# How did MJ get all those botched plastic surgeries, with all his $$? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174 "2009-06-27T15:17:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9adbd/32.png) [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fell_through_the_Ice)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/1 "2009-06-27T15:17:08Z")
Wasn’t he like one of the richest people on the planet at one time? With all his money, you’d think you could afford the best plastic surgeons in the world, yet it seems that there was one botched operation after another. Reportedly the tip of his nose rotted off and he had a prosthetic nose. How on earth does this happen when you have money to hire the best of the best? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/2 "2009-06-27T15:22:31Z")
Reclusiveness, drugs, paranoia, and who knows maybe he wanted to look that way. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/3 "2009-06-27T15:24:20Z")
Well not everyone is a good candidate for plastic surgery. You can’t really do anything. All a plastic surgeon can do is make the best of what you got. If you don’t have much to begin with (in terms of bones, skin etc) you can’t do much. Lucille Ball reportedly never had surgery or a face lift 'cause her skin was wrong and the surgeons told her a face lift would disfigure her. What she did was wear wigs and hidden tape to pull her skin back into the wig. This may be a case of TOO much money. Surgeons probably started out telling Jackson enough is enough or he wasn’t a good candidate but, well money talks. If you look long enough you’ll find a doctor willing to do most anything. And then if something doesn’t look right, you have to fix it. Sometimes the fix can make it worse, then this leads to more corrective surgery and the whole process snowballs ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/4 "2009-06-27T15:33:16Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Surgeons probably started out telling Jackson enough is enough or he wasn’t a good candidate but, well money talks. _‘But I want a Judy Jetson nose!’_ ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/5 "2009-06-27T15:36:38Z")
Money doesn’t always guarantee good results if your body is not suited for the surgery you desire. Look at Tori Spelling’s (daughter of Aaron Spelling) breast implants a decade or so ago when she was on 90210. Gazillionaire dad and still it looks like someone [shoved two oranges under her skin.](http://www.awfulplasticsurgery.com/2008/08/19/tori-spellings-strange-looking-chest/) It was hideous. Plus I’m not sure the surgeries were “botched” as muchas MJ demands got more extreme. I’m pretty sure if MJ kept going back for more work the better and more responsible surgeons would have backed away at some point leaving him and his compulsion to docs that would do and try anything as long as the customer pays. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/6 "2009-06-27T15:38:49Z")
> [@astro](#): > > it looks like someone shoved two oranges under her **shin**. It was hideous. Yeah, they should be higher than that. And were both implants under one shin? 😛 (I love typos!) EDIT: You corrected it! You’re no fun! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/7 "2009-06-27T15:42:01Z")
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDW1TVH78BU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDW1TVH78BU) I think he went a little bit crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/8 "2009-06-27T17:45:12Z")
The part about the tip of his nose rotting off, wasn’t that shown to just be about a picture of him with a flesh-colored bandage on the tip that was partially protruding? As in this photograph: [http://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/michael\_jackson1.jpg](http://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/michael_jackson1.jpg) See, you can see a line where a bandage that closely matches his skin coloring is draped across the nose and it’s folded underneath giving a little flappy part under his nose. But when this picture came out, I remember all the talking heads saying he suffered from some sort of collapsed nose problem. I don’t think they were correct. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/9 "2009-06-27T22:04:33Z")
> [@](#): > > If you look long enough you’ll find a doctor willing to do most anything. And then if something doesn’t look right, you have to fix it. Sometimes the fix can make it worse, then this leads to more corrective surgery and the whole process snowballs > [@](#): > > Plus I’m not sure the surgeries were “botched” as muchas MJ demands got more extreme. I’m pretty sure if MJ kept going back for more work the better and more responsible surgeons would have backed away at some point leaving him and his compulsion to docs that would do and try anything as long as the customer pays. I think that these are the correct answers. MJ wasn’t happy with how he looked, so he kept going back for more “adjustments”, and he had to use less and less competent surgeons, as the more competent and more ethical ones would refuse to work on him. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/10 "2009-06-27T22:31:33Z")
It’s my impression that really nutty celebrities often end up with really nutty sycophants around them, and the nutty circle just grows. Many celebrity physicians are wacky, too. Wealth and fame confer neither a brain nor common sense, and often make it more difficult to acquire a real education to boot. As a physician, my impression is that celebrities are often as clueless as the rest of the public about deciding who truly competent physicians are, and rely instead on criteria such as fame, personality, privacy or sycophantic behaviour–or simply recommendations from their own sycophants or associates. All bad routes to good medical advice, layered on top of already marginal common sense, limited education and limited native smarts. ---
**Author:** ![Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9adbd/32.png) [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fell_through_the_Ice)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/11 "2009-06-28T03:16:37Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > It’s my impression that really nutty celebrities often end up with really nutty sycophants around them, and the nutty circle just grows.. Good explanations all. But…where are the lawsuits? These docs totally f\*&ed up his face, but I’ve never heard of any lawsuits against the doctors…did MJ not realize how freakish he looked and therefore thought everything was fine? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/12 "2009-06-28T03:39:09Z")
I think that MJ was getting closer to the face he wanted, which is not a normal black male face at all. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/13 "2009-06-28T03:59:43Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I think that MJ was getting closer to the face he wanted, which is not a normal black male face at all. There was an old MST3k episode—featuring the movie “Operation Double 007”—where, in one scene, the movie’s hero, a renowned plastic surgeon, is removing the bandages from a (formerly) disfigured young asian woman. The riff: “At last, Michael Jackson’s journey is _complete!_” ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/14 "2009-06-28T04:47:14Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#): > > Good explanations all. > > But…where are the lawsuits? These docs totally f\*&ed up his face, but I’ve never heard of any lawsuits against the doctors…did MJ not realize how freakish he looked and therefore thought everything was fine? Well, I’m sure the doctors knew to cover their asses and probably had him sign all sorts of releases waiving any legal liability. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/15 "2009-06-28T09:34:37Z")
As to lawsuits, what is botched when it comes to plastic surgery? If you get given the wrong drug by a doctor, or a doctor doesn’t diagnose something they should that’s reasonably clear cut. Contrastingly, plastic surgery is more akin to art. When is art objectively bad? Plus a lawsuit would have amounted to an admission the plastic surgery went wrong, and it would have involved MJ saying on the record exactly what he was trying to achieve. Very embarrassing. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/16 "2009-06-28T10:53:30Z")
It’s a little-known fact that Michael Jackson was actually trying to make himself look like his idol, [King Edward IV.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Edward_IV_Plantagenet.jpg) But he failed miserably. The results speak for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/17 "2009-06-28T11:09:54Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#): > > Good explanations all. > > But…where are the lawsuits? Tort actions for the wealthy are more problematic, especially if they are publicity-shy and any financial remuneration will not really help them. In this case I suspect that Mr. Jackson was not as dissatisfied as some of the public. If you compare his original appearance with his post-surgical ones, the contrast is striking, and the results likely more in line with what he was actually trying to achieve. ---
**Author:** ![Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9adbd/32.png) [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fell_through_the_Ice)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/18 "2009-06-28T15:02:04Z")
[QUOTE=] I think that MJ was getting closer to the face he wanted, [/QUOTE] > [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > … the results likely more in line with what he was actually trying to achieve. So…what face WAS he trying to achieve? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/19 "2009-06-28T15:32:20Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#): > > So…what face WAS he trying to achieve? [This one?](http://vipglamour.net/Celebrity/latoya-jackson) ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174/20 "2009-06-28T15:56:38Z")
> [@Fell\_through\_the\_Ice](#): > > So…what face WAS he trying to achieve? Speculating what Mr Jackson was trying to achieve with skin tone and plastic surgery procedures is… well speculative, but it’s pretty obvious he didn’t like a wide nose and dark skin. My personal guess is that he was running from a look and not to a look, and that’s why he went a bit overboard. Perhaps even he did not know what drove him. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-mj-get-all-those-botched-plastic-surgeries-with-all-his/501174.md?page=2)