By Milly G
It is hard to criticise Michael Jackson without looking like you are eating sour grapes. The guy was, undoubtedly, the King of Pop for this century. He was always ahead of his pack, so way above the mark, so immensely gifted, and a sensational entertainer. Michael was inimitable — Heck, most people would sprain their ankles if they tried moon walking – and he never tried to dance to anybody’s music.But Michael’s life was more tragic than his death. How could someone who seems to have it all lose it so hard? The guy hated himself; hated his black skin; hated his flat nose; hated his black genes (his kids have no semblance of crossbreeds at all; they are pure white).
It is hardly possible to think of Michael the Superstar without the memory being tainted by some outrageous thing he did, be that having a fake tip on his nose or dangling his toddler Blanket out the window or bleaching his ebony skin till he was pale and ghastly as a prawn.
But as a father, Michael has some lessons to teach, both by omission and commission.
Don’t sweat the paternity
So his dermatologist, Arnold Klein, is said to be the biological father of his children. So what? Anyone can be a father, but not everyone can be a daddy. Rumour has it that Michael shot blanks, but that did not stop him from becoming a father. Well, he could have done it more convincingly by getting a man from his gene pool, a black, but, this is Michael.
Why do our men feel that they cannot marry single mothers and love and nurture other men’s children as their own? Even in marriage, men are always jittery about the paternity of their own children, unless genetics have been kind to them and the children have taken their features. Fathers are very proud to show off children who look like them. Woe unto the woman if the child took her jutting forehead or pinched nose or almond eyes. Only a DNA test will put the man’s spirit to rest.
Michael cared deeply for his children and did everything for them. He played with them and schooled them. And that is what matters; that a man provides for and nurtures his children; not that he donates a sperm or two.
When in doubt, blame your own father
Michael may have been seeking sympathy votes after he was slapped with child molestation suits in the 90’s. In the famous 2003 documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, the self mutilating star told Martin Bashir that his dad was a slave driver who whipped him so he could perform. He said that his teenage years were very, very sad as his father wanted to make millions out of his popularity. Joe Jackson allegedly routinely called his son ugly ( There it is! — the reason for the wild goose chase for white skin).
Michael confessed that he hated his father and had a lot of bitterness against him.
So you see, the father treated the son as if he never measured up, and the father’s sins were visited on the son — Michael’s kids have suffered an even more eccentric daddy, who veils their faces in public and keeps them off the public eye. And it also explains why he liked to ‘cuddle little boys to safety’ by sleeping with them in his bed. The self-confessed Peter Pan was trying his best not to be like his daddy, and as psychology would have it, he ended up a maladjusted mess.
I know men who swear that they would never end up like their fathers — irresponsible, violent drunks — and somehow, after years of fighting it, they end up just where they began.
So if you don’t like the daddy you have turned into, look behind you— your father’s demons could be hot on your heels.
Forget the mother, they are your tots
Debbie Rowe is the unlucky Billy Jean who Michael kicked out because ‘she was just a girl who said that he was the one’. He married her in 1996 and divorced her in 1999. She delivered his first two children, Paris and Prince. As for Blanket’s mother, she took an oath of secrecy and remains anonymous. Debbie now says that she was inseminated artificially, and that she and Michael never had sex. They were just friends, and she offered him her womb as a gift. Well, the ‘priceless’ gift also cost Michael $9 million and a mansion.
Michael may have his own twisted reasons for not keeping the mothers of his children—he must have been a very difficult person to live with, what with his antisocial reclusive habits of hiding his and his children’s faces from the public and connecting with animals more than with people.
But our men would learn from Michael not to bolt every time they knock up a girl. And our men could learn to stop telling their wives " I educated your children for you, and see how badly they have turned out!" when talking about their own litter.
