Paris Jackson says she was sexually assaulted at age 14 in a new interview with Rolling Stone. Michael Jackson’s daughter tells the magazine a few other surprising things, but this should be the most alarming. She was 14 in 2012, the same year she helped stop the “kidnapping” of her guardian, grandmother Katherine Jackson, by her uncles and aunts.
Paris was living with her grandmother and brothers in a gated community. That this terrible thing happened to her speaks volumes about how neglectful the adult supervision was for Michael Jackson’s kids three years after the superstar’s death. A year later Paris would attempt suicide. She says she tried this three times until she was sent to a school in Utah that saved her life.
She recalls: “I don’t wanna give too many details. But it was not a good experience at all, and it was really hard for me, and, at the time, I didn’t tell anybody.”
Paris has always seemed like a great, precocious, lively girl ever since she stepped forward and spoke at her father’s funeral in 2009. Until her final suicide attempt and removal to Utah she’d built up a million followers on Twitter. She seemed older than her years. Once she went to Utah, she dropped all social media. When she returned, a new more self confident Paris appeared.
She says: “I was crazy. I was actually crazy. I was going through a lot of, like, teen angst. And I was also dealing with my depression and my anxiety without any help.”
Thank goodness she was able to triumph through this pain. Paris also tells Rolling Stone she’s convinced Michael Jackson was “murdered.” She also insists that Michael was her biological father. That last part doesn’t matter one way or another. Jackson was clearly the father of his children and nothing else matters.
“I consider myself black,” she says, adding later that her dad “would look me in the eyes and he’d point his finger at me and he’d be like, ‘You’re black. Be proud of your roots.’ And I’d be like, ‘OK, he’s my dad, why would he lie to me?’ So I just believe what he told me. ‘Cause, to my knowledge, he’s never lied to me.
What seemed rather sad in the interview is that Paris (and this is likely true for her siblings) doesn’t seem to acknowledge any adult influence in her life. She’s living with her boyfriend in the recording studio at Hayvenhurst, a house still owned by her father’s estate but not really habitable. Unlike brother Prince, she’s skipped college entirely. Her Rolling Stone cover seems like the opening salvo in a quest for fame without substance, a la her neighbors the Kardashians. She already has all the money she’ll ever need. Let’s hope she finds happiness and gets what she wants. She deserves it.
Marvell was a hugely important part of the Stax Records history, having played on dozens and dozens of hits starting with William Bell’s “You Don’t Miss Your Water.” His discography includes many uncredited performances. He was the mainstay of Stax studios, filling those songs with his own sweet persona. Some of his credited work includes co-producing Isaac Hayes’s famous album “Hot Buttered Soul,” on which he played keyboards.
The Thomas family legacy in Memphis and in R&B in general cannot be overstated. Rufus– who cast a long shadow as a DJ and recording artist (“Walking the Dog”). He and his wife Lorene, a civil rights activist who worked with Martin Luther King, left three gifted musicians in Marvell, Carla, and Vaneese. Marvell was their guiding light and central force. He was an unwavering professional who made recording sessions work. He knew the music in his heart and in his soul. Maybe that’s why he smiled so much.
We never hear much about Donald Trump’s sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry. She’s a federal judge whom right wingers paint as a left winger because she once signed off on giving constitutional protection to partial birth abortion. (If you wondered why the judge didn’t swear her brother into office, now you know.)
