Paris Jackson has said she doesn’t want to be “performative” by paying tribute to her late father, Michael, online, saying it’s “no one’s business”.
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The model, actor and singer, 28, is the second child of the late King Of Pop and his second wife, Debbie Rowe. Paris was just 11 years old when Michael died from a cardiac arrest in 2009, aged 50.
She has opened up about grief, music and growing up in the spotlight on the latest episode of Jack Osbourne’s Trying Not to Die podcast, where the pair discussed the impact of losing their fathers.
At one point in the conversation, Jack – whose father Ozzy died last July, aged 76 – asked Paris if she’d ever struggled with deciding how public or private she wanted her adult life to be.
“There’s definitely a certain element where I felt I had to share everything, and I felt like I owed it to people, because I do believe that is the impression I was given of like, ‘You owe this to us’,” she replied.
Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris Jackson, opens up about no longer being performative online to please the public over how she should honor her Dad and says she now keeps that relationship private 😮👀
Ozzy Osbourne’s son, Jack, agreed with her and explained that fans don’t… pic.twitter.com/fn2UDg16BL
— Killa 🌺 (@KillaKreww) May 26, 2026
She went on to say that this outlook had “drastically changed in the last few years, because I don’t really feel like any of us owe anyone anything”.
“The way I express myself now, I don’t want it to feel performative,” Paris continued.
“I won’t get too into it, but just the one main example that’s coming to mind is this idea of: you need to go on social media on your dad’s birthday or his death day or Father’s Day, and you need to post.
“And you need to basically mimic how a fan would express their love. But for me, I had a personal relationship, not a parasocial relationship.”
She added: “I’m now learning like, ‘Oh, I can have my own personal relationship and I’m allowed to be private about it’. And now, my relationship is the most beautiful relationship ever. I’m in a very beautiful spot with my dad, and I love that, and it’s no one’s business. I don’t have to share that with anybody.”
Paris told Jack that there was “a lot of freedom” with this mindset, saying it was “really cool”. She said: “I’m not gonna express my love in a copycat way, copying someone that didn’t know him. Because I did – that was my best friend.”
Jack then shared his thoughts on the topic, reflecting on the huge outpouring of tributes to Ozzy last summer, when thousands of fans lined the streets for his funeral procession in Birmingham. “When my dad passed, I had this realisation that out of all the people that he’d met […], there were only five people on the planet that had the relationship that I had with him,” he explained. “And it’s me and my siblings.
“That really hit me and I was like, ‘Wow’. That is really… it’s unique. And people can’t understand that, unless they reflect on their own relationship with their parent – which I think a lot of people don’t.”
He went on: “They’re looking at someone who they admire, or [they’re] a fan of, whatever. It’s a hard thing to separate – like, ‘Oh, wait. I wonder what that relationship was like’.
“I often get the [question], ‘What was it like to have Ozzy as your dad?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know what it’s like not to. It’s just my dad’.” Paris responded: “I think that’s the silliest question in the world. I think it’s the silliest question.” Jack said: “He took me to school, he taught me things, and did what dads do.”
Paris Jackson shared a new single, ‘Teenage Drama’, last Friday (May 22). She previously released the song ‘Zombies In Love’ in March, with co-writing and production from Linda Perry.
She is yet to follow up on her 2020 debut album ‘Wilted’, but dropped ‘The Lost EP’ in 2022, and the singles ‘Bandaid’ and ‘Hit Your Knees’ the following year.
Earlier this month, Paris secured a major win in her legal battle regarding her late father’s finances, and it was ruled that $625,000 would be returned to the estate. A spokesperson for Paris stated that she had “always been focused on what’s best for her family” and described the judge’s decision as a “massive win for them”.
Meanwhile, Paris has said she has had “zero per cent involvement” with the recent biopic of her father, titled Michael. Despite this, Colman Domingo, who plays Jacko’s father Joe in the film, claimed that Paris and her brother Prince were “very much in support” of the project. This prompted Paris to hit back, saying things had got “twisted”.
Paris celebrated six years of sobriety in January, and told others struggling with mental health battles that they were “not alone”.
