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The “King of Pop” Michael Jackson

The “King of Pop” Michael Jackson

Kelsey Geier

Sinclair University

PSY 2220: Personality Psychology

Dr. Mark D. Humbert

December 5, 2021
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The “King of Pop” Michael Jackson

The “King of Pop” Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana to Joseph and

Katherine Jackson. Michael was the fifth of nine children in the Jackson family. Michael’s

father Joseph worked in a steel mill plant while his mother Katherine stayed home in their two-

bedroom, one bathroom house to take care of the nine children. Michael’s parents each had

dreams of successful show business careers for themselves, Katherine as a black country singer

and Joseph as musician. These dreams led to the creation of The Jackson 5.

While Joseph was at work, Katherine would sing and dance with the children to keep

them entertained as well as learn each child’s individual artistic skills. One day after work,

Katherine wanted Joseph to see the talent possessed by their three eldest boys. She gave the

boys Joseph’s guitar to put on a show. Jackie (9), Tito (7), and Jermaine (6) performed for

Joseph that day while Marlon (3) and Michael (2) sat in the corner. After Joseph heard the boys,

he started rehearsing music with them often and added Marlon and Michael as they grew older.

Soon the boys were playing gigs from Gary, Indiana to Chicago, Illinois. As the boys continued

to win talent shows and gain popularity, Joseph started focusing more on the music than his job.

Joseph (Joe) signed the group with Steeltown Records in 1967 where they released their

first two singles. A year later the boys were signed with Motown; however, Joe did not carefully

read the agreements which left the family stuck in their contract longer than anticipated. This

angered Joe which led to a big ‘payout’ to get out of the contract and into CBS Records.

Leaving Motown meant leaving the group name “Jackson 5” since Motown owned the rights to

that name. With CBS they would be called “The Jacksons.” Michael started recording singles

for both Motown and CBS. Both the group and Michael individually enjoyed rapid success and

so Joe decided to start his own record company.

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The “King of Pop” Michael Jackson

Michael soon became the lead singer and choreographer for the group since his creative

vision could not be matched. Michael always seemed to live in a ‘fantasy world’ according to

his family. He didn’t have many friends outside of his brothers, and he was always watching

movies, listening to music, or watching dance shows. Even after their performances, Michael

would stay to watch other performers instead of running off like his brothers.

Throughout the years there would be multiple record deals made by the family and

Michael individually. Their success led to many promotional deals which created lots of family

turmoil in the decision-making. The boys eventually dropped their father as manager and

Michael left the group all together as his fame grew with the Thriller album (1982). Also, during

this time, Michael became obsessed with his appearance and underwent several plastic surgeries.

Michael’s music broke world records that continue to be unmatched even today. His fame and

obsession with his appearance caused the media to portray a different side of Michael. Many

believed Michael was gay and so he held a press conference to abolish the rumors, which failed.

Michael eventually married Lisa Marie Presley which only lasted a short time. He then married

Debbie Rowe and together they had two children, Michael Jr., and Paris. Michael then had a

third child by a surrogate mother and named him Prince. Sadly, in 2009 Michael suffered a

cardiac arrest after an overdose of propofol, a drug typically given to patients undergoing

surgery.

I chose to research Michael Jackson because there have always been different rumors and

assumptions regarding his medical state, personality, and sexual orientation. I wanted to learn for

myself how the “King of Pop” really lived. There is no question that some events in Michael’s

early childhood success led to his greater fame and emotional and psychological state as he grew

older. His father was physically abusive to all the boys growing up and in their early days of the
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The “King of Pop” Michael Jackson

Jackson 5 group. Michael seemed to be the one most abused since he would stand up to his

father even though he was the youngest in the group. As a result of the abuse from his father,

Michael would never make it out of his phallic stage. He also witnessed his father cheat on his

mother. Michael was very fond of his mother and protective of her his entire life. For this

reason, the family used their mother to convince Michael to perform with the group for their

final tour in 1984. Michael also looked to Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor, and others as mother

figures because he felt his mother was “too hurt” to be a mother to him.

His father’s cheating led to Michael’s Oedipus complex because instead of viewing his

parents with a loving relationship while adoring his mother, he was forced to lie to her to protect

her from the pain of his father’s infidelity. This cheating as well as seeing his brothers’ many

sexual relationships with female fans at a tender age, caused Michael to never want to participate

in sexual intercourse with anyone. Michael and his mother were Jehovah Witnesses and Michael

took his faith seriously. Michael spent his life hating his father because of the abuse and

infidelity. Considering Chodorow’s revised version of the Oedipus Complex, Michael became

the female in a desperate yearning for independence from his family as he started recording his

own music successfully.

As Michael developed id, ego, and superego, it is apparent he has a predominate id since

he spent his life avoiding tension and confrontation. He struggled to fire management or staff,

when necessary, as well as his own father. He would make impulsive decisions but luckily had a

manager that would help calm him and think logically before making rash decisions. This

manager helped Michael activate his ego to make better decisions, however Michael had a strong

ego when it came to the business side. Michael carefully and logically created the lyrics to his

songs, as well as the music videos. He would strategically buy the rights to Paul McCartney’s
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The “King of Pop” Michael Jackson

songs after Paul taught him how to do it. Michael identified successful people and learned

strategies that would later benefit him.

Michael also learned to develop defense mechanisms as he grew from childhood fame to

adulthood. There is evidence of projection as Michael liked to play the victim to the media and

his father. He thoroughly enjoyed blaming them for all his problems especially when it came to

the sexual accusations. There were also signs of regression around Michael’s 21st birthday as he

decided to purchase an abundance of toys and would rather spend his time with children rather

than adults. He also loved Disneyland because it was magical and “the happiest place on earth”

so he built models of Disneyland attractions and housed exotic animals at his home. Michael

also loved Peter Pan and said he related most to a lost boy which is why he named his ranch

Neverland. This demonstrates Michael did not want to grow up and used fantasy as a defense

mechanism. He would refuse to talk to reporters and would rather spend time with children and

seemed happiest when pretending to be a child. Denial is a factor when considering Michael’s

shy, calm, and loving nature since he had been abused by his father most of his childhood but

had to work with him like nothing happened. Throughout his entire life, Michael did what he

thought was right to value his family and help them, even if that meant he denied himself of the

abuse suffered by his father and seemingly ignored by the rest of the family.

As Michael gets older, he becomes the breadwinner of the family and buys their home

from his parents to tear it down and rebuild it as he saw it in his own fantasy. Michael believed

he could rid the family of their issues and start over. This led to therapists commenting that

Michael was essentially looking for control over all situations. Some therapists labeled Michael

a narcissist given the control he wanted over the family businesses, his own solo career (in every

aspect including interviews) and his relationships with women in his life.
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The “King of Pop” Michael Jackson

“Dr Paul Gabriel, a professor of clinical psychiatry at New York University

Medical Center has a theory about Michael and his penchant for mannequins
which he still has today as seen on Marin Bashir’s 2003 documentary about
him: ‘That’s a special eccentricity, in the category of narcissism. We like to
think we’re beautiful. We make images of ourselves. Children are very
narcissistic. They see themselves in their dolls, and that’s what this is about for
Michael Jackson. After age five or six, they begin to give some of that up, but
he apparently never did that.’” (Tarraborrelli, 2009, p. 484)

Michael’s relationship with his father and later with his brothers became a

complex he would have against anyone he wished to hire as a manager or attorney. He

would be so focused on his desire for independence from them that he would do

anything in his power to make sure he had the best. When interviewed, he would tell

them they could not represent any of his brothers or deal with his father. These

examples also describe more signs of his narcissism.

Michael carried a different persona then most people. For instance, when he

played the scarecrow role in ‘the Wiz’ he loved going out with the scarecrow makeup

still on. He would talk about how it made him feel invisible and confident to be

sociable behind the disguise. He continued this behavior when he started wearing

makeup after that movie to not only build his confidence but display a persona that he

indeed saw himself as a better person when wearing the makeup. He also wore

sunglasses everywhere and this is where his signature fedora and white glove came into

play. These things would lead to social isolation because he would never let anyone

outside of his family and close friends see the true Michael. He learned at a young age

public opinion was a huge part of show business and he never thought the public would

like the true Michael.

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The “King of Pop” Michael Jackson

Michael’s father and how he was treated by his father caused most of the psychological

troubles Michael exhibited growing up as well as the empathy for his mother. These are the

sides of Michael the media never wanted to expose. Michael also hid this from the public which

led to many misunderstandings about him in my opinion. Considering his exposure to the abuse

as well as exposure to the sexual exploits of his brothers at his young age, explain a lot for the

accusations held against him throughout his life. After doing my research on his life and

background, my opinion changed tremendously once I became aware of all the struggles he dealt

with behind closed doors. I gained a lot of respect for the ‘King of Pop’ and now feel passionate

about spreading the word on his behalf when I hear people talking about him. Michael not only

struggled as a normal human being with life’s path, but his struggles were exacerbated because

of his fame and constant exposure to the public eye. Considering the lyrics of Man in the Mirror

which Michael wrote, it appears he was introspective and wanted to change.

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The “King of Pop” Michael Jackson

References

Taraborrelli, J. R. (2009). Michael Jackson. [electronic resource] : the magic, the madness, the

whole story, 1958-2009 (1st eBook ed). Grand Central Pub.

Jackson, Michael. (2009). Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank). https://doi.org/Jackson, Michael

Joseph (Hutchinson Encyclopedia of Biography, 2000); Jackson, Michael (Current

Biography (Bio Ref Bank), 1983)