Paris Jackson explains why she rarely wishes her late father, Michael Jackson, a happy birthday on social media.
In a series of videos shared to her Instagram Story, Paris revealed her father hated when people acknowledged his birthday. “So today is my dad’s birthday,” Paris told her followers. “And back when he was alive, he used to hate anybody acknowledging his birthday, wishing him a ‘Happy Birthday’, celebrating it — nothing like that.”
In fact, she said, “He actually didn’t want us to even know when his birthday was, because he didn’t want us to throw a party, or anything like that.” However, Paris admitted she made an exception this year, on what would have been his 65th birthday, due to the string of hate that often comes her way when she fails to publicly acknowledge her father’s birthday.
In order to appease her father’s super fans, Paris shared a video of herself on stage. She and her band had been touring with Incubus over the last several months. While standing at the mic, Paris wished her father a happy birthday. “He would have been 65 years old today, and he put 50 years of blood, sweat, and tears, and love, and passion into doing what he did so that I can stand up here on stage in front of you and scream into a microphone.
“So, I owe everything to him,” she added.
Though he died in 2009 when Paris Jackson was just 11 years old, Paris still has fond memories of Michael Jackson as a parent. In an interview with Naomi Campbell, the 22-year-old singer opened up about how her famous father continues to influence and motivate her.
Paris discussed the talents the King of Pop shared with her and the lessons he taught her in the candid and warm interview.
Paris Jackson Explained to Naomi Campbell That Michael Jackson Was a Protective Parent Who Valued Culture and Education.
Paris showed up on Naomi Campbell’s YouTube series “No Filter” recently to talk about her newest album titled, “Wilted,” released in November but did open up to Naomi about how her father forever shaped her.
Naomi explained that she has known Paris since she was a baby, describing baby Paris as “the sweetest and kindest and most polite girl I’ve ever met.”
“My dad was really good about making sure we were cultured, making sure we were educated, and not just showing us like the glitz and glam, like hotel hopping, five-star places. It was also like, we saw everything. We saw Third World countries. We saw every part of the spectrum,” Paris told Naomi.
Through his emphasis on culture, Paris said that she inherited her father’s love for eclectic music. But, that’s not all she got. She also shares his work ethic.
“Growing up, it was about earning stuff. If we wanted five toys from FAO Schwarz or Toys-R-Us, we had to read five books,” she revealed to Naomi. “It’s earning it, not just being entitled to certain things or thinking, ‘Oh, I got this.’ It’s like working for it, working hard for it — it’s, it’s something else entirely. It’s an accomplishment.”
The young musician also elaborated on the one thing they shared the most love for, other than each other, music. She credited her father with influencing her taste and importantly, her own sound and style.
“He loved classical music and jazz. And hip-hop and R&B, and obviously the Motown stuff,” Paris shared. “But also like radio’s Top 40, and he loved rock music, soft rock, The Beatles. So we grew up around all of that.”
“I feel like all of that somehow influences my stuff, and if you listen to my album, even there’s some movie soundtrack-like influences as well, like Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman, as well as like rock bands like Radiohead and Manchester Orchestra.”
As you can imagine, growing up with one of the world’s most famous entertainers for a father was likely an alienating experience for Paris and her older brother Michael Jr., 24, and younger brother Prince, 19. The three siblings rarely talk about their father, but Prince opened up recently about his dad in an interview for “The Mix.”
“I graduated, and that doesn’t mean that I stopped learning,” Prince said in the interview. “And my father also would say something along the lines of, ‘The minute that you stop learning is the minute that you’re going to start dying.’”
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We know Michael Jackson is a controversial figure do to the scandals that followed him later in life. For the sake of his growing kids, we are pleased to hear they still remember the star fondly and that they intend on carrying the best parts of his legacy forward.