Michael Jackson’s brother Marlon has revealed that the late star would deploy a plethora of unusual disguises to avoid being recognised in public.
The pop icon even dressed as a homeless man according to Marlon, who said that superstardom made it impossible for Jackson to lead a public life.
He told The Guardian: “Michael had painted himself into a box. And it was difficult for him. Very difficult for him. It’s mind-boggling. If Michael just stepped outside, in a couple of seconds people would stop doing what they are doing. That’s why he started wearing disguises.”
Opening up on the time he spotted Michael in a record store, he said: “I walked up behind him and whispered in his ear: ‘Michael, what you doing here?’
“He was dressed as a bum. His clothes were dirty, he had bucked teeth, he had an afro, his shoes were dirty, his shirt was torn, but he’s buying all these excellent records.
“I said to him: ‘Another thing gave you away, Michael, you wear the same shoes all the time!’ They were the same loafers he wore on stage.”
The Jackson brothers also opened up in their Guardian interview on Jackson’s death aged 50 in 2009 from cardiac arrest after a drug overdose.
“Every time I go into Vegas on the bus I see Michael next to me,” Jackie Jackson recalled. “His whole face is parked next to me on a billboard. I stop at a light and I say: ‘What’s going on, brother?’”
Their recollections come after Michael’s daughter Paris recently opened up about the time she spent with her late father during childhood.
“My dad was really good about making sure we were cultured, making sure we were educated and not just showing us, like, the glitz and glam — like hotel-hopping, five-star places,” she said.
Jackson’s Neverland Ranch was also sold last year for $22 million (£16.4 million).
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