Michael Jackson, a life in pictures

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana. He was the seventh child of eight and he is known worldwide as the King of Pop. Jackson wouldn't get older than 50. He died in June 2009.

Michael Jackson made a name for himself at a young age. He was only 11 years old when the Jackson Five triumphed. The group consisted of him and his four brothers: Tito, Jermaine, Jackie, and Marlon.

Joe Jackson was the one who had the idea of creating a group of his sons.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1993, Michael Jackson revealed that he had suffered abuse during his childhood, along with his brothers. His father mistreated them when they were still young.

He claimed his father insulted and hit him in a so-called effort to "allow him to improve."

The violence, plus the repetitive infidelities towards his mother (his father had a daughter with one of his mistresses: Cheryl Terrell) meant that father and son never had a good relationship. It explains why Joe Jackson was not mentioned in his will.

In 2010, Joe Jackson confessed to hitting his children, but he justified it by explaining that it was something "from another time." He died in 2018 at the age of 89 from cancer. By that time, his son Michael had already been dead for nine years.

When he began his career with the Jackson Five, his appearance was that of any African-American child: dark skin, Afro cut, wide nose, and full lips.

Jackson was obsessed with his nose, however, and he performed his first rhinoplasty in 1979. He said he did it because his nose had been broken during a fall on stage.

In this photo from 1982, the changes in his face are already noticeable. He is standing next to pop queen Donna Summer.

Over the years, his nose would change further, becoming smaller every time. Surgeon Pamela Lipkin recalls that he had to wear a band-aid for a while because a hole in his skin was causing nasal fluid to flow into his mouth.

Over time, the color of Michael Jackson's skin appeared to become lighter. The star and his doctors always denied the rumors that he underwent treatment to clear up his skin color.

A skin condition called vitiligo allegedly caused the depigmentation of Michael Jackson's complexion. It forced him to spend several hours applying makeup to unify his color.

Doctor Wallace Goodstein, who worked with Michael Jackson's surgeon in the 1990s, told People magazine that  the star would come in "in every two months and underwent between 10 and 12 surgeries in two years while I worked in the clinic."

Goodstein added in several interviews that the King of Pop had undergone surgeries or implants on his nose, eyelid, cheek, and chin.

Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis, met Michael Jackson in 1974. They began dating in 1993 and married a year later in a ceremony in the Dominican Republic. The couple divorced in 1996, although they would be seen together after their separation.

Lisa Marie Presley supported the singer when he was accused of child abuse and drug addiction. She later told Rolling Stone magazine that she was not proud of her relationship with Jackson, but she'd been in love with him and wanted to protect him.

Michael Jackson's second marriage was to Debbie Rowe. They had been friends for several years (she was his dermatologist's assistant) and got married in 1996. Rowe is the mother of two of his children (Paris and Prince Jackson). She would later reveal that they never slept together and that the children were conceived through donorship.

The couple divorced in 1999 and reached an agreement for Debbie Rowe to relinquish custody of her children. She could only visit them every 45 days. In addition, for the first three years of their separation, Rowe received a million dollars a year, a villa in Beverly Hills, and a car.

Following the death of Michael Jackson, Debbie Rowe said she regretted having been so absent in the lives of her children and decided to make up for a lost time.

Michael Jackson always wanted to be a father and was very protective of his children. He tried to hide their faces as much as possible from the media.

The eldest is Prince Michael Jackson I, the son of his marriage to Debbie Rowe. He was born in 1997.

Although he's remained far from the media, Prince participated in a few television programs to explain the altruistic nature of his father.

The second child of his marriage to Debbie Rowe is Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. She was born in 1998.

Paris is the best known of Michael Jackson's three children. She's an actress, model, and singer. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, she said that she went through a deep depression following the death of her father.

Following his divorce, Michael wanted to be a father again. Through a surrogate mother, he had Prince Michael Jackson II, better known as Blanket. The boy was born in 2002.

With little Blanket, he went through one of the most embarrassing situations of his career as a father. From the fifth floor of Berlin's Hotel Adlon, he greeted his fans from the balcony and introduced them to his nine-month-old baby. Hanging him over the barrier, he put Blanket's life in danger. "I made a terrible mistake," he later admitted to the BBC.

Blanket was a nickname the youngest Jackson got because he was often covered with a blanket to shield him from the paparazzi. The young man continues to be the least known of the Jackson siblings. Recently, he changed his name to Bigi, as he was tired of the name Blanket.

Michael Jackson's home and personal amusement park, Neverland, is an abode inspired by the land of Peter Pan. It has its own zoo and rides.

Allegations of child molestation arose during the summer of 1993 when Jackson's friend Evan Chandler filed a complaint against the singer for having inappropriate relations with his son Jordan, who was only 13 years old.

The case was resolved in January 1994, when Michael Jackson's attorney reached a settlement with Evan Chandler, reportedly paying him damages of between $14 million and $23 million.

After the first complaint, other children and their parents came forward with accusations of similar offenses. The courts opened an investigation into the Neverland ranch.

In 2002, Michael Jackson took part in Martin Bashir's documentary 'Living with Michael Jackson.' The film was controversial because it showed the singer with children in ways that were borderline inappropriate.

More accusations came in. That of Garvin Arvizo, who claimed to have consumed alcohol with the singer and then to have been abused, carried the most weight. The trial lasted until May 2005, and the singer was declared innocent. Yet, his health was seriously affected.

(Image: handout from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's office after Jackson had been booked for molestation in 2003. Via Getty Images)

News media alleged that Jackson may have been in a relationship with Macaulay Culkin, the actor of 'Home Alone' who was 22 years younger than him. Years later, Culkin denied any inappropriate conduct.

The actor affirmed that he had a good, friendly relationship with Jackson because both had bad experiences with their fathers. The singer supported him throughout the painful process, he said. Macaulay Culkin was such a good friend, in fact, that he is the godfather of Jackson's three children.

Michael Jackson had problems with substance abuse and admitted to them in public in 1993. At that time, the King of Pop had to cancel his 'Dangerous' tour to be hospitalized in a rehab center.

He was never able to overcome his addiction. Michael Jackson took painkillers and substances to make him look younger and persevere during exhausting tours and work days.

On June 27, 2009, Jackson died unexpectedly at the age of 50. He had suffered cardiac arrest.

An autopsy revealed that Michael Jackson had suffered an acute poisoning of propofol, an anesthetic injected by his personal physician (Dr. Conrad Murray) to combat his insomnia. The doctor would later reveal to have given him other sedatives as well, and Jackson himself would have added some more. Conrad Murray was arrested for the murder of Michael Jackson.

In 2011, Conrad Murray was sentenced to four years in prison for manslaughter. He also had to pay over $100 million in damages to Jackson's children. Murray was released in 2013, having served half of his sentence, but he can no longer practice his profession.

When Michael Jackson died, his mother was granted custody of his children. By now, they are all in their twenties. The children of the King of Pop carry on his legacy, each in their own way.