Paris Jackson unmasked

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Michael Jackson's daughter has opened up about life with the eccentric King of Pop.

Paris, whose face was hidden by a mask for nearly a decade, appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show to give her first solo interview.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the first topic on the 13-year-old's agenda was the disguises Michael forced her and her brothers Prince Michael I and Prince Michael II (affectionately known as 'Blanket') to wear to protect them from the paparazzi's cameras.

In pictures: Child stars all grown up

Paris said wearing masks in public made her feel "stupid" but said she understood why her father went to such lengths to protect their privacy.

"I'm like, 'This is stupid, why am I wearing a mask?' " Paris told Ellen. "But I kind of realised the older I got, he only tried to protect us and he'd explain that to us too.

Despite Michael's frequent explanations, Paris says she didn't realise the method in her father's mask madness until after his death.

Paris was home-schooled for most of her life, but started attending The Buckley School in New York City after Michael's death in 2009.

Even though her father was one of the most famous people on the planet, no one at the school recognised Paris or her siblings, allowing her to have a normal life for the first time.

"I do have a regular childhood," Paris said. "I mean, I'm treated the same. When I came to (my new school) they didn't know who I was. I was like, 'Yes, I have a chance to be normal!'"

Paris is now preparing to cast that anonymity aside, landing a role in a new film series.

She will star in a big screen adaptation of Dennis H. Christen's Lundon's Bridge and The Three Keys series of fantasy novels.

Paris told Ellen she decided to become an actress after watching her father's performance in 1988 fantasy film Moonwalker.

"My dad was in the movie Moonwalker and I knew he could sing really well but I didn't know he could act," Paris said.

"I saw that and I said, 'Wow, I want to be just like him.' We would do improvisation together. He would give us little scenarios. He would say, 'OK, in this scene, you're going to cry,' and I would cry on the spot."

In pictures: The best dresses of 2011

Prince Michael I, 14, and Paris, 13, are the children of Michael and his former wife Debbie Rowe. Blanket, nine, is the child of an unknown woman.

Your say: Do you think Michael Jackson was right to hide his children behind masks?

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