Michael Jackson: The Stolen Childhood of the King of Pop

When the kids around him were enjoying the unencumbered play of childhood, Michael Jackson was working—hard. It’s the downside of being a singing and dancing money machine too soon. His dad should have known better. But Joe Jackson sired a family of stand-out talents who each played second fiddle to their one-in-a-hundred-million gifted brother, Michael. For Mom and Dad Jackson, the temptation to leverage this greatness was simply too much. Michael had a polished act by age 5. Do the math. That took years to perfect, so he went from diapers to the dance studio. Once the world got a taste of his magic, the adults in his life simply demanded he create more. Do you know what happens to kids who are denied childhood? They never mature. Which explains why Michael turned his back yard into Disneyland and invited real, live, minor children over to his bedroom for sleepovers. I don’t know whether or not he ever molested any of those kids. The press says he did. Michael and the courts said he didn’t. Regardless, this extraordinary talent spent his conflicted and confusing adulthood pursuing something he shouldn’t have needed. It makes you wonder about those dreams that so many parents have for their kids: dreams of Olympic gold, March Madness limelight and NFL fortunes. It makes you wonder about all of that pressure to be the first in line, top of the heap, and best in show while the other kids are spending their childhood simply being kids. So what if Joe Jackson would have looked at that Motown contract with its glittering bottom line and then looked over at little Michael and said, “How about you give us a call in ten years. This boy has a childhood to live first.” Here’s what most likely would have happened. There would have been no contract in ten years. There may have been a Jackson 5, albeit older and there may have ultimately been a moon walking Michael. But most likely there wouldn’t have been. That’s because limelight puts off a heartless heat and fans are fickle. Was the trade off worth it? For us, there’s no doubt. And we’ll have all of his videos and downloads to enjoy forever. But for Michael; no. He died never ever getting to be what he was supposed to be—a bonafide man. Instead he was a lost boy in an amazing dancer and singer’s body searching for the childhood that was stolen from him.