[berdie]

If you look back at most of the creative people in our life time...they are tortured souls. I used to think I wanted the creativity...to create music, art, dance or the ability to act. My musician brother assures me it ain't what it's cracked up to be. He envies my mediocrity and even keel...go figure.

Throw in the fact that Jackson was a performer all his life. The guy didn't have a clue who he really might have been.

Am I excusing anything he did or didn't do? No

That's all I have to say about MJ...and it's more than I ever expected to say.

[ArmstedFragg]

I spent almost my whole career in Hollywood. In general, your brother's right, the more talented the more tormented. Comedians are the worst.

[garbanzo]

f you look back at most of the creative people in our life time...they are tortured souls.

This is true for almost any era. It seems to be part of what it means to be truly creative. Take this definition of schizotypal personality disorder.

ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference)
odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g., superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or "sixth sense"; in children and adolescents, bizarre fantasies or preoccupations)
unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions
odd thinking and speech (e.g., vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate, or stereotyped)
suspiciousness or paranoid ideation
inappropriate or constricted affect
behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar
lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self

I think most of these could have been applied to Michael Jackson or a wide array of creative types.