Michael's appearance DID affect his popularity. If you look back at news article as early as September 1986, you'll see surprised in the change of his skin tone. It didn't help that he didn't acknowledge it until 6 years after talk about it started

At this point, there's no need to explain or try to convince anyone that he had vitiligo because it's right there in his autopsy report. If you don't believe it, then so be it....

Do I think he bleached his skin? NO

With the help of A LOT of makeup and later on, depigmentation, he evened his skin color. It makes no sense, at least to me, that this man who was so proud about breaking racial barriers in the music industry and quite possibly the most photographed star of the 1980s, would go and bleach his skin, KNOWING it was gonna affect his career and reputation

Do I think he wanted to be white and "bought" his kids like Dan says? again, no. Black folks are different shades and features. I've seen biracial kids just like Michael's 2 youngest kids here in Northern California

Black people in this country have a LONG history about issues with our appearance, and Michael and any other black celebrity is no different. If anything, being in the public eye for so long heightened those issues, it's not just about "oh I'm gonna lighten my skin" or "I'm gonna straighten my hair", it's deeper than that

paisleypark4 said:

No..he would not have been wearing that wig he did in the invincible era had he been darkskinned still. HOwever because he did have vitiligo and everything happened for a reason; thus is the way he was supposed to look like to begin with..at least could have done without all the nose and chin tampering...which he did himself.

this.

Unholyalliance said:

The real question is if he would have been just as popular/successful w/o the sugeries and losing his pigmentation.

Even so, I think that a lot of his face stayed the same it's just that because the nose is such a prominent feature on our faces the fact that it changed made it seem as if he reconstructed his entire face during the years. One great example is that lady from Dirty Dancing. I guess the irony would be that b/c she changed her nose her career kinda suffered because of it. (As far as I know.)

he had his most success before the drasic changes, i think the changes actual hurt him more then it helped, especially in the black community.if he would have remained the way he was during otw/thriller he would have avoided alot of the hate and ridicule he received. also i think mike handled the situation with his skin disease the wrong way, if he would have revealed what was happening to him in the beginning people would have been more understanding instead of him just appearing lighter with each new album.

[Edited 5/5/11 14:13pm]

ThruTheEyesOfWonder said:

MattyJam said:

Did anyone ever know why he did this??? ^^

Alright as far as a I know...he and Blanket were playing and Blanket hit him in the mouth.

lol I saw MJ's 3 bodyguards' interview after he passed away on Good Morning America ...They were saying that this was one of Michael's crazy "disguise" XD

[Edited 5/5/11 16:19pm]

lowkey said:

he had his most success before the drasic changes, i think the changes actual hurt him more then it helped, especially in the black community.if he would have remained the way he was during otw/thriller he would have avoided alot of the hate and ridicule he received. also i think mike handled the situation with his skin disease the wrong way, if he would have revealed what was happening to him in the beginning people would have been more understanding instead of him just appearing lighter with each new album.

[Edited 5/5/11 14:13pm]

This isn't true. While his popularity may have waned in the US because of it, internationally he was more popular than ever. Everywhere you go in the world a different image of MJ is used and in some countries his later work outsold or is very close in sales to Thriller. It's not as if they all gravitate to the OTW/Thriller era. I do agree that the combination of the depigmentation and plastic surgeries left a bad taste in the mouth of many in the black communities. Yet at the same time he began to look even less 'threatening' to others I think.

Also, I kinda disagree about him handling the skin disease the wrong way. I mean skin diseases kinda fuck you up psychologically. I remember having one for a couple of months and I spent the summer in sweaters, because I didn't want to show my new discoloration patches off. I can't even imagine to have to go out, everyday performing knowing that at some point your makeup is going to run off revealing the fact that you have white patches underneath. I remember seeing people like that way before he even announced what he had (when I was younger mind you) and always staring at them. Everytime he took his clothes off there must have been a LOT of make up on them. He could have been trying to deal with that fact himself. If you can't even admit something to yourself, then how can you admit it to others. (Assuming that is what happened.)

I mean...even his Thriller self looks hella' lighter from the time he was younger tbqh. I'm surprised no one noticed/said anything about it before.

Unholyalliance said:

lowkey said:

he had his most success before the drasic changes, i think the changes actual hurt him more then it helped, especially in the black community.if he would have remained the way he was during otw/thriller he would have avoided alot of the hate and ridicule he received. also i think mike handled the situation with his skin disease the wrong way, if he would have revealed what was happening to him in the beginning people would have been more understanding instead of him just appearing lighter with each new album.

[Edited 5/5/11 14:13pm]

This isn't true. While his popularity may have waned in the US because of it, internationally he was more popular than ever. Everywhere you go in the world a different image of MJ is used and in some countries his later work outsold or is very close in sales to Thriller. It's not as if they all gravitate to the OTW/Thriller era. I do agree that the combination of the depigmentation and plastic surgeries left a bad taste in the mouth of many in the black communities. Yet at the same time he began to look even less 'threatening' to others I think.

Also, I kinda disagree about him handling the skin disease the wrong way. I mean skin diseases kinda fuck you up psychologically. I remember having one for a couple of months and I spent the summer in sweaters, because I didn't want to show my new discoloration patches off. I can't even imagine to have to go out, everyday performing knowing that at some point your makeup is going to run off revealing the fact that you have white patches underneath. I remember seeing people like that way before he even announced what he had (when I was younger mind you) and always staring at them. Everytime he took his clothes off there must have been a LOT of make up on them. He could have been trying to deal with that fact himself. If you can't even admit something to yourself, then how can you admit it to others. (Assuming that is what happened.)

I mean...even his Thriller self looks hella' lighter from the time he was younger tbqh. I'm surprised no one noticed/said anything about it before.

I relate to you about the skin disease, I got one too many summers ago and had bumps everywhere with patches and wore sweaters and boiled in them. Even when the bumps went away, I had dark blotches for a bit on my arms and continued to cover them up for a few more months until you could barely see them and they looked close to normal.

Please use the MJ sticky, thanks.