When young Paris Jackson’s father, Michael Jackson, died, she didn’t have much of a choice in what happened to her, she told Willow Smith in a June episode of “Red Table Talk” (per LADbible). “I was so young that I wasn’t conscious of ‘I’ve gotta keep going,'” the actor told Smith. “I was just going through the motions and didn’t really understand what was happening, and so I just went with what I was told to do.”
Doing what she was told to do meant moving in with her grandparents, Katherine Jackson and the late Joe Jackson. Paris stated that her internal process involved accepting that she had to live with her grandparents and attend a traditional school instead of being homeschooled as she was previously. She said the reason she went along with what was expected of her was because she “didn’t really have much guidance.”
During the years after her father’s death, Paris experienced debilitating depression and a drug addiction. According to the Los Angeles Times, the family matriarch said her granddaughter “had the hardest time” following the “Beat It” singer’s death while speaking from the witness stand during lawsuit proceedings. Katherine reported that Paris eventually needed medical support for several suicide attempts because she “wanted to go where Daddy was.” Her son’s death was incredibly painful for her as well. “That’s the worst thing that could happen to a person, losing a child,” she said.
