Michael Jackson: photos before and after surgery. The question that worries many is why did Michael Jackson become white? Michael Jackson white

Michael Jackson became a legend during his lifetime, his songs are included in the golden fund of world pop music, and video clips are as classic for video makers as Fellini’s films are for modern directors. Selecting the best songs from Michael's vast legacy is like choosing a favorite from several siblings. But we tried to collect his most iconic videos. Don't forget to put on headphones and turn on the sound on the video.

Thriller (1982)

The album “Thriller” went down in history as the best-selling record in the world, and the audience loved the video so much that the dance from it is still considered one of the most frequently repeated, along with attempts to depict Michael Jackson’s “moonwalk”. Thanks to the incredible popularity of the album, Michael Jackson became the first black performer whose videos were included in the constant rotation of the MTV channel.

Billie Jean (1983)

This video premiered on March 2, 1983. The video was directed by Steve Barron, and the video became the first video by a black singer to be in hot rotation on MTV. Michael Jackson hired this director to tell the story in the video: in the plot, he walks through the city, and the paparazzi follow him everywhere. Jackson enters the hotel room and lies down on the bed of the same Billie Jean. The moment the photographer takes the photo, the singer disappears and the paparazzi is taken away by the police. The director admitted that he wanted to film something magical with this song, and took the story of King Midas as inspiration - we see a hint of this in the tiles glowing under Michael Jackson’s feet.

Beat it (1983)

"Beat it" is the third hit from the Thriller album. In this video, Michael Jackson wears a black leather jacket - a model that became very popular in the 80s after the release of this video. The video was originally going to be directed by Steve Barron again, but the story was heavily political, so Michael Jackson turned to Bob Giraldi. In this video, the singer tries to reconcile two street gangs; his attempts end in a common dance. The director was accused of parodying the plot of West Side Story, but he always denied this connection.

Bad (1987)

The video for the song “Bad” from the album of the same name was released in August 1987. The 4-minute video was directed by Martin Scorsese himself. He also produced an 18-minute short film with the same plot, with a budget of $2,200,000 million. This film was played by a then unknown actor, the future star of the film “Rush Hour” Wesley Snipes.

Smooth Criminal (1988)

Initially, Michael Jackson, who loved to tell stories, wanted to release a video in the Western genre, but later opted for a gangster video. It was this video that formed the basis of the film “Moonwalk”, which was released later. In the video, the singer wears a white suit and hat.

Liberian Girl (1989)

A completely unexpected video for a song that, as critics wrote, “for the first time celebrates the beauty of an African woman.” According to the plot of the video, directed by Jim Yukich, Hollywood celebrities and music stars gathered in a certain cafe and waited for Michael Jackson, who was about to appear and begin filming the video. The song itself, on which the video is to be filmed, sounds in the background to the incessant dialogues of the actors and musicians. The video, by the way, broke records for the number of celebrities: there are over 30 of them in the video. Among them you can easily recognize Steven Spielberg, John Travolta, Paula Abdul, Bridget Nielsen, Olivia Newton-Jones, Rosanna Arquette, Danny Glover and even the illusionist David Copperfield. It's worth watching and listening, if only for the nostalgia for the cinema and music of the late 80s. Michael, by the way, appears at the end of the video, to the surprise of those around him.

Black or White (1991)

This anti-racism video stars Macaulay Culkin, Tess Harper and George Wendt alongside Michael Jackson. And in the finale of the extended version, even Bart and Homer Simpson appear. Like all of Michael’s previous videos, this one became a cult not only thanks to the genius of the musician, but also due to the incredibly complex computer special effects for those years. It is in this video that, at the 6th minute, the technique of “transforming” one face into another is used (the actor, filmed in close-up up to the shoulders, turns his head to the side or down, and now we see a completely different face, and so on). This technique has become a cult and even after all these years it is quoted and parodied by the director and comedians around the world.

Remember The Time (1992)

Another iconic and very often quoted video by Michael Jackson was shot for the second single of the album Dangerous. For those years it was not just a breakthrough. In fact, Mackle once again broke the mold of a music video, creating a fashion for inviting first-tier celebrities to appear in videos. The mini-film, where Jackson himself plays the sorcerer, starred the then famous comedian Eddie Murphy and one of the first black supermodels, Iman.

In the Closet (1992)

The third video from the Dangerous album also became the singer's directorial debut. In general, both the video and the song itself are notable for the fact that, firstly, it was originally supposed to be a duet between Jackson and Madonna (but the collaboration did not work out due to disagreements over the lyrics). Secondly, the “black panther” Naomi Campbell starred in the video. And thirdly, the “mystical” female voice behind the scenes and in the track does not belong to Naomi, as it might seem, but... to Princess Stephanie of Monaco, the youngest daughter of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier.

Earth Song (1995)

One of Jackson's most poignant socially charged songs. The singer draws public attention to the problems of human rights, poaching and environmental protection. The video was shot in the Amazon rainforest, part of which was cut down the day after filming, at a war site in Croatia, in a Maasai village in Tanzania and in a cornfield fire in the New York suburb of Warwick.

Bad fall

It all started back in 1979, when Michael Jackson fell off the stage during a concert and broke his nose. This incident was the impetus for his never-ending pursuit of perfection. The first rhinoplasty turned out to be forced and not very successful, it was followed by a second - corrective one. It was after this that the first minor changes became visible on Michael’s face: the singer’s wide African nose became slightly narrower and smaller in size.

However, Jackson did not live with this appearance for long: in 1984, he took the first serious step towards his current state.

As a result of complete rhinoplasty, the tip was narrowed and the walls of the nose were shifted. Michael's face instantly transformed: his facial features became more subtle and expressive, and only his skin color spoke of his African-American origin. The new Michael Jackson instantly found himself at the peak of popularity. In the same year, he set a record for the number of Grammy awards (he received as many as 8!) for his legendary album “Thriller”. At this time, the public adores Michael, adores his moonwalk and his new nose.

Michael Jackson is the absolute record holder among Western stars for plastic surgery. He underwent more than 50 surgical interventions.

But it seems that Michael could not give up the idea that there is no limit to perfection. Already in 1985, he again went to a plastic surgeon - and he made his nose even narrower. Moreover, it became noticeable to the naked eye how the star’s skin color gradually brightened. Few people focused on this, citing the wonders of stage makeup. And there was no time for that, because all attention was still focused on his work, and not on scandals and plastic transformations. Jackson's new song "We are the world" remains at the top of the charts and receives all possible awards. Jackson receives the unspoken title of King of Pop.

Scalpel addiction

The passion for surgical interventions became Michael's drug. Two years later, in 1987, the pop idol finally went off the rails: rhinoplasty made Jackson’s nose even thinner, the singer enlarged his cheekbones by inserting facial implants into them, raised the corners of his eyebrows using endoscopic technology and whitened his skin to the limit. Jackson himself explained the reason for his “lightening” by a skin disease called vitiligo. That is, the only way to avoid a total violation of the pigmentation of the face and body for the singer was a radical change in skin color. By the way, according to one version, it was numerous plastic surgeries that caused Jackson’s skin pigmentation. Allegedly, because of this disease, the singer even has to avoid direct sunlight, wear dark glasses and a hat. However, whether this is true or not is unknown, because Michael’s doctors are obliged to maintain medical confidentiality.

In 2001, the press wrote that serious problems began with Jackson’s nose: in the photographs it was noticeable that it had collapsed, and in some places the tip was even missing.

Everything that happened to Jackson next looked more like a chronicle of self-destruction. In 1991-97, photographs of Michael Jackson in the tabloids frighten his fans. A huge implant appeared in the jaw, the nose became very narrow, sharp and upturned. It is almost impossible to see Michael without sunglasses and a bandage on his face.

At the age of 40, Michael made desperate attempts to “reconstruct” his face. The tip of the nose became a little wider, and the implant in the chin became a little narrower. But in 2001, information leaked to the press that serious problems began with Jackson’s nose. In some photographs it was noticeable that the nose had sunk, and in some places even the tip was missing. Michael Jackson has become a popular target for rumors, sarcastic jokes and anecdotes. That same year, the singer was hit by lawsuits and scandals. Michael's career and reputation were coming apart at the seams.

In 2004, the brave German doctor Werner Mang undertook to operate on Jackson's nose to save this vital organ from complete destruction.

The path of self-destruction

Plastic surgeons refused further operations on Michael's face, and the poor man had to hide his disfigured face under a gauze bandage for a long time. However, in 2004, the brave German doctor Werner Mang undertook to operate on Jackson's nose to save this vital organ from complete destruction. According to the surgeon, the king of pop’s face could have been “irreparably deteriorated,” and the reason for this was numerous plastic surgeries, due to which the nasal cartilage became very fragile. To build Michael a new nose, the surgeon had to take cartilage from the singer's ear.

After the operation, Dr. Mang proudly declared that Michael Jackson's nose was now simply magnificent. But he also noted that the singer is too keen on aesthetic surgery, and this is very dangerous for his health and skin. “It looks like Michael Jackson is going to surgically remake himself from a black man to a white woman,” the plastic surgeon joked. Referring to the statements of his colleagues, Werner Mang said that Jackson resorts to the services of a plastic surgeon after the release of each of his albums. If he had stopped at least after the release of the Thriller album, then now there would be no problems with either his nose or his face in general. And if Jackson wants to save his face in the truest sense of the word, he shouldn’t perform any more operations on him.

Undoubtedly, Michael Jackson is the absolute record holder among Western stars for plastic surgery. According to unconfirmed reports, in order to rid his face of signs of the Negroid race, he underwent more than fifty plastic surgeries (about 30 in the first round alone) and corrected everything about himself, from the shape of his nose and skin color to the structure of his hair. One logical question arises: did this make him happier? Something is doubtful.

It has long been a known fact that Michael suffered from vitiligo.
Vitiligo is an acquired, chronic skin disease that is characterized by the development of white spots due to the loss or decrease in the function of melanocytes (cells that produce pigment), primarily in the skin, hair, and retina of the eyes.
Approximately 0.5-1 percent of the world's population, or as many as 65 million people, suffer from vitiligo. In the United States, 1-2 million people have this disease. Half of people with vitiligo develop the disease before they reach 20; Vitiligo progresses in most people by their 40th birthday. The disease affects both sexes and all races equally; however, it is more noticeable in people with dark skin.
It is noted that vitiligo is quite common in people with certain autoimmune diseases, such as hyperthyroidism (hyperthyroidism - a syndrome caused by increased activity of the thyroid gland and its enlargement), adrenocortical disorder (adrenocortical - the adrenal gland does not produce enough of a hormone called corticosteroid), alopecia (alopecia areata - baldness, baldness), and pernicious anemia (pernicious anemia - pernicious anemia, Addison-Birmer disease - low level of red blood cells caused by the body's refusal to absorb vitamin B12). There is also a common co-occurrence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which Michael also suffered from.

This is what Michael himself says about the disease in an interview with Oprah Winfrey and Martin Bashir to Karen Fay (Michael’s makeup artist for more than 25 years) and Tom Mesereau (a famous lawyer, Michael’s lawyer in the cases of ’93 and 2003).
- Michael: Okay, but here's the thing. I have a skin disease in which pigmentation is disrupted, I cannot stop this process. OK. But when people make up stories about how I don't want to be who I am, it hurts.
- Oprah: So that means...
- Michael: That's my problem, I can't control it. But what about those people who tan in the sun to become darker than they really are? For some reason no one talks about this.
- Oprah: So when did it start, when did your... when did your skin color start changing?
- Michael: God, I didn't... probably after "Thriller", around the time of "Off The Wall", "Thriller", then.
- Oprah: And what did you think then?
- Michael: This is a family disease, my father said it ran in his line. I can’t control the course of the disease, I don’t understand it, and it saddens me. I won't go into my medical history because it's personal. But the situation is as I described it.
- Oprah: Okay, I understand it this way, you are not intentionally trying to change the color of your skin...
- Michael: God, no. We tried to control the disease, we have to use makeup, because spots remain on the skin, the skin color has to be evened out. [...]... this is all gossip. They say that I applied the cream specifically to become lighter. This is not true, I have vitiligo.[...]
- Karen Fey "It was vitiligo. I think it started very early and he even tried to hide it from me at first, he hid it for quite a long time, I tried to disguise it with makeup, dark foundation... but it spread so widely ...I mean...it spread all over his body. We always tried to hide it, for a very long time, until he said in an interview with Oprah and the world: “Listen, I'm NOT trying to be white, I have a skin condition.” "
- Thomas Mesereau: “You know, he's had a couple of plastic surgeries, but not the 20 and up that's always talked about...I mean...why are you focusing on that? Or on his makeup? Michael, whom I did not know before the trial, and had not met before...one day showed me his back. There were brown spots mixed with white spots and he had a serious skin condition. And he is very open, he wants to show it to people, but he is faced with inner impotence, so he has to wear makeup, and it has become an object of surprise and ridicule...you know, the way he has been attacked and is being attacked by the media is just devastating, humiliating and undeserved. And I think it’s time to redirect this media hostility in the opposite direction, because it’s not fair.”
The stains are visible in these photos. This is what's left of Michael's dark skin after vitiligo.

In fact, Michael Jackson decided to change his skin color. It turned out that the King of Pop suffered from what was then considered a rare autoimmune disease - vitiligo. In the early eighties, the skin color could be defined as medium brown, but after a few years the change in shade began to be noticeable. It was then that dermatologist Arnold Klien gave Jackson a terrible diagnosis. The disease caused the appearance of white spots on the skin, as well as increased sensitivity of the epidermis to ultraviolet radiation.

Facts and rumors

In the early 80s, Michael was underweight. He followed a strict diet almost all his life, practically starving. Due to the lack of nutrients, he often felt dizzy and became quite irritable. Journalists and ill-wishers began to suspect a mental disorder in the singer, manifested in hyper-perfectionism, constant dissatisfaction with oneself, and the inability to adequately assess one’s appearance. One or two articles in the tabloid press became fertile ground for the rumor of deliberate skin alteration to take root. In fact, Michael Jackson's skin lightened regardless of his desire. In medicine, this is spontaneous depigmentation. Moreover, the shade changed in spots. Due to the illness, the face began to become deformed. To maintain a “marketable” appearance, the singer again and again resorted to facial surgery.

Very often, the pop idol had to spend 3-4 hours in the dressing room, waiting for a specialist to cover his face with tons of makeup. Hiding the stains was not easy, but often it was possible to do it.

Confession of the King of Pop

On February 10, 1993, at one of the press conferences, Michael Jackson explained to the world the reason for his strange behavior and unusual appearance. He noticed the first symptoms of vitiligo in himself in the mid-70s. At that time, scientists and doctors knew too little about this disease. There was no way to reverse the changes or any cure for vitiligo. The only solution to the problem for such a public person as Jackson was to disguise the spots with cosmetics. Michael was outraged by the attention to this fact. He wondered why no one was discussing the millions of people who decide to darken their skin and go tanning, but asking why his skin became lighter. The singer also explained that he never wanted or tried to become white. He could not control the complex genetic disease, and therefore at first he tried to hide the white spots. But then they became so large that it was necessary to even out the overall skin tone using the light areas.

Even compared to ordinary Caucasians, Michael Jackson seemed too pale. Such a sharp contrast in different areas of the skin is possible only in patients with vitiligo.

Jackson's dermatologist swore under oath in 1993 that he actually diagnosed the King of Pop with vitiligo and lupus back in 1986 and prescribed medication. The drug Michael Jackson was hoping for contained a compound called hydroquinone monobenzone. This is a fairly strong remedy with a permanent effect. This is how this depigmenting cream differs from conventional whitening creams. For healthy people, creams contain regular hydroquinone, which gives a temporary effect.

Experts say that if the method of repigmentation had been sufficiently studied in the 90s, Michael Jackson would still be alive and well.

Vitiligo in the Jackson family

Michael was not the only one in his family who suffered from vitiligo. In February 1993, he gave an interview to Oprah Winfrey, in which he said that the disease is passed down from generation to generation on the paternal side, but does not manifest itself in everyone. The singer has repeatedly emphasized that he has always been proud of his belonging to African-American culture. Several years ago it turned out that Michael’s eldest son also suffers from vitiligo.

Michael Jackson, called the “King of Pop” during his lifetime, became for his many fans the standard of popular song, dance, style and spiritual beauty. He was not only a famous singer, but also a sought-after producer, a talented choreographer and a generous philanthropist. His unexpected death was a real tragedy for millions of people around the world. Many pages of the life of this legendary personality still remain mysteries. One of them is a change in racial identity. Let's try to figure out how and why Michael Jackson changed his skin color.

Rumors surrounding Michael Jackson's skin color change

The main version of the public is the assumption that the reason for skin lightening was the rejection of black musical performers during the period of Michael Jackson's star formation. This is what, according to many, brought the singer to the operating table. Michael Jackson decided to radically transform himself, supposedly in favor of prevailing views about the social structure, in order to ease his path to fame. However, this assumption cannot be called correct. After all, the singer himself has publicly refuted it more than once.

The real reasons behind Michael Jackson's skin discoloration

Michael Jackson first publicly stated what caused the changes in his skin color in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1993. He explained that he suffers from a rare condition that causes depigmentation in various areas of the body. This is what motivates him to use the strongest cosmetics to even out his skin color. As it turned out later, the singer’s illness was hereditary. It is known that Michael Jackson's paternal great-grandmother suffered from vitiligo. The course of vitiligo, which led to the singer’s skin lightening, was aggravated by a disease diagnosed in him called lupus erythematosus. Both diseases made the singer's skin sensitive to sunlight. To combat spots on his body, Michael Jackson used powerful drugs that were injected directly into his scalp. Everything taken together - illnesses, medications and cosmetics - made the singer unnaturally pale.