Did Michael really weigh 120 pounds in the 80's?

analogue

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I've heard many times that in the 80's Michael's weight was at around 120 pounds, and that seems a bit
extreme to me. According to the BMI Michael would have been underweight for someone of his height, but he didn't look underweight to me. I think 135-140 pounds seems more realistic

Then again, he could have been 120 pounds and still have been perfectly healthy. Many people claim that the BMI can sometimes be full of shit lol
 
I think it's possible. My boyfriend at that time was taller and weighed 120 lbs. And he was all cheekbones, hip bones and wrist bones. :). But he didn't look like a skeleton because youth is on your side at that age.
I read the other day that Michael weighed 90 lbs during Thriller shoot. Now I doubt that one, although he was pretty thin.
 
Like I said before people have said that the BMI can be full of shit. Like how muscular guys like Arnold Schwarzenegger are considered obese, when in fact they are just really muscular. Maybe the same can be said about people the BMI claims to be underweight
 
My brother is around 130 pounds, but he is not underweight, just solid muscle and low body fat content.

I think it is possible that MJ was skinny (look his little bum in the Thriller video :giggle:) but not under weight. Didn't he say in one interview that he wanted dancer's body, which meant he was lean mean dancing machine:D
 
I think that Michael liked to be as slim as he could because it looked best visually when it came to his dancing
 
I'm 6'2 and 150 pounds. (I eat like a horse, high metabolism, I guess, lol) Definitely possible.

Not sure what Michael's height was then though...
 
Around the Thriller/Vicrory years, Michael looked pretty thin. It may be possible the 120 pounds and remember he had a vegetarian diet (not sure if it was vegan though) but I read a long time ago, doctors told him he had to eat at least white meat for the BAD Tour because he was losing a lot of weight during the concerts. I don't know if it's true though.
 
Around the Thriller/Vicrory years, Michael looked pretty thin. It may be possible the 120 pounds and remember he had a vegetarian diet (not sure if it was vegan though) but I read a long time ago, doctors told him he had to eat at least white meat for the BAD Tour because he was losing a lot of weight during the concerts. I don't know if it's true though.

He lost roughly 5 pounds a night on the BAD Tour, although that may not be the exact wait, it would make more sense than 20 pounds, which would have killed him after the first 4 nights.
 
He lost roughly 5 pounds a night on the BAD Tour, although that may not be the exact wait, it would make more sense than 20 pounds, which would have killed him after the first 4 nights.

I'm pretty sure the 4-5 pound a night weight loss was due to loss of water due to performing. It could be replenished relatively easily if he hydrated properly and hence wouldn't kill him.
 
I'm pretty sure the 4-5 pound a night weight loss was due to loss of water due to performing. It could be replenished relatively easily if he hydrated properly and hence wouldn't kill him.

I was talking about the 20 pounds a night rumor, that would have killed him.
 
He looked like he could have been about 120 pounds then! Naturally thin people can have a BMI that is a bit lower than the "healthy" range from time to time. He always appeared thin with a dancer's bod, but it seemed he became very thin when he was going through the most stressful times in his life. After seeing him bit underfed, I wish I could have given him some good meals and hugs :) It's very difficult for me to believe he was ever 90 pounds at his height. He never appeared emaciated to me IMO.
 
Yeah, 90 pds. seem highly unrealistic. I weight that myself but I'm just 5tt. If my clavicles, hip bones are prominent and my ribs noticeable, image how Michael would look like with that weight being taller than me.
 
1221-2subasset-michael-jackson-driverslicense-1.jpg

I think the 120 lbs comes from this driver's license-also his arrest one said 120 lbs but it put him at 6 feet tall (?). (Must have had some lifts in his shoes)
Also, the 90 lbs one came, I believe, from John Landis' wife, who said he was about 90 lbs during the Thriller shoot. He does look really thin in the rehearsals for that-but by 85, he was probably all muscle. Male dancers always look great when they are slender, taut and angular.
 
1221-2subasset-michael-jackson-driverslicense-1.jpg

I think the 120 lbs comes from this driver's license-also his arrest one said 120 lbs but it put him at 6 feet tall (?). (Must have had some lifts in his shoes)
Also, the 90 lbs one came, I believe, from John Landis' wife, who said he was about 90 lbs during the Thriller shoot. He does look really thin in the rehearsals for that-but by 85, he was probably all muscle. Male dancers always look great when they are slender, taut and angular.

I'm sorry but he is too geeked in this photo. Makes me giggle. Anyway, 120 seems thin on paper, but Michael looked healthy around the Bad era. Thriller era I think he could have used a little more meat though.
 
I think he probably weighed 120 or less during the Thriller era. He definitely had a little meat on him during the BAD era, and I'd guess he was around 130. He was always quite thin, though. It suited him :)
 
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