Personal Life Scrutinized
In the years following the release of Thriller, Jackson found himself subject to the isolation that artists in the top echelon of fame inevitably experience. A devout Jehovah's Witness, he adopted a disguise and went door to door to promote the religion shortly after the album was released. But the pressures of stardom eventually made it impractical for him to continue his religious activities, and he renounced his membership in the sect in 1987 after his video "Thriller" was condemned by the group. A public perception of Jackson as a curious recluse began to take shape about this time. He was a constant subject of stories in the nation's tabloid press. Some-such as the story that he slept in a levitating "hyperbaric chamber" for the purpose of extending his life span-were planted by Jackson's own operatives as a way of garnering publicity. Jackson's skin seemed to become progressively lighter, leading to rumors that he was bleaching his skin in order to appear white.

Jackson countered this rumor in a February 1993 interview with television talk show host Oprah Winfrey, claiming that he suffered from vitiligo, a skin disease. But public unease with the star increased markedly as a result of much more serious allegations that surfaced in August of that year. Jackson was accused of sexually molesting a thirteen-year-old boy at his Encino, California, compound, called Neverland. The singer had long enjoyed surrounding himself with children; in September, his sister La Toya claimed that he had sometimes spent nights together with them in his bedroom. Jackson strongly denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that he was the victim of an extortion plot on the part of the father of the thirteen-year-old. The case was settled privately for an undisclosed sum in January of 1994, and charges were dropped, but it cost Jackson a lucrative endorsement contract with Pepsi-Cola. He has continued to deny the charges.

Jackson's musical successes since the time of these allegations have been sporadic, but his personal life continued to provide surprises. In August of 1994 it was revealed that Jackson had married Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of legendary rock and roll innovator and pop megastar Elvis Presley, ten weeks earlier in a ceremony in the Dominican Republic. The couple was amicably divorced in January of 1996; in November of that year, Jackson married Debbie Rowe, a nurse who had reportedly been artificially inseminated and was pregnant with the singer's child. A son, Prince Michael Jackson Jr., was born in early 1997, and the couple was graced with the birth of a daughter, Paris Michael Katherine, in April of 1998. The couple divorced in 1999, with Jackson receiving full custody of the children in the settlement. Jackson soon added another son, Prince Michael II, with an unknown woman.

Jackson's public outings with his children were eagerly followed by the press. Jackson covered his children's heads with cloth in public as a precaution against kidnapping, according to Jet. In 2002 Jackson brought on public scorn for holding his infant son over the edge of a fourth-floor balcony to show fans. Soon after, Jackson released a statement saying "I made a terrible mistake. I got caught up in the excitement of the moment. I would never intentionally endanger the lives of my children," as quoted in Jet.