Was Michael Jackson Autistic?

[Moviefan2k4]

OK, a quick disclaimer here: I am not talking about the extreme cases like cerebral palsy; we all know he wasn't a victim of that. But I have Asperger's Syndrome, and I've been thinking that Michael may have had that or something similar, judging by his attitudes and habits. The chronic insomnia, "tunnel vision" regarding his music, extreme perfectionism...all of these can be traits of a higher-functioning condition such as Asperger's. So, I'm just throwing it out there - what do you all think?

 

[Mikky Dee]

OK, a quick disclaimer here: I am not talking about the extreme cases like cerebral palsy; we all know he wasn't a victim of that. But I have Asperger's Syndrome, and I've been thinking that Michael may have had that or something similar, judging by his attitudes and habits. The chronic insomnia, "tunnel vision" regarding his music, extreme perfectionism...all of these can be traits of a higher-functioning condition such as Asperger's. So, I'm just throwing it out there - what do you all think?

I work with high school students who have disabilities and disorders; many of them have been diagnosed with ASD, as part of their overall makeup. I have felt for a long time that Michael may have been somewhere on the spectrum, for some of the reasons that you mention here. Unfortunately, every time I have wanted to talk about it and explain why I think it's possible and support it with my background knowledge, experience and training in this area, people have been "offended" by it (on behalf of Michael, I suppose) and have tried to shoot me down.....accusing me of wanting to "label" him, etc.

There is still a certain amount of stigma attached to the concept of autism....people on the spectrum are misunderstood and misjudged and that attitude needs to end.

Thank you for raising this question. It'll be interesting to see how the discussion plays out, over time. Let's hope there is respect and understanding, as well as clarity.

 

[Rocketeer]

What?

 

[NatureCriminal7896]

You are not the only one who thinks this. there are fans who thinks he was. chances are he probably was and never got diagnose for it. it wouldn't make him any different he was. because he already had vitiligo and lupus. though. it could been just his bad childhood, the media, and being a superstar. we will never know for sure because one he not with us anymore and never got diagnose. two we really shouldn't diagnose anyone with anything because we are not doctors. there's really no way we can diagnose Michael only by his actions. but like i said we are not doctors. chances are Michael probably was. but remember this different time. these type of diagnoses wasn't really talk about until the early 90's. many people in the past was autistic and didn't know until later in their life. thank god nowadays more and more people are getting tested for it. but i think it cool is that even if people was autistic during those times they didn't know and half them lend to very successful lives.

so if Michael was autistic that's really neat. goes to show you Michael was very beautiful person on this earth and why his legacy most definitely needs to be recognize more. i have a little cousin who is mildly autistic and he can read and in the 5 grade now. he shy at sometimes. doctors said he may grow out of it but they not sure yet. he wrote a poem to our grandmother that pass away 9 months ago at her funeral out loud. (bless her and him.)

if Michael was autistic i will also find i really neat that my mother loves someone who had all of these and love him very much. that really goes to show you that you can fall in love with someone with or out conditions at all. i find that very adorable and very very cool. it's the person personally that matters.

it gonna end this by saying once again we can't not diagnose Michael because we not doctors and he not with us anymore. BUT the world is always changing chances doctors MAY can diagnose him and other famous people who was on this earth (or still alive.)

 

[NatureCriminal7896]

I may a thread like this before and got a lot of hate. it really goes to show you fan really only like Michael for only his looks and talent. really goes to show you how socially really is. i'm glad this things are being think about more rather people like it or not because conditions exists and none of us safe form them even superstars.

https://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/...er-with-any-mental-disorders?highlight=mental

i wonder would people still like Michael if he was would fans like him. it's really make mother and me mad that people also hated on him saying he didn't wanna be black just because his disease vitiligo :angry:

like really people? this things with diseases has got to stop this is not 50's,60's 70's 80's and 90's anymore. we all either catch something or live with something. what buttholes. i know if Michael was alive he would very disappointed of his fans because he had a disease and help sick people and kids and everything. sickos.

 

[NatureCriminal7896]

i notice all the comments saying he did share a lot of the traits. so we don't know for sure because we are not doctors but it possible he probably did and never got diagnose for it.

 

[anotherpartof MJ]

I think he was. That is not bad, it's a special kind of human being. ???

 

[mj_frenzy]

There is no evidence at all that supports that Michael Jackson had the Asperger syndrome, or, that he was autistic in general.

There have been only speculations from some people who believe that.

Besides, Michael Jackson was never diagnosed with the Asperger syndrome, or, with autism.

About the Asperger syndrome specifically, one of the very common symptoms of that syndrome is awkwardness in social interactions, and Michael Jackson did not exhibit such a symptom in his social life (on the contrary, his social perception was remarkably good).

Another very common symptom of the Asperger syndrome is the sole pursuit of a narrow topic of interest.

But Michael Jackson’s topics of interest even since he was a child/teenager were not narrow, but numerous and very broad (music, films, business ventures, etc).

Also, an extreme perfectionism is not necessarily related to the Asperger syndrome.

Michael Jackson did not also suffer from speech incoherence, which is another very typical symptom of that syndrome.

Some people believe that he had that syndrome mainly because of his apparent social shyness, but his ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley has already clarified that by revealing that his apparent social shyness was a deliberate act on his part rather than a result of a mental condition.

 

[NatureCriminal7896]

how do you know? you no doctor frenzy. actually none of us are. so none of us really can't say.

 

[Thriller_MJ]

I'm undecided if Michael had autism. I am an autistic adult and i can't really see any traits of it in Michael. I think he is a classic case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he ticks a lot of boxes for that.

 

[dethorro]

Interesting thread and question Moviefan2k4!

According to a retired psychologist he didn’t have autism:

https://www.quora.com/Did-Michael-Jackson-have-Aspergers-Syndrome?no_redirect=1

And in my opinion she is right. Michael was never nervous when performing, for example. He stated multiple times during his lifetime that he felt the most comfortable on stage

how do you know? you no doctor frenzy. actually none of us are. so none of us really can't say.

While mj_frenzy probably isn’t a doctor, he just stated multiple reasons why MJ couldn’t have had autism.
You can’t say someone has a disease just because we can’t prove that he doesn’t have it. It doesn’t work that way.
It’s just like saying MJ was guilty because you weren’t in the room and you cannot prove 100% that he wasn’t.
See what I mean?

I'm undecided if Michael had autism. I am an autistic adult and i can't really see any traits of it in Michael. I think he is a classic case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he ticks a lot of boxes for that.

Interesting.

 

[DifferentKindOfLady]

Is this thread serious?! Why people are always discussing these kind of thing related to MJ? Always asking if he had this or he had that?!

 

[Hulkamaniac]

I highly doubt it. If he had any mental disorder I'd say it was OCD, which has its similarities to autism.

 

[La74]

OK, a quick disclaimer here: I am not talking about the extreme cases like cerebral palsy; we all know he wasn't a victim of that. But I have Asperger's Syndrome, and I've been thinking that Michael may have had that or something similar, judging by his attitudes and habits. The chronic insomnia, "tunnel vision" regarding his music, extreme perfectionism...all of these can be traits of a higher-functioning condition such as Asperger's. So, I'm just throwing it out there - what do you all think?

I have also been thinking that for quite some time. I read a book about it in 2010 and it seemed really clear to me. I wrote it on twitter but received so much critisism that I removed the tweet but it was just my opinion. The movie nerd Bigi also has his sense for details.

 

[MoeJack]

how do you know? you no doctor frenzy. actually none of us are. so none of us really can't say.

Well, I wouldn't say none..but I completely agree with what you said, that we can't really give arm chair diagnoses just based on observations from a distance. With that said, I tend to agree with mj_frenzy on this one. From my experience with patients, it doesn't seem to me that Michael exhibited the common signs of Asperger's that we usually see. But as was pointed out, it's a spectrum, so we can never really say for sure.

 

[PoP]

I may have said this before and I’ll say it again. I pretty much doubt that Michael has autism and I should know cause I have it myself. I even tried to ask Karen Faye a couple years back on Twitter about it and never got the answer which maybe that he doesn’t actually have it.

 

[Anna]

I don't understand why Michael's own fans, of all people, would want to engage in this sort of speculation. It's very tabloid to talk about someone else's possible medical conditions. We're not Michael's personal doctors, so none of us will ever be able to answer this question and it's certainly none of our business either way.

 

[Jackson Rules]

Just because he was a perfetionist, shy, polite etc. I don't see why he must have been autistic or being diagnosed with something else.
I don't want to offend anyone who deals everyday with these kind of things, but I think we are living in a era where every particular trait is considered related to a mental disorder or psychological disturb.
We're all different and we all have different traits, this is why we can't be categorized.

 

[NatureCriminal7896]

I just wanna say that would matter if he was? at the end of the day Michael was still human and pretty sure one of us got something about us that makes us different. we in 2020 guys. more and more is now common to have any sort of condition. true not everyone does unless they get diagnose. heck even from my last two posts there was a lot people who didn't know had anything until they actually got tested for it.

 

[CaptainEoLove85]

Who can say? I'm on the spectrum myself too, but IMO I think Michael was the way he was due to losing out in his childhood, being in the spotlight from a young age, being raised a Jehovah's Witness, ect, probably a combination of factors. But I'm not an expert in psychology nor neurology or anything even though those subjects interest me. But from my perspective, I do see things that are similar to autistic traits. That's probably why I always felt I could relate to him and understand him. Maybe he read about it himself and wondered, but we'll never know.

 

[Moviefan2k4]

Thanks so much, to all of you who have replied to this thread so far. I brought this up mainly because I live with Asperger's myself every day, so I think I know some of the signs to look for. I wasn't diagnosed myself until 2013, at the age of 33, but once that happened it provided a lot of mental clarity for me. I knew from a very young age that I was different from everyone else around me, and Michael was someone I looked up to because he thrived in spite of isolation. He had tons of fans all over the world, and yet only a very select few really knew him. I didn't raise this question to offend anyone, so I apologize if some of you feel that way. I was just trying to understand him better - that's it.

 

[Nantucket Cat]

Another Aspie here (I'm surprised at how many of us there are on this site!) and I can see how people might see that in MJ, but the fact remains that we'll never know for sure. There's also the fact that Asperger's wasn't even an official diagnosis until 1994 (I think), and at the time when Michael was a kid, it was a lot rarer for someone to be diagnosed with autism because people didn't know as much about it; at that time, it only "counted" if the person was nonverbal or had other extreme symptoms (hitting themselves, bathroom issues, etc.), and everyone else on the spectrum was just considered "weird" or "quirky" at the time.

We'll never know how Michael would have turned out with any other life (i.e. not famous, not raised the way he was, etc.), so it's impossible to say what characteristics of his are attributed to nature vs. nurture.

All that being said, I do definitely get the sense that Michael had anxiety and related issues going on. (And who wouldn't with a life like his?)

 

[MoeJack]

Another Aspie here (I'm surprised at how many of us there are on this site!) and I can see how people might see that in MJ, but the fact remains that we'll never know for sure. There's also the fact that Asperger's wasn't even an official diagnosis until 1994 (I think), and at the time when Michael was a kid, it was a lot rarer for someone to be diagnosed with autism because people didn't know as much about it; at that time, it only "counted" if the person was nonverbal or had other extreme symptoms (hitting themselves, bathroom issues, etc.), and everyone else on the spectrum was just considered "weird" or "quirky" at the time.

We'll never know how Michael would have turned out with any other life (i.e. not famous, not raised the way he was, etc.), so it's impossible to say what characteristics of his are attributed to nature vs. nurture.

All that being said, I do definitely get the sense that Michael had anxiety and related issues going on. (And who wouldn't with a life like his?)

Exactly. Well said.

 

[dam2040]

OK, a quick disclaimer here: I am not talking about the extreme cases like cerebral palsy; we all know he wasn't a victim of that. But I have Asperger's Syndrome, and I've been thinking that Michael may have had that or something similar, judging by his attitudes and habits. The chronic insomnia, "tunnel vision" regarding his music, extreme perfectionism...all of these can be traits of a higher-functioning condition such as Asperger's. So, I'm just throwing it out there - what do you all think?

Being a perfectionist = autism?

 

[NatureCriminal7896]

Thanks so much, to all of you who have replied to this thread so far. I brought this up mainly because I live with Asperger's myself every day, so I think I know some of the signs to look for. I wasn't diagnosed myself until 2013, at the age of 33, but once that happened it provided a lot of mental clarity for me. I knew from a very young age that I was different from everyone else around me, and Michael was someone I looked up to because he thrived in spite of isolation. He had tons of fans all over the world, and yet only a very select few really knew him. I didn't raise this question to offend anyone, so I apologize if some of you feel that way. I was just trying to understand him better - that's it.

It's okay. you was just asking a question. if anyone got offend by your question they can't face the fact that michael was human and that conditions exist. it's more common now to have any kind of condition. the stigma really have to stop. i mean i been depressed all my life with other mental health issues. i always knew i was different too at a young age as well. and didn't know i had those mental health issues until i was 14 when i told my doctors. now i'm getting the help and support that i need. also just because someone has a condition doesn't mean they gonna do things the same or think the same because we all react and do things differently. we all different.

like i said we not doctors so we can't say what michael had and did not have. me and my mom (she likes him) would find really cool if he did.

god bless.

 

[NatureCriminal7896]

That is not bad, it's a special kind of human being. ???

Exactly!

 

[NatureCriminal7896]

Being a perfectionist = autism?

yes. someone with autism can be perfectionist too. that's apart of a stigma. don't believe it.

 

[dam2040]

yes. someone with autism can be perfectionist too. that's apart of a stigma. don't believe it.

I'm well aware what autism is. I'm just baffled at how OP came to the conclusion that because he was a perfectionist he might be autistic.

 

[DifferentKindOfLady]

I think no one got offended. The fact is we don't know if he had that and why people are always asking if he got this or he got that? His life was so scrutinized by everyone, people always asking if he was gay, why was he white, why he did this and that. It's boring!

 

[Piek]

This is a hard topic to discuss, because for some people it feels like autism would be a disqualification, and for others it absolutely isn't. I think we can all agree that none of us want to speak badly about Michael here... and to me it feels like the question raised in this topic, is absolutely sincere. But I also understand, especially since Michael went through so much slander, it's a sensitive subject too.

I want to compare it to something else. I adore the paintings of Claude Monet. Really gorgeous! A few years ago, I visited an exhibition and learned that his 'blurry' style might be the result of an eyeproblem he had. He suffered from cataracts for much of his later life, during which he created his most famous works. Now to me, that's fascinating, because something that is limitating, turned out to be some sort of 'super power'. We've seen that before: Beethoven was deaf, but created his greatest compositions (and actually caused music to change from the Classical Period to the Romantic Period completely on his own) while hearing hardly anything. Stephen Hawking couldn't move – but turned out to be one of the greatest thinkers. Steve Jobs caused a revolution in technology – while battling cancer for many years... knowing his time was limited, made him super focussed. These are all cases where personal health had a huge impact on great talent.

I completely understand there is much more taboo around autism, than around bad eyesight. I also understand why that is.
Personally, I don't think Michael Jackson was in the autism spectrum – but there was something. I always wondered why he performed Billie Jean completely identical for hundreds of times. I always wondered why he would say the same lines before he started the Motown medley on his tours ("And now I am gonna give you...") It's a bit weird that he always did that exactly the same way. On the other hand, that extreme focus is probably what made him so great. I was astounded when I watched the recordings of We Are The World. I saw this bit where Cyndi Lauper and others had to sing their bit time and again, to get it right ONCE. Michael had to sing his bit time and again too, because of them. And he's spot on. Every time. There is no mistake. There is no bad take. What he had to sing, was loaded in his brain, and it was locked... he could have sung it a thousand times. And that is a super power. And yes, it is fascinating where he got that from... and it could well be that his brain simply functioned a bit different from most of us. Could be autism, could be something else. He did great things with it, that's what counts.