RIP King of Pop

Sad news about Michael Jackson today...

I've been thinking a bit about him and his story today, and really... is there a sadder story from the celebrity world than MJ? I mean, I know lots of people have died much younger and in more tragic ways than Michael Jackson, but something about his story just really saddens me. From a terrible childhood of abuse, instant and overwhelming stardom, obvious mental issues with his body image, his anorexia, his health problems (lupus and that weird skin disease), the outlandish marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, and of course the charges of pedophelia... all of that combined with incredible talent. It's just a really, really fascinating and tragic story.

I know he made lots of mistakes in his life and completely inexcusable ones at that (assuming the allegations are true), but... was there ever a person more ill-equiped to deal with massive stardom than Michael Jackson? And how much did ceaseless tabloid reporting contribute to his problems?

I hope that an honest and in-depth documentary is made about his life, because I truly think it's such a cautionary tale about the dangers of childhood abuse and childhood stardom while also a tremendously interesting character study of an extremely fragile person with scars that ran very, very deep.

Sorry... don't mean to be a big downer, but I guess I can't help it when I think about MJ.

Here's something to lighten things up! (Sorry, embedding disabled, but if you click on it you get to see MJ in a music video with the other MJ!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL_NzaDv4yY

I kind of figured that guy wasn't going to make it into old age.