Prince Michael Jackson

Prince Michael Jackson was an American producer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who used his position as the scion of pop royalty to lift up both other musicians and those less fortunate. Born Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr. in Beverly Hills, CA, Prince was the first child of Michael Jackson, the self-proclaimed King of Pop. A year later, Jackson and his then-wife, Debbie Rowe, a dermatology nurse and mother to Prince, had a second child, daughter Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. Jackson and Rowe divorced amicably the next year, with Jackson receiving full custody of the children. Prince recalled his childhood as a happy one, and that he and his sister were very close with his father. He would also say he was mostly immune to all of the paparazzi attention his family commanded, and enjoyed the anonymity he would be able to cling to later in life thanks to his father putting him and his sister in masks whenever they left the house. In 2002, Jackson's third child, Prince Michael Jackson II, aka "Blanket," was born (his mother has never been revealed). However, Jackson was unable to avoid the controversy he had avoided with Prince and Paris when he dangled Blanket out of a hotel window, shocking and horrifying the public. Things went downhill from there: Jackson was the subject of a 2002 documentary by British documentarian Martin Bashir, which rekindled whispers of Jackson's inappropriate relationships with children. One such boy who appeared in the documentary went on to accuse Jackson of inappropriate conduct, and in November of 2003, Jackson was arrested and charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent. The trial was a media circus that lasted for nearly six months, ending with Jackson being acquitted on all counts on June 13, 2005. Following the acquittal, Jackson and the children went into hiding, selling their palatial property known as Neverland Ranch, and spending the next few years in Saudi Arabia and the UK. In 2009, Jackson and his children returned to Los Angeles so that Jackson could rehearse for what was billed as his final performances at London's O2 arena, set to take place between July 2009 and March 2010. On June 25, 2009, Jackson suffered cardiac arrest due to an accidental drug overdose, stemming from medications provided for sleep by his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray. Jackson was rushed to UCLA Medical Center, but was pronounced dead later that afternoon. Jackson was 50 years old. The world was shocked and dismayed by Jackson's sudden passing, and during his funeral, Prince, who was 12 years old at the time, and his siblings made one of their first public statements, offering a heartbreaking eulogy to their father. Custody of Prince and his siblings went to Jackson's mother, Katherine. Prince would later recall these as the darkest years of his life; his sister Paris took Jackson's death especially hard, turning to substance abuse and even attempting suicide. Prince, meanwhile, focused on academics, enrolling in high school at the prestigious Buckley School in Beverly Hills. He also went in front of the camera for "Entertainment Tonight" (CBS, 1981-) at age 16, acting as a special correspondent during the premiere of "Oz: The Great and Powerful" (2013). Two years later, after graduating from the Buckley School, Prince decided to study business at Loyola Marymount College. While there, he founded his own production company, King's Son Productions, producing music videos for artists such as Omer "O-Bee" Bhatti and the Sco Triplets. Prince also followed in his father's footsteps as a philanthropist, founding Heal Los Angeles, a charity that helps foster children who have aged out of the system.