Ok. Is MJ really as white as he looks? I understand he supposedly has some kidna disease that causes lightening of the skin…but it seems strange that such a disease would make him so EVENLY white. so does he really look like that or use some kinda strange make up? and is he white all over or just his face?
He, or his spokespeople, IIRC has stated that he has vitiligo. (Back in the '90s when he was still married to Lisa Marie Presley.) Apparently his dermatologist treated him so his skin wouldn’t be splotchy. Michael Jackson doesn’t really talk much about it, and getting any kind of answer out of him is almost unheard of, so what you find on the topic is largely speculation and hyperbole.
It’s hard to say for sure, since all I know I learned from my friend. Basically, you are pretty white on the parts with no pigment, but depending upon ethnicity, it can range from pinky-white to a, well, pinky-cream with a couple of drops of coffee. My friend’s a fairly light-skinned hispanic and she’s a pinky-cream color, extra light on the pink in most places.
Now, she’s just dealt with it, no treatments. If Michael’s had work done to even out his complexion, I don’t know what that would do. I suppose it’s conceivable he’s really that light. I think it’s a combination of the procedure and a lot of foundation. You can see it’s applied fairly thickly in a lot of close-up photos.
I think the problem is that, along with obviously lying about the number of plastic surgeries he’s had, his complexion isn’t consistent between his public appearances. Sometimes he’s as white as Vanna but other times he looks like he’s trying to out-white Bebe Neuwirth!
Personally I’ve called bullshit on the vitiligo story ever since it came out: MJ has had his skin regularly bleached. Now it may be that the onset of vitiligo was the impetus to getting his skin bleached. Seeing these somewhat candid pictures of Mike from roughly 10-15 years ago has made me think the vitiligo claim is at least plausible. But there’s no way that his complete, thorough and even whitening occurred through vitiligo alone.
At least a couple of those look like someone’s been playing with Photoshop.
I’ve never understood why he wears lipstick.
Well, Robert Smith of The Cure does, and Dee Snider (former lead singer of Twisted Sister) looked MUCH better in lipstick onstage IMO. I could see wearing lipstick for being onstage, no matter what the gender, just so long as it’s not fake looking with the obvious intention of not being so, as Mr. Jackson’s has been.
If he does have vitiligo, it apparently moves around! That picture and the first vitiligo one in Askia’s link are from the same period.
What I want to know is: Is he that color all over, or is it like a mask and gloves, and the rest of him is still dark?
I’ve also heard he has some form of lupus, not vitiligo. And even if he did have the latter, wouldn’t it be easier to match up all the dark patches?
I’ve never bought the vitiligo stuff. What seems like the more natural, common sensical solution: filling in the “pale” areas with brown make-up (which any billionare could afford, easily) or dayglo-ing your whole body? He picked the extreme route, if he indeed has the condition. How convenient, too, since it goes well with the wittled-down nose, the bone straight hair (damn he got some good weave), and the white children his loins have supposedly produced.
I believe he has Self-Hating Negro Syndrome, a disease much worse than vitiligo.
In his “You Are Not Alone” video, there are a bunch of scenes where he’s shirtless. And he’s so white that the glare coming off his body his blinding.
What Michael’s done to himself, who the heck knows. My friend’s is confined to her face, neck, a bit on her hands and upper chest. Lucky her, mainly on the parts that show.
At least it didn’t start until she was out of her teens and she was able to handle it well. First a little patch here, then another patch there, and now it’s been stopped for years. She believes Michael does have vitiligo. She’s pretty sure he’s had work done to even the skin tones, which for Michael seems to mean white as a ghost.
He doesn’t help himself any with being so inconsistent about what foundation he chooses for the day. It might even be compounded by progressively lightening his skin. Then you’ve got tabloids pulling up pictures from all different years and lighting situations, to use in the same issue or show. It’s no wonder nobody can figure the guy out. In any way, shape, or form.
That website Askia found was frightening/pathetic. I had to restrain myself from correcting all the grammatical and spelling errors.
Shoulda previewed.
Why lighten instead of darken. The way I understand it, it’s very difficult to apply color and have it look right. Much easier and better looking results from bleaching, since you can’t really screw up and get more light than nothing. Adding color, with make-up or tattooing is a very difficult thing to do.
I’ve seen bad tattoo blush jobs that’d make you cringe.
I have a friend with vitiligo. She uses a substance called make-up to even out her skin tone. If she can do it, I can’t imagine why it would be impossible for Michael Jackson.
I’m not sure where you arrived at that conclusion. Bleaching your skin can’t be cheaper than buying makeup and it strikes me as more dangerous. According to a Snopes piece about Jackson, it is theorized that he’s had his skin lightened with hydroquinone, which is not legal in the USA.
That’s why I stuck to looking at the pictures.
Make up? Why I’ve never heard of such a thing!
It depends upon the shape of the vitiligo whether it’s going to be easy or not to cover with make-up. For my friend she’d have to spend ages putting it on only the light parts and then messing with touch-ups (she’s a mother of three, two twins, all under the age of six, so that ain’t gonna happen), or covering her whole face, neck, and chest with rather heavy foundation. Remember, my friend is hispanic and there’s a big difference between her pigmented and un-pigmented skin, so she needs really good coverage if she decided to try the whole-face route.
She’s tried it all in the past and decided she’ll just stick with face powder. No matter what her mother keeps bringing over for her to try, it’s too thick, doesn’t match, looks plastic, doesn’t wear well, is too tricky to use, or just doesn’t actually work. Your friend’s MMV.
I also don’t think I wrote that Michael Jackson found it impossible to use make-up. You only have to look at a recent picture to see the man’s a make-up whore.
Perhaps you thought I was referring to make-up when I wrote: ‘Why lighten instead of darken. The way I understand it, it’s very difficult to apply color and have it look right. Much easier and better looking results from bleaching, since you can’t really screw up and get more light than nothing.’ The application of color to which I was referring was tattooing. You could also try various meds and light treatments to increase pigment, but those weren’t for her either.
I’m looking, but I don’t see where I said bleaching was cheaper than anything else. Of course it’s more expensive than make-up. According to my friend, back when she was still considering permanent treatments, it was a toss-up between tattooing and bleaching when it came to cost and satisfaction with the final outcome. Neither sounded as good to her as acceptance of her appearance.
As for what Michael’s done with hydroquinone, I can’t say. What my friend considered was Benoquin and it is legal. Made in the US, prescribed by her doctor if she’d wanted to go that route. It sounds as though the two products are related, though.
Sheesh, I never thought I’d write so much about Michael Jackson. The one thing I actually know about him is about his nose. I have an insider secret that could net me some cash if I just had physical evidence. But I don’t, so I continue to wallow in poverty. Darn!
Those are hardly any better! Gah!
One thing about this thread, it’s driving home the need to always, always, preview.