Physical appearance of Michael Jackson
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The physical appearance of Michael Jackson has seen significant changes throughout his career. Jackson has acknowledged having rhinoplasty operations on his nose and has claimed that the change in the color of his skin is due to the skin condition vitiligo[1] .
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[edit] Skin color
Although Jackson's skin color was a medium-brown color for the entire duration of his youth, his skin has lightened gradually since 1982, becoming light tan around 1987-1991, and today is a white color although it is not clear how much makeup affects its appearance. Jackson has attributed his changing skin color to vitiligo,[1] a skin condition in which the body develops antibodies against its own melanocytes, skin cells that produce melanin, a body pigment, resulting in light patches and loss of pigment. During court depositions in 1994, both Jackson's dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein and his nurse (Deborah Rowe, whom Jackson later married) testified that following a biopsy of his scalp in 1984, Jackson was diagnosed with lupus and vitiligo. Jackson in the eighties used black makeup to cover up his white patches, now he uses white makeup to cover up his dark patches. In 2007, will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas reports that Jackson is still very proud to be an African-American artist.
[edit] Plastic surgery
Jackson has had multiple plastic surgery procedures to modify his appearance. He claims to have had three operations: two rhinoplastic surgeries and the surgical creation of a cleft in his chin. When listing his cosmetic surgery, Jackson often omits mentioning the cleft; however, he confirmed this surgery in his 1988 autobiography Moon Walk.
In the 2003 documentary Living with Michael Jackson, Jackson stated that he had only two operations to his nose. He justified these operations by stating that they were to "help [me] breathe better and to hit higher notes". Jackson also agreed with Martin Bashir, interviewer for the documentary, that he was affected when he was called "ugly," and mocked and ridiculed by his relatives for having a "big nose" in his youth.
Jackson's use of plastic surgery has caused numerous tabloid stories of a possible cartilage and nose collapse, though none of these speculations have proven to be anything more than rumor.[2]
[edit] Hair
By the time the Jackson 5 had completed their first four #1 hits, Jackson's hair (and that of his brothers) was a typical afro, which he would sport throughout the seventies. By the turn of the decade, Jackson began to sport a jheri curl, wearing his hair longer in the back as seen on the cover of his album Thriller and soon three curls in the front of his hair. By the time Michael Jackson released the album Bad, his hair had grown, and was quite long, with curls occasionally framing his face. Since then, Michael has had his hair gradually straightened, and now sports a centre part.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Oprah Winfrey's interview with Michael Jackson in 1993
- ^ "Surgeon: Michael Jackson a 'Nasal Cripple'", ABC News, February 8, 2003. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
