Paris Jackson’s foray into the high fashion world was no easy ascension, as evident by the second episode of her Facebook Watch series Unfiltered: Paris Jackson and Gabriel Glenn that premiered Tuesday (July 7).
She led viewers through her difficult self-love journey, from having her father Michael Jackson dress her up as “a porcelain doll” while growing up as the only girl out of four boys to falling into self-harm after gaining weight from an unrestricted diet at her grandmother’s house, where she lived after the King of Pop passed away in 2009.
“I’m really not like my family in many ways. You know, blond and light-colored eyes, very Aryan… I look like I came out of the a—crack of Finland,” Jackson said during the second episode titled “Trauma Partners?”. “I look completely different, I have a completely different style. And I kind of do stick out like a sore thumb. But they’ve never made me feel alienated because of that, which is good. Even though I’ve always felt like the black sheep, especially as I’ve gotten older, they’ve put in more of an effort to never make me feel excluded and to never make me feel like I’m too different.”
The 22-year-old singer once viewed modeling as a “superficial and stupid” industry to an artful practice, especially after making her boho couture runway debut in Jean-Paul Gaultier’s final fashion show in Paris that creative director Rushka Bergman and manager Tom Hamilton praised as a historical moment overall and specifically for her career. But once Jackson found her entry point into the modeling industry, she set out to join the resistance against Eurocentric beauty ideals happening within.
“It’s frustrating for me because I want to be part of the movement to broaden the beauty template, and I want to make it more inclusive and it doesn’t matter what size you are, what color you are, what background you have, what culture you’re a part of,” Jackson said during an interview segment. “I want to be part of the movement that broadens that, but it’s difficult when I fit into the stereotypical original standard template of it.”
Hamilton described her confident catwalk moment that moved him to tears as a “win” for Jackson’s team after being with her during her lowest moments. He said he started representing the young star after he came to her defense during an uncomfortable magazine photoshoot when Jackson was 18 and a stylist dressed her in a bra, underwear, fishnet tights and high heels.
“When I first got into the fashion world, I didn’t understand that I couldn’t be myself all the time. And I still struggle to accept myself. But that’s what I want to influence: I want to influence self-acceptance and courage and being comfortable in your own skin,” she said. “I’m just working on content, trying to just be content. Baby steps. Self-love is f—ing hard.”
Watch the “Trauma Partners?” episode of Unfiltered below.
