The daughter of the “King of Pop” recently sat down with Rolling Stone for an exclusive interview on her life after her dad’s death.
The blue-eyed and now blonde-haired teen was just 11 years old when Michael Jackson died in 2009. Now, full grown, Paris is coming into her own, and detailed how she lives her life and what she identifies as in terms of her race.
“I consider myself Black,” she said in response to interviewer Brian Hiatt addressing the elephant in the room.
In the exclusive, Jackson said her dad “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.”
For years, the public has challenged the authenticity of Paris’ claims that she is Michael’s biological daughter. Her mother, Debbie Rowe, a nurse Michael Jackson met while working for his dermatologist, Arnold Klein, said the two shared an unconventional three-year marriage. Klein was one of several men who suggested that they could in fact be Paris’ biological dad.
“Every time someone asks me that,” [her brother] Prince says, “I ask, ‘What’s the point? What difference does it make?’ Specifically to someone who’s not involved in my life. How does that affect your life? It doesn’t change mine.”
Jackson, who will turn 19 in April, also talked about finding peace after addiction and a suicide attempt. At 15, she tried to kill herself by slashing her wrist and downing 20 Motrin pills.
“It was just self-hatred,” she says, “low self-esteem, thinking that I couldn’t do anything right, not thinking I was worthy of living anymore.”
Read the full interview at Rolling Stone.
