Michael Jackson Explains His Face In Lost Interview

In a recently unearthed interview, Michael Jackson admits that a teenage bout of acne opened up a well of self-loathing in him that left him hating the way he looked forever. In an early-'80s interview that has just come to light, he said: "My skin broke out real bad. It was tough--especially after everyone had been calling me cute for such a long time. And the more I worried about it, the worse I got. "I wore hats, I kept my head down all the time, I wouldn't look at people when I talked to them. I wouldn't say nothin' hardly. It was terrible. I felt I didn't have anything to be proud of. My success meant nothing. "Onstage I didn't think about it, it was gone. But when I came offstage, there it was again." It led him to undergo plastic surgery. Although he only ever admitted to going under the knife twice, he added: "I'm a perfectionist when it comes to skin. I would look in the mirror and I didn't like they way I looked, so...of course, never print this. Please don't... "But take Marilyn Monroe, and all those people. They got the works. Julie Andrews, Raquel Welch. Even Elvis. You look at his nose and the difference....it's true. But nobody ever mentions it." But even then, Michael Jackson realized that no amount of surgery could get rid of the psychological damage he felt had already been done. "You can clear up physically but still mentally you're scarred--so you really haven't improved."