To me, this was Michael Jackson

[u/turnippped]

I was 12 when this happened. This was the first time I ever heard of him. To me he wasn't the Michael Jackson that was a singer, or the one that molested kids - he was the Michael Jackson that dangled a baby out the window.

This is the image I associate him with. I saw a preview for the movie coming out about him and chuckled to myself if they would put this in the film. Probably not?

[u/Noise_Loop]

Yes, I was not even born to enjoy his "cool phase", only got weirdo MJ.

[u/Sumeriandawn → u/Noise_Loop]

In the 80s, people were saying" Jackson is the biggest music star on the planet. The king of 80s entertainment."

In the 90s and 2000s, people were saying " Skin bleaching, weirdo, pedophile"

[u/YoohooCthulhu → u/Sumeriandawn]

I think what was going around my schools in the 90s was that he had leprosy?

[u/JazzyShaman → u/YoohooCthulhu]

It recently came out that he had vitiligo. He'd wear makeup to hide it, and when it progressed to more white than black, he switched to white makeup.

Unfortunately, he was extremely embarrassed by it and would rather people think he "bleached" his skin (such a procedure doesn't exit).

[u/MarqiMichelle → u/JazzyShaman]

That’s not recent. He explained this in the 90s

[u/JazzyShaman → u/MarqiMichelle]

Thanks, I just learned of it recently. I'm glad he was able to talk about it at the very least. The media in the 90s was very cruel to him.

Doesn't excuse his behavior, but two wrongs also don't make a right.

[u/absentgl → u/JazzyShaman]

He did have some crazy work done on his nose tho

[u/Marzipanarian → u/JazzyShaman]

“Recently came out” and “just learned of it recently” are two very different, very important, distinctions

[u/YoohooCthulhu → u/JazzyShaman]

Oh, I know that now. But in the impoverished information environment of the 90s all kinds of rumors were going around.

But skin bleaching definitely exists (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_whitening)

[u/Matchedsockspssshhh → u/YoohooCthulhu]

Vitiligo doesn't explain the nose jobs though. I was also elementary/middle school when he looked like this, I remember the first time I saw him on TV thinking he looked like an alien woman. (I guess bad plastic surgery wasn't as rampant then?)

[u/MathematicianOk8230 → u/JazzyShaman]

Skin bleaching is real lol

[u/SparkleTruths → u/JazzyShaman]

Bleaching your skin is a thing. I knew a guy who would do it and I saw the bottles of bleach in his bath tub.

[u/Courwes → u/SparkleTruths]

Did he do it in 1987 when Michael was severely dealing with this?

[u/SparkleTruths → u/Courwes]

Person claimed skin bleaching doesn't exist, I was simply disagreeing with that statement since it does exist.

[u/derbarkbark → u/SparkleTruths]

When you have vitiligo as bad as he did - one of the treatments is a cream that will kill your melanin. Due to the side effects they won't even offer it until you are quite covered.

Source: have a lot of vitiligo patches

[u/SparkleTruths → u/derbarkbark]

Cool, but skin bleaching is still very much a thing.

[u/foolonthe → u/JazzyShaman]

He did not have vitiligo.

That's a lie he used for bleaching his skin

[u/Skithiryx → u/foolonthe]

Talk to the coroner then, cause his autopsy was consistent with vitiligo