Michael Jackson Fan Alleges Media Deliberately Portrayed Him as ‘Weird’ In 2000s Photos

Michael Jackson's voice and towering presence were both captivating, but his Vitiligo tortured him for eternity. Over the years, the Billie Jean hitmaker had multiple procedures to alter his natural look because he was self-conscious about it. Recently an internet user shared two images of Jackson on Reddit theorizing that one of them appeared heavily edited. On the left was a 2003 'weird' mugshot from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. While on the other hand, the right image displayed gentle features in black and white. The user captioned the conversation topic with a question, "I've heard that many photos of Michael from the 2000s were edited by the media to make him look "weird" and "deformed". I found some material about this, but are there other sites or videos that talk about this subject?" 

"Exactly, people usually never look good in mugshots," a netizen wrote while comparing the mugshot on the left. Another fan reasoned, "The one on the left is real. The right in black and white is clearly photoshopped. MJ’s appearance shouldn’t be a hot topic anymore. It’s concerning how fans are really obsessed over his features to an alarming degree especially when we know he had a skin-changing disease, loads of health issues, and some plastic surgery along with natural aging which was bound to make him look different. He wasn’t a freak."

"The tabloid media tried to tell you he was ugly for decades. Does this look ugly to you? The media was and still is deceiving you, and lying to you, deliberately choosing the unflattering photos and the edited ones," an X user claimed. A few fans differed from the theory and suggested that Jackson's face was never edited, "Guys, I see tweets claiming that some images of Michael are edited by the media; they aren’t." Others still argued that networks used editing tools to make him look lighter, "Did networks use brightness, contrast, saturation to lighten MJ's skin?" 

Editing or not Jackson's autopsy revealed that the Thriller singer had surgical scars on the base of his neck, the sides of his nose, and ears. Dr. Christopher Rogers, the physician who performed the late singer's autopsy said: "So, some areas of the skin appear light and others appear dark." Dr. Wallace Goodstein, one of his plastic surgeons from the 90s admitted that the Beat It singer was obsessed with transforming his appearance. “He had multiple surgeries,” Dr. Goodstein said. “He came in approximately every two months. It was about 10 to 12 surgeries in two years, while I was there.” 

The surgeon continued by telling People that Jackson had several cheek implants and nose operations. He also had a cleft placed in his chin and surgery done on his eyelids. "You name it he had it," Dr. Goodstein added. “He had so many things that were inappropriate.” A close source revealed that the Heal the World singer remained discreet about his cosmetic procedures. “They were done in the evening when personnel had to come in so no one else in the office could see him going in or out.” 

Jackson had already marred his appearance with his obsession to look 'perfect', “His nose became so small because he was operated on repeatedly,” the source said. “He has barely anything left for a nose.” In an attempt to preserve his remaining features, he sought the help of dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein, who applied creams to balance out his skin tone and employed fillers to rebuild his nose.