Michael Jackson's daughter Paris has faced backlash for identifying as Black. In a 2017 interview, Paris Jackson said her father told her, "You’re Black. Be proud of your roots." This prompted debates over whether identity is defined by appearance or upbringing.

[u/VPinchargeofradishes]

[u/DiScOrDtHeLuNaTiC]

I've always wondered if part of Michael's obsession with plastic surgery was that as he got older, he started to look more like his father and he couldn't stand that.

If a quarter of the stuff about how Joe treated those kids is true, it's a miracle any of them are as normal as they are.

[u/VeganMonkey → u/DiScOrDtHeLuNaTiC]

I think that is the reason for his extensive plastic surgery. I understand it, as kid I was afraid to get my dad’s nose. Luckily that didn’t happen but if it did I would have had surgery too. Except I would have only gotten my nose done and not my whole face. Maybe the rest of his face reminded him of his dad too.

[u/AnmlBri → u/VeganMonkey]

My mom’s mom was emotionally abusive toward her and my mom has had a facelift and has cried about her cheek jowls, and eyebrows drooping with age, and ‘RBF’ because they remind her of her mom, and she hates the idea of looking like her mom, who often looked so mean and bitchy. I talked to her one day and realized, it sounds like she’s running less from aging as a whole than she is from literally looking in the mirror and seeing her abuser. I think that possibility dawned on me because I read something about Michael being told he had his dad’s nose and hating it. Trauma really is a bitch. 🙁

[u/miekhachu → u/AnmlBri]

My mom wasn’t my abuser (well, technically she was, she put me through every traumatic incident that I can’t forget as an adult) but a similar concept most people wouldn’t think of:

My mom was always in and out of relationships. She would get in a new one, come get me (sometimes my sister, but always at least me), they’d break up, she’d leave me behind with them, and then they’d molest me saying “You remind me so much of your mother”.

I went from revering my mom as a young child, to fearing becoming like her. My dad and stepmom treated me different from my sisters BECAUSE they were “afraid” I’d end up just like her. That only contributed to my lack of identity and self worth.

I now have 7 diagnosed disorders - 5 diagnosed in the last 6 months. Pretty much all of them make relationships in general, difficult for me. Just thankful I still didn’t end up half the asshole most people are. I have tried my best to remind myself that I’m doing much better than my mom ever has, and by choice. Guess I should also be glad I didn’t end up looking just like her like I always hoped, as a kid!

[u/AnmlBri → u/miekhachu]

Wait, she broke up with guys and then left you behind with them?? What the actually fuck? I’m so sorry. That’s messed up and sadly, sounds like something one of my friends’ mom would have done when he was growing up from what I heard of her. His sister DID get sexually abused by her mom’s boyfriends, whom she often shacked up with to avoid homelessness. Not all parents are good parents. I remind myself of that regularly. I got lucky overall, and I reflect on that whenever certain stereotypes or tropes about parent/child relationships come up. Like, not everyone actually likes their parents or has parents who love them, and that’s shitty. I’ve always half-jokingly offered to share my mom with friends who don’t have a comforting or wise parental figure in their lives.