Was Michael lucky with the Vitiligo?

[Kane]

I know this might seem like an odd thing to say but I think Michael was lucky with the way his Vitiligo turned out. I know it was incredibly hard for him especially with all the rumours but I've seen other sufferers and they're just patchy everywhere and I'm just thinking that Michael was quite fortunate for it to have spread and not gone 'blotchy' like it can. Anybody else think the same?

 

[Thrilled]

Um, no, not really. I personally think it caused him a lot of pain and self-consciousness; coupled with the public pressure to be a great-looking star and the tabloids looking for anything to tear him down...Wow, it's just really hard to imagine what he must have gone through, and I can certainly understand the efforts he made to make himself appear what the public would consider more attractive. I would hardly call his ordeal with vitiligo "lucky." It's clear it caused him pain, and all the ignorant stuff people spouted about his color throughout the years just added to that. Listen to what he says about it.

 

[BruceWayne]

"Funny" that you should mention this because I just watched the Oprah interview for the 48238917258th time and this is what Michael said:

"I can't control it, I don't understand, it makes me very sad"

And Michael had blotches but evened it out with make up.

I can only imagine what Michael went through.
When your hairline is receding as man, it messes you up mentally because it's the force of nature is doing something against your own will.
So I can only imagine what losing your skin color does to you, especially when you're in the public eye.
Man, going back and front with the make up half of his life must have been stressful.
I don't know if I could've take it.

I often wish that Michael wouldn't had used make up just to be like "hey this is who I am, get used to it"

 

[Thrilled]

"Funny" that you should mention this because I just watched the Oprah interview for the 48238917258th time and this is what Michael said:

"I can't control it, I don't understand, it makes me very sad"

And Michael had blotches but evened it out with make up.

I can only imagine what Michael went through.
When your hairline is receding as man, it messes you up mentally because it's the force of nature is doing something against your own will.
So I can only imagine what losing your skin color does to you, especially when you're in the public eye.
Man, going back and front with the make up half of his life must have been stressful.
I don't know if I could've take it.

I often wish that Michael wouldn't had used make up just to be like "hey this is who I am, get used to it"

That last sentence...man, I sometimes wonder what that would have been like, too. I have seen his "blotches," as have all of us who have carefully watched ANY videos of him (including early ones like The Making of Thriller). Honestly, I noticed this back in the mid 80s, when I was just a child (I didn't really notice his race, just that his skin didn't always match), so I know that there was something going on with his skin LONG, long ago, way before I read any rumors. He was so popular at that point, I too sometimes wonder whether if he wouldn't have tried to hide it so much, that maybe it wouldn't have been such a problem for him. On the other hand, that was private and he didn't feel comfortable sharing his medical problems, so I respect him for that. It really wasn't anyone else's business. Still, that, combined with his self-consciousness about his acne as a teen and his nose...I don't blame him at all. I just wish we (meaning the public generally) could have made it better for him, and accepted him for who he was and quit nitpicking him.

 

[kes1984]

Vitiligo is a terrible thing. My Grandmother has it and she never ever shows her arms because she is just too embarassed.

I can only imagine how much worse it was for Michael when it started appearing with the pressure to look perfect. All the treatments and long make up sessions he would have had to endure to have an even skin tone.

He also had to avoid sunlight which I think is terribly sad too.

 

[Wingfoot]

I know this might seem like an odd thing to say but I think Michael was lucky with the way his Vitiligo turned out. I know it was incredibly hard for him especially with all the rumours but I've seen other sufferers and they're just patchy everywhere and I'm just thinking that Michael was quite fortunate for it to have spread and not gone 'blotchy' like it can. Anybody else think the same?

Vitiligo was obviously something very hard for Michael to go through, and you can't consider someone lucky for having any form of it, but I understand what you're saying. He was lucky that instead of having very visible patches everywhere, his spread to the point that it was easy to cover with makeup. Either way, it was still sad that it had to happen. But celebrities, even very talented ones, aren't perfect. We're all humans, and diseases and health problems affect us all, despite our fame or lack of.

 

[AmberR]

Thank you guys for all of your supportive and thoughtful comments. Appreciate it...MJ was the chosen one, even though Vitiligo runs in their family, no one in his family had it. He was the most famous man and always in the spotlight. He went through hell besides other things that he was forced to deal with. Too sad.

 

[pauline]

Vitiligo is a terrible thing. And its cause so many rumors, the rumors cos Michael so pain and so hard...If Michael didn't has Vitiligo, i think he will be more better, at least the media can't say more about it, right????

 

[Kane]

Vitiligo is a terrible thing. And its cause so many rumors, the rumors cos Michael so pain and so hard...If Michael didn't has Vitiligo, i think he will be more better, at least the media can't say more about it, right????

I'd like to think that but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

 

[Kane]

Vitiligo was obviously something very hard for Michael to go through, and you can't consider someone lucky for having any form of it, but I understand what you're saying. He was lucky that instead of having very visible patches everywhere, his spread to the point that it was easy to cover with makeup. Either way, it was still sad that it had to happen. But celebrities, even very talented ones, aren't perfect. We're all humans, and diseases and health problems affect us all, despite our fame or lack of.

Yeah, that's what I meant. I think I worded it a little wrong.

 

[thrillerchild]

I can never dream to think what it was like him having his skin change colour. The only relation I can have to him is my problems with Psoriasis.

I've actually seen a video on YouTube that has been made of videos, stills and close ups of Michaels skin showing the blotches.