The legendary Michael Jackson, who passed away in 2009, would have been 65 years old on August 29. His only daughter, singer and actress Paris Jackson, 25, opened up about her dad’s true feelings about birthdays and revealed how trolls have reacted to her not posting about MJ publicly on his birthday. “Back when he was alive, he used to hate anybody acknowledging his birthday, wishing him a ‘Happy Birthday,’ celebrating it — nothing like that,” Paris said in an Instagram video she shared on her dad’s birthday.
She added, “He actually didn’t want us to even know when his birthday was because he didn’t want us to throw a party, or anything like that. That being said, social media is apparently how people express their love and affection these days and if you don’t wish someone a ‘Happy Birthday’ via social media, it apparently means that you don’t love them, that you don’t care about them.”
Paris admitted that “people lose their f***ing minds” and “tell me to kill myself” when she didn’t post anything for her dad’s birthday in the past. “They’re basically measuring my love for my own father based on what I post on Instagram. So I made you guys a little video, and I hope you enjoy it,” she said.
She posted the full video from her Instagram Story onto her feed and captioned the post, “Please don’t use a man you have never met as an excuse to abuse, manipulate, and harass his daughter (who you also have never met).”
The singer acknowledged her dad’s birthday during her Colorado concert on August 29, where she performed alongside Incubus and Bad Flower. “It’s also my dad’s birthday,” Paris told the audience in the video. “And he would have been 65 years old today, and he put 50 years of blood, sweat and tears and love and passion into doing what he did, so that I can stand up here on stage in front of you and scream into a microphone.” She continued, “I owe everything to him.”
Paris encouraged the MJ superfans out there to not focus on his birthday but turn their attention to “raising awareness for climate change, doing stuff for the environment, animal rights activism.” She pointed out that those “were things that he loved, and he was very, very interested in… If you want to pay homage and honor him on his birthday, that would be my suggestion.”
Paris’ siblings, Prince, 26, and Blanket Jackson, 21, were spotted in Las Vegas on their dad’s birthday. In a rare public appearance together, the brothers posed for photos with fans after a Michael Jackson ONE by Cirque du Soleil at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.