think throughout the bad era MJ's skin color was still like in the
1984-86 years. Because I've seen picks of MJ as late as 1989 where some
parts of his body looked as dark as the Thriller era.

That leads me to believe that throughout the Bad era he was wearing
pancake make-up to hide most of the vitiligo.

And sometimes on photoshoots taken of himself, he had a lot of airbrushing and digital lightening done to his skin to make it look lighter in the photo than it was.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


Significant changes were made to the lighting on the final album cover.
And, if you look at Michael's hands during this period they are a lot
darker than the rest of his skin tone. He was definitely opting for the
lighter make up to cover up the vitiligo better, as I suspect it
would've spread on his face first.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

For some reason the video made his complexion look a heck of a lot
lighter than everyone else's, but here it's not that bad (forgive the
pun). Focus on his arms, his hands and his neck. The light is shining
directly on his face making that area look lighter, but it's not. His
arm is almost the same colour as the guy on his left.


In these pics his skin tone is A LOT darker, and this was taken just months after the photos above. He wore less make-up in these:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

And look at these pics. He looks almost as dark as he did in 1985/86
(especially his hands). And these are photo shoots from 1989:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

In this next pic you can see Michael is wearing a load of makeup - look around his
hairline...a near perfect circle of makeup. That made him look light in
the photo combined with the flash.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Just goes to show you that his skin wasn't all that light during the BAD
era. It really came down to lighting, make-up, flash bulbs from pap photos....

Luv the pics KB50MJ!!

I have been considering having another thread of us showing our most fav pics of Michael and another explaining in greater detail about the skin disease of vitiligo and treatment options commonly used.

This disease can be so quick & insidious. It attacked my older brother about 1 1/2 yrs ago. He too is tall & skinny. He was a couple of shades lighter than Gabrielle Union all his life.

He'd been hospitalized for a sudden Diabetic coma. Nobody knew he had Diabetes at the time. He was very sick. We noticed a white mark at the top of his forehead: we thought it was some kind of a cream & tried to wipe it off. It was his skin! Long story short, his entire face & upper neck are the same pale white as MJ's was. It spread so quickly! It isn't a joke or something for the media or anyone else to trivialize.

I never knew why he looked that way, I never really believed that he intentionally but just thought it was a side effect of an operation or product. Wow, I can't believe he had that terrible disease. I find it so amazing that he stayed in the limelight for so long despite the negative press. I would have probably become a recluse. Thanks so much for this article!

Too much talent to be a recluse. It would have been a real waste but I understand what you are saying . Hearing bad things would send many people running for the hills !!

Thanks for shraing

I love MJ. Leave HIM alone.

Seems like the media like to try and smear michael jackson even after his death, he spoke out against the powers that be a few times in his music and directly. Unfortunatley this one in a lifetime legend is still paying for it.