Paris Jackson opens up on mental health struggles

The only daughter of King Of Pop Michael Jackson detailed her battle with body image issues and described turning to self harming as a way of coping.

During the latest episode of her Facebook Watch series, she said: “I was the only girl of four boys for the first 10, 11 years of my life. Because I was the only girl, my dad loved playing dress-up. I looked like a porcelain doll and I hated it.”

Following the death of her father in 2009, Paris started gaining weight while living with her grandmother, Katherine Jackson, and said she became addicted to food.

“Food became an addiction and then a cousin called me fat so I was like, ‘OK, I can’t do that anymore.’ And that’s how I fell into self-harm,” she said.

“I would cut and burn myself,” Paris added. “I never thought that I would die from it because I was always in control of the razor and I knew how deep I was going.”

The singer and model made the admission during the second episode of her docuseries with her boyfriend, titled Unfiltered: Paris Jackson & Gabriel Glenn.

She told how she was constantly looking for a “dopamine release,” which led to attempts on her own life.

She said: “There’s a lot of things that cause a dopamine release. Self-harm was one of them, tattoos was one of them and so there was that and then also it was a distraction from emotional pain and transferring to physical pain and the need for control.”

She added: “Yes, I tried to kill myself many times.”

Paris, whose mother is Debbie Rowe, was 11 when her father died.

Paris credits boyfriend and bandmate Gabriel Glenn with improving her mental health and now hopes to inspire others.

She said: “I still struggle to accept myself but that’s what I want to influence. I want to influence self-acceptance and courage and being comfortable in your own skin. I’m just working on content, trying to be content. Baby steps.”

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