Michael Jackson is dead. Poor boy. I remember how adorable he was as a kid.

I guess you can say that he never grew up, he only looked worse over time.



Ann

What's scary is mom finds me after Farrah Fawcett passes on, and says to me, "Hollywood dies in threes; who's the third going to be?"

Such a shame about MJ. At some point this weekend I will have to get up and do the Thriller dance.

JD

Ed McMahon was the third.

SQD

Ed McMahon was the first. I said the same to a coworker after he told me Farrah died. I didn't expect the third to be in the same day.

In all honesty, MJ doesn't bother me too much. As I told my husband last night, after all of the plastic surgery and legal battles, he was no longer the MJ I knew. Michael Jackson was already dead, and was just replaced by some... alien. It's sad, but I've done my mourning.

I thought Ed McMahon was second, after David Carradine.

It's weird to feel like I've lost an iconic piece of my childhood.
The special effects are kind of lame now, but this was always my fav MJ video as a kid. The dance moves are still badass.

While that one is my fav, this one continually blows my mind with how amazing it is.

I feel bad for Farrah Fawcett. Her death is so overshadowed now, and she suffered so much more, and longer.

I cried when I found out. MJ is my fave artist of all time. There's not one wedding that I've been to where I don't request Thriller and do the dance out on the dance floor (even if I'm by myself). Me goes to watch my VHS copy of Moonwalker. /sniff

David Carradine passed on June 3rd, so it's a little far away to be part of the trifecta. The three's usually come within the same week.

Although in recent years MJ, could i say became a little weird. There is no denying that he was a great entertainer. You wouldnt sell 750 million albums for no reason.

My heart goes out to his children, what will happen to them. I hope the media give them the privacy they deserve.

I was really shocked myself. I mean, fifty is not an age to die, is it? And all this talk about dying in threes just gives me shudders.


Celebs die in Threes?
or
Celebs don\'t die in Threes?
These two blogs do contradict, but somehow the notion, whether true or not, just seems weird in a not-so-nice way.

50 is not the age you'd think about for dying, but unfortunately death can strike any time. My cousin died yesterday; she was 41 (six months older than me). About two years ago one of my friends died; she was in her late thirties.

You just never know.

PJ

Pam - I'm sorry for your loss.

Like Karen, MJ sorta died for me years ago. I grew up listening to his music and I was in my early teens when learning how to moonwalk and breaking your penny loafers imitating him was the height of cool. Sadly, though, once he started to look so, well, freakishly odd, I couldn't watch the spectacle anymore. I still admire his talent and I hope he's finally found a small measure of peace.

I, too, am sorry for your loss, Pam.

Like others here, I couldn't relate to MJ after all his plastic surgery made him look so freakish. At the same time I could relate to the tragedy of his situation. He became a big star at what age, seven? He got all that attention and all that praise when he was a kid not only because he was a star, but because he was a child star. No wonder he would try to stay that cute and innocent forever.

But precisely because he was a child star and a hugely important bread winner for his family, MJ wasn't allowed to have a normal childhood. So not only did he learn to want to stay a child forever, he also started fantasizing about a much better childhood than the one he had really had. So he tried to give himself that kind of childhood once he had grown up and gained control of his own career and money. He tried to be a happy child when he should have been a man.

Michael Jackson grew up in an age when the United States was a lot more race-conscious than it is today. He must have grown up thinking that he was a cute kid, since everybody said so, but even so he must have thought that he would have been a lot cuter if he had been white. So he tried to become white through the aid of plastic surgery, but he only ended up looking weird and sick that way.

It's fun to watch child stars, but you have to wonder about the price they pay for their careers. Judy Garland, one of the first child stars, was certainly troubled and died too young. River Phoenix died at 23. Heather O'Rourke, child star of the Poltergeist movies, died at twelve. Macaulay Culkin of the Home Alone movies is troubled. And we all know about Britney Spears.

Becoming a great star before you have had time to grow up and and grow into yourself must be a punishing and possibly stunting or even fatal experience.

Even though Shirley Temple did well all her life.



Ann

Oh! I, too, am sorry for your loss, Pam.

I had a second cousin who died at seventeen , and though I wasn't close to him, his family never got over the loss. I'm sure everybody will have some or such sad tale to quote. I guess being a celeb is what makes MJ and the others more... well, highlighted.

I do agree with you, Ann. IMO, these people beget fame too early and have to strive harder than before to retain it. It must be a huge burden for small kids (still under their parents' care) who are forced by fans and family alike to live up to what name they've earned. The urge to keep on proving forever that they're still the *little stars* probably makes them wish for a different sort of childhood/adolescence than the one that they've had. And when they are on their own, they set out to achieve the one thing that they lost - better childhood. So that's why they probably end up being kids when other people of their age grow up.

Of course, I don't mean everybody. There are some child-stars there who've grown into really normal, untroubled people... but that, again, is the joint effort of the immediate family and friends and the person's own attitude, IMHO.

Pam, I'm also sorry for your loss.

In response to some of what Ann said:
MJ was 5 when he started performing with the Jackson 5 and I do agree that attention at a young age definitely can contribute to the child being "messed up" later in life, a lot of MJ's issus were from abuse by his father (physical and verbal) and his older brothers bringing women into their rooms (which Michael shared with them on tour) and having sex in front of him. This, I'm sure, contributed to his mental illness (he said as much in interviews and his biography). And although many people thought he was cute when he was a kid, his father (and other family members) told him his nose made him ugly. They also said this to some of the other Jackson children, hence Latoya and Janet's nose jobs.

I couldn't agree more. His lyrics to his song 'Childhood' pretty much sum up what you said Ann.

I'm sad that my children won't get to grow up with MJ like I got to, but at the same time, I'm glad that they won't see what he had become ~ they can know him only as he used to be.

I always heard that the change in his skin color was due to a rare skin disease--I don't think it's possible to change skin color through plastic surgery.

Darcy, you're right. He had white blotches that showed up on his skin, a disorder known as Vitiligo . Now I don't think ALL his skin turned white because of this disorder. I'm pretty sure that he did have some sort of skin treatments to lighten his skin so the blotches were not as obvious but it's been awhile since I read this so I'm not 100% sure.

Sorry for your loss Pam.

It's strange that everyone is saying how much they miss MJ now all over the internet, when a few years ago, he was Public Enemy Number One because he was accused of child molestion. Anyone else accused of that would get the following after their death, wheather they did it or not (I'm not saying he did or didn't); "Glad that f****r's dead." Hypocrites we humans are.

Liked the music though. Hope his family's OK.

I think most of the Internet hooplah are probably actual fans who stayed true (even during the trial) but the media is definitely hypocritical... but that's nothing new.

Well, there have been several people on this thread who've specifically said they were MJ fans *before* he went all weird and was accused of child molestation.

Being a child star is hugely hazardous to your mental health. Any sort of fame is, really; look at Susan Boyle or, well, most Hollywood stars. Being a celebrity often means having no limits, and that's character-destroying. But at least people who become famous as adults had that background of having to behave, whereas child stars often haven't, and then they self-destruct. And when famous people self-destruct they get a *lot* of attention.

Good thing there's nothing more important going on in the world, like people being massacred in Iran, or something.

PJ
(thanks for the condolences, guys, I appreciate it)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ChiefPam:
[qb]Good thing there's nothing more important going on in the world, like people being massacred in Iran, or something.

Yep. Quite right too.

I don't believe taking a moment to express sympathy and grief over Michael Jackson's passing has any effect on one's feelings about other events. I do believe Michael was an extremely gifted man-child who unfortunately became addicted to plastic surgery.

The court said he was innocent of child molestation; a person being accused of something doesn't make it so.

Ethnica - my thought, and my guess it's Pam's too, is that sure, a moment of silence, a thought expressed here, etc. is one thing but to dominate the news channels etc to the point that it has when there is much more important things going on the world - like Iran - it seems a bit off kilter. I wasn't a Michael Jackson fan. I was raised in a house where he was pretty well a messenger of the devil and listening to that kind of music would send you straight to hell [I've loosened up considerably for myself from when I was young and my dad has too though not as much]. I do feel sorry for his family, but when 45 minutes or more of every news hour is devoted to how many fans are at the different locations, it's more than a bit over the top IMO. My guess is that's what Pam was referring to, not fans expressing their condolences in a forum like this [or facebook or whatever]. Farrah Fawcett, also a pop cultural icon, has been almost completely ignored [though her death was, sadly, expected]. Billy Mays, the OxyClean guy [and many other products], died today. I don't remember a *celebrity* getting this much press attention... ever? Ronald Reagan was former Pres, Diana was... Diana. The Pope was... the Pope. Mother Teresa only got the press coverage she did because Diana had just died and the news channels etc felt guilted into covering her almost as much as Diana. Otherwise, you wouldn't have seen the 'name' anchors on the other side of the world - you would have seen correspondents and less coverage - at least that's the way I remember it. Personally, I'd prefer they move on a bit and maybe spend only half of each hour on MJ :p . Or something.

Carol [who is sure Pam will correct her if that's not what she meant and is not trying to put words in Pam's mouth]

Carol's pretty much right. It's entirely appropriate for people to express sadness and discuss the circumstances/career of a deceased celebrity, or of anyone. But when it dominates the news channels to the exclusion of 'real' news happenings, then it starts being inappropriate. IMO.

It's a matter of priorities. Michael Jackson (and the others) are dead, and nothing can bring them back. Meanwhile, protestors in Iran are being killed, and it's possible (not guaranteed, alas) that more world attention would stop or slow the brutality going on. Lives are at stake, and when major news-gathering organizations are ignoring that in favor of obituaries, well, it looks wrong to me.

Again, threads like this one are perfectly appropriate, and I didn't mean to sound like I was snapping at anyone on here.

PJ
who is having a really really really bad weekend... <sigh>

This is very true. However, equally, sadly, the vagaries of the US jury system means that being found not guilty by one doesn't mean you aren't, either. Especially not when the jury members admit in public after the trial that they based their verdict not on any of the evidence presented but on their prejudices against and instant dislike of the alleged victim's mother.

One juror even stated afterwards that he believed MJ was guilty but had given an innocent verdict anyway because said mother ticked him off when giving evidence. Which kind of seems to have missed the entire point of a jury trial. :rolleyes:

Add in the well-known reluctance of US juries to find celebs guilty and the added bias against finding African American celebs even less guilty and I think, sadly, the truth of the matter will probably never be known either way.

In such circumstances and with such defendants, the truth either way doesn't really seem to figure much.

Ann - Heather O'Rourke? As far as I'm aware, she died during surgery for a blocked bowel. A tragedy to be sure, at such a young age, but one that could happen to anyone. I'm not sure why she's on your list as I don't think her choice of movie career or movie childhood had any bearing on it.


LabRat

Or the energy bill in the House, Pam. I saw Glenn Beck covering it and that was it [though I was news channel flipping so it's possible I missed it], at least anything more than a passing mention at the top/bottom of the hour.

Drew Barrymore is a good example of a child star who had problems but has pulled her life back together.

OJ is another example of what Labby was talking about. He was held civilly liable for those deaths but not criminally. I am glad his book 'How I would Have Done It, If I'd Done It' or whatever it was called was shamed back into the warehouse before it was ever officially released.

My heart hurts for Michael's family, especially his son who was reportedly there and thought Dad was joking, but I am glad that the news has moved on a bit.

Carol

Pam, I am so sorry for your loss.

My two cents in this...

yes, everyone thought he was a cute kid, but race had nothing to do with it. Like Steph said, MJ suffered from Vitiligo, which destroys skin pigmentation in blotches over the body. He used pancake makeup to even it out (which is part of why he looked so freaky sometimes). It wasn't because he was trying to be white. He even said on numerous occasions that he was very proud of his African-American heritage, and "proud to be a Black American."

His plethora of plastic surgeries were a result of his lack of self-confidence in his appearance, due to the abuse from his father. It's really sad to think about.

It's also sad that because of all his legal scandals, very few people remember how much of a humanitarian he was, and all the things he did for charity and to help those in need before he lost everything.

In any case, his music was hugely influential, and the world will certainly miss his musical brilliance.

Wow!

That reminds me of the person, who, hearing that President Johnson had appointed Shirley Temple as US ambassador to the United Nations, said it was "Because he wanted the world to have a happy ending."

Originally posted by LabRat:
Labby, you are right of course. Heather O'Rourke died of natural causes. It's just that I was shaken when I learned about her horribly early death soon after I had seen the first Poltergeist movie. And I thought to myself that if I had been Heather O'Rourke's parent or guardian, I would have asked myself if Heather's career, whose hardships I would have been ultimately responsible for, had anything at all to do with her death. More than that, however, I wondered what Heather herself was thinking when she felt her system failing. How had she been affected, deep down, by starring at such a very young age in such truly creepy movies? Did she ever think, as she was getting sicker, that the demons she had cheated in those movies had come for her now in real life?

Ann