Michael Jackson's Son, Prince, Details Father's Struggle With Vitiligo

Michael Jackson's son, Prince, says that his father wanted to "smooth out his skin" while suffering from vitiligo. He discussed witnessing his father battle the disease during a recent sit-down with Mike Tyson on the Hotboxin' podcast.

The legendary boxer began by suggesting that Michael didn't want to become white, instead suggesting he wanted to "glow." Prince built off that point, adding: "He had a skin condition called vitiligo. I think it was even on the autopsy report. I think the cause of it-- it's up for speculation. But it's either vitiligo or some form of lupus that contributed to the vitiligo. And he had a lot of insecurity around, kind of, looking blotchy. So, he wanted to see if he could smooth out his appearance. I think that 'glowing' may have also had something to do with it because he was visionary I guess in the way that he thought."

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 31: Paris Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael Jackson onstage at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on January 31, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Caulfield/WireImage)

Later in the interview, Prince also revealed that there is still unreleased music from Jackson in the vault. Unfortunately, due to Jackson's unusual recording habits, it's "little snippets" of songs. “When it comes to unreleased music there, what we have in our vault — as I've been kind of told — is a lot of really rough works in progress," he said. “I don't think my father ever learned how to read sheet music. So as a trained musician, it was really self-taught.” Check out the conversation below.

Elsewhere in the interview, Prince discusses his opinion on Rolling Stone crowning Harry Styles the "King of Pop." He says that his father worked far harder than the young musician and still rightfully deserves the retain his title.

About The Author

Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.

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