell of the indie rock band Manchester Orchestra.

“Let’s just say that at 22, Jackson has been through a lot. Despite this tumultuous upbringing, Jackson sounds remarkably even-tempered on her solo debut,” Keith Harris writes in his 3.5-star Rolling Stone review of the album. “Though the mood on Wilted is far from sunny, there’s little full-on tragedy or despair here. Instead, a cozily wistful melancholy prevails.”

Curiously, as Harris also notes, there’s little of Paris’ father on the album. Instead, Harris writes that many of “Wilted’s” songs “might slide into a recommended playlist if you’d been listening to Clairo and maybe Coldplay.”

With that said, Paris explains in her interview with Campbell that her childhood with her father was particularly influential when it came to music. Paris and her father would listen to music together — and not just Motown. According to Paris, he also loved classical, jazz, hip-hop, R&B, rock and the Top 40 hits.

The pandemic has unfortunately postponed Paris’ plans to play selections from the album live, as she told the Associated Press in Oct. 2020. However, Paris says she hopes that fans get something out of the album.

“I got a lot of healing through creating this. I hope it brings healing to other people. But it’s not up to me to decide what people think about it, how they feel about it.”

What do you think of Paris’ interview with Campbell? How does her music compare to her father’s discography? Let us know — and be sure to pass this story on to friends, family members and music lovers.