Michael Jackson

Jackson is interviewed by Oprah Winfrey about the controversy surrounding the reason his skin is lighter than it was when he was a child, his struggle with vitiligo and how he is hurting over the false claims that he is not happy with who he is—an African American man.

Okay, but number one, this is the situation. I have a skin disorder that destroys the pigmentation of the skin, it’s something that I cannot help. Okay. But when people make up stories that I don’t want to be who I am it hurts me.

Walters interviews Jackson about his friendship with Princess Diana. He also speaks of his tremendous need for privacy in his life. Jackson also discusses his yearning for a normal life and the way in which the media constantly interferes with him.

Yes … I have been lining that kind of life all my life, the tabloid press, that kind of press, not the press, the tabloids, the paparazzi, that type. I have been runnin’ for my life like that. Running there, let’s go this way, then this way, but they are over there, so we go that way. Somebody needs to say “Hold on, STOP!, this person deserves their privacy, you are not allowed to go there.” I go around the world running and hiding, I can’t take a walk in the park, I cant go to the store, I hide in the room and it feels like prison.