In 2003, during an interview with journalist Martin Bashir for the documentary Living with Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson spoke again about the surgeries that had fueled rumors about his appearance for years.
“I haven’t had any plastic surgery on my face. Only on my nose. It helped me breathe better so I could reach higher notes”, he explained. When Bashir asked him how many times he had undergone surgery, the singer replied: “Two”, and added: “As far as I can remember”.
The subject remained with him for much of his career. A 2019 ICON article in El País recalls that Jackson had said in his 1988 autobiography Moonwalk that he had had his nose altered twice and had also had a cleft made in his chin.
His appearance was the subject of speculation for decades, but behind that media fascination was also a personal story: according to the article, his father used to make fun of his nose when he was a child, something that may have shaped his relationship with his image.