Growing up as the daughter of the ‘King of Pop,’ Paris has been in the public eye from a very young age, and she’s faced many struggles openly over the years.
Paris has shared that the relentless attention from paparazzi during her childhood led her to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In a candid conversation on Red Table Talk, Paris revealed: “I experience audio hallucinations, sometimes, with camera clicks and severe paranoia and have been going to therapy for a lot of things, but that included.”
She mentioned that she’s been doing eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy to manage her PTSD, which she described as ‘very effective.’
“I wouldn’t consider myself bisexual because I’ve dated more than just men and women,” she shared.
While she’s been open with the public about her sexuality, she says it’s a difficult topic to discuss with her ‘religious’ family, though her brothers have been supportive of her.
“I’ve gotten to a point where I respect them and I have love for them. I respect their beliefs. I respect their religion. I’m at a point where to expect them to put aside their culture and their religion… expectations lead to resentment. What people think about me isn’t my business.”
Following in her father’s footsteps, Paris has also pursued a career in music, releasing her debut album ‘Wilted’ in 2020.
Her father, Michael Jackson, first found fame with The Jackson 5, performing with his siblings before becoming one of the biggest solo music artists of all time.
Although his skin tone lightened later in his life, Michael was African-American and had a darker complexion when he first rose to fame.
Before he passed away, Jackson spoke about his skin condition during a rare interview with Oprah Winfrey, where he emphasized his pride in his African-American heritage.
“I’m a Black American. I am proud to be a Black American. I am proud of my race, and I am proud of who I am. I have a lot of pride and dignity in who I am,” he said.
“But when people make up stories that I don’t want to be who I am, it hurts me. It’s a problem for me that I can’t control.”
Considering her father’s heritage, Paris has now opened up about why she identifies as a Black woman.
“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.”
Addressing her fair complexion, Paris shared that many people assume she is white and think she might be “from Finland or something.”
Following these statements, Paris has faced some backlash. Talk show host Wendy Williams even described Paris’s self-identification as ‘cute.’
“I get that she considers herself Black and everything, but I’m just talking about the visual because you know… Black is not what you call yourself, it’s what the cops see when they got steel to your neck on the turnpike,” Williams remarked.
“It’s what they see. But that’s cute and good for her.”