Michael Jackson made his kids wear masks and veils in public because he wanted them to have their own lives without him, according to his eldest son.
In a rare interview with the Los Angeles Times, 19-year-old Prince Michael opens up about life as the King of Pop's son, revealing he and his siblings didn't think the face coverings their dad made them wear were weird.
"My dad spoke to me like an adult," he says. "He told us the reason for the masks was he wanted us to have our own life without him."
And Jacko followed that up by telling his kids not to trust anyone.
"It sounds bad, but... a lot of people are motivated by themselves," he recalls. "He said, 'Don't trust someone just because it sounds like a good idea - do your research. There are a lot of people who want to interact with (me and my siblings) just because of who we are."
Prince Michael also used the Times chat to defend his dad against the child sex abuse allegations that clouded his legacy, insisting they were all part of extortion attempts that he's still dealing with.
"After he died, we got bombarded with (everything)," the teen explains. "It was a shock. It all came at once. We learned how to deal with it by just kind of ignoring it."
Confessing he still misses his dad, Prince Michael also recalls the moment he realised he was the son of the King of Pop: "I don't think I ever thought about if other kids lived like that when I was younger, but once I knew who he was, I realised it wasn't normal," he adds.
"I remember being in Disneyland and I went to the window and there were all these fans waving and taking pictures of me. I thought it was normal, so I just waved back. It wasn't until I saw a video of him performing and people were fainting and passing out, when I realised the work he did meant a lot to people."
