Dressed like a ‘porcelain doll’ by dad Michael & sex assault at 14…how Paris Jackson’s past led to horror heroin battle

SAT on her father’s knee in a pretty white dress and with a bow in her hair, Paris Jackson was presented to the world as the King of Pop’s perfect daughter.

But the pressure of growing up in Michael Jackson’s fairytale Neverland led to a nightmare of drugs and suicide attempts for the 26-year-old model and singer.

This week Paris described herself as “an alcoholic and a heroin addict” as she celebrated kicking those two devastating habits five years ago.

It is perhaps hardly surprising that the only daughter of Michael would have developed such dangerous dependencies, given that she was raised almost solely by a man who was hooked on pain killers.

At the age of 11 in 2009, Paris then had to deal with the trauma of her dad’s sudden death from those prescribed substances and a bitter struggle among his family for control of his vast fortune.

On top of that she didn’t meet her mum Debbie Rowe until two years later, with Michael having taken custody in what was widely reported to have been a financial agreement.

She also faced being sexually assaulted by a stranger aged 14, studying at an “abusive” school and being told she was “fat” by a relative.

Somehow, though, Paris has managed to turn her life around, getting engaged and forging her own career as a rock singer.

On her Instagram page this week, she wrote: “Today marks five years clean and sober from all drugs and alcohol. 

“To say that I’m thankful would be a poor euphemism. Gratitude hardly scratches the surface. It’s because I’m sober that I get to smile today.”

Unstable start

Even before she was conceived, Paris stood no chance of being brought up in a stable environment.

Her mum Debbie had got to know Michael while working as his nurse and suggested giving him kids when he feared ending up childless following the end of his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley.

They had two children together, Prince, 27, and Paris after getting married in November 1996.

But when they got divorced after just four years of marriage, Debbie agreed to Michael having sole custody of their offspring, receiving over £6million in the settlement.

A third child, Prince II, now known as Bigi, 21, arrived via a surrogate mother in 2002.

All three kids were beset by rumours that Michael was not their biological father and Oliver! actor Mark Lester was even suggested to have sired Paris.

But she always insists the black pop singer is her real dad.

Paris grew up in Michael’s Californian Neverland ranch, surrounded by zoo animals, fairground rides and her dad’s showbiz pals.

But she says that her dad made them go to “school every day” and could only go on the rides if they had been “good.”

Porcelain doll

Her father had a contradictory attitude to his children’s privacy.

Michael would pose for glossy magazine photoshoots with Paris, but also make her wear a mask when they went out in public.

It wasn’t something his daughter enjoyed, with her revealing: "I was the only girl of four boys for the first ten, 11 years of my life.

"Because I was the only girl, my dad loved playing dress-up. I looked like a porcelain doll and I hated it."

Paris rebelled against the picture perfect image by eating lots of food and that was frowned upon in the Jackson household.

She once recalled: "Food became an addiction and then a cousin called me fat so I was like, 'OK, I can't do that anymore.'

"And that's how I fell into self-harm."

'Good heart'

In the background there was also the stress of the trial Michael faced in 2005 for alleged child sexual abuse, which he was cleared by a jury.

Paris does not believe claims that her “good hearted" father molested children.

She told Rolling Stone magazine in 2017: "Nobody experienced him being a father to them.

"And if they did, the entire perception of him would be completely and forever changed."

Following her dad’s death, at the age of just 50, she was placed in the custody of her grandmother Katherine, 94.

Wild child

She shared a sprawling compound in Encino, California with her uncle Jermaine Jackson’s children and did not follow the rules of her strict Jehovah’s Witness gran.

Paris said "I was doing a lot of things that 13, 14, 15-year-olds shouldn't do. I tried to grow up too fast and I wasn't really that nice of a person.'”

She hung out with “older crazy people”, got a lot of tattoos and took drugs as a teenager.

When she was just 14 a “stranger” sexually assaulted Paris.

She’s given few details of the attack, but said “It was really hard for me, and, at the time, I didn't tell anybody.”

The family tried to straighten Paris out by sending her to a “reform school” in Utah, but instead she allegedly suffered abuse at the brutal Diamond Ranch Academy.

Paris said she was “diagnosed with PTSD” following her two years there.

All of those issues conspired to wreck her mental health,

Paris said she has tried to take her own life "multiple times", going as far back as when she was 15.

Jacko’s daughter said: “It was just self-hatred, low self-esteem, thinking that I couldn’t do anything right, not thinking I was worthy of living anymore.”

Paris - who got an alien tattooed on her breast when she was 18 and now has 80 inkins - told how body art helped her recover from a darker time in her life. 

“I can look at my inner forearms and see art that has meaning for me, I don't see a dark past anymore,” she explained.

“My scars and past of self-hatred have been covered by loving marks, creativity, ingenuity and depth.

“I see ink as a way of changing for the better, always improving. they represent strength for me.”

Alongside the message posted on Instagram on Tuesday night, Paris included clips of her wild youth, smoking and drinking alcohol straight from a bottle.

In 2019 she finally got help for her addictions, by going into a rehab, but it still took time to truly get clean.

Therapy and the support of her friends has helped her.

Now, she has a much healthier perspective on life, saying: “I get to make music. I get to experience the joy of loving my dogs and cat. 

“I get to feel heartbreak in all its glory. I get to grieve. I get to laugh. I get to dance. I get to trust. I feel the sun on my skin and it’s warm. 

“I’ve found that life keeps happening regardless of whether I’m sober or not, but today I get to show up for it.”

'Whirlwind' romance

Part of her new found positivity could be down to having got engaged to fellow musician Justin Long.

She had quite a tangled love before, describing herself as “gay” after dating both women as well as men.

In 2017 she was romantically linked to British supermodel Cara Delevingne when they spotted kissing and holding hands. 

Paris said: "I say I'm gay, because I guess I am, but I wouldn't consider myself bisexual because I've dated more than just men and women.

“I've dated a man that had a vagina. So it has nothing to do with what's in your pants.”

She also seems to have a thing with rockers, having gone out with former bandmate Gabriel Glenn for two years.

The break-up with Gabriel was hard on the singer, with her claiming in the TV show Red Table Talk: “It was the deepest I ever loved someone, it was the most intense I've felt so far and the most intense betrayal I felt so far and experienced.”

Justin, a music producer who has worked with Paris and started dating her in 2022, proposed last year.

Alongside a photo of Justin going down on bended knee, she wrote on Instagram last month: "Doing life with you these last years has been an indescribable whirlwind and I couldn't dream of anyone more perfect for me to do it all with. 

“Thank you for letting me be yours. I love you."