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Prince Jackson and Jaafar Jackson attend Lionsgate\u2019s \u201cMichael\u201d Los Angeles premiere at Dolby Theatre on April 20, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Savion Washington\/Getty Images for Lionsgate)<\/p>\n
Prince Jackson, son of the late pop music superstar Michael Jackson, spoke with ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis in an exclusive interview discussing the new biopic about his father,\u00a0Michael.<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old was an executive producer on the film, which was directed by Antoine Fuqua \u2014 known for Training Day and The Equalizer. The biopic, which arrived in theaters on Friday, covers Michael Jackson\u2019s 1960s rise from his childhood music group The Jackson 5 to his solo career during the Bad tour in the late 1980s.<\/p>\n
Prince Jackson said the movie was meant to show audiences a side of his father, who is played by Prince Jackson\u2019s cousin Jafaar Jackson in the movie, that they may not have seen before.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor those of us, like myself and younger, that never got to experience that [part Michael Jackson\u2019s career], I hope that it contextualizes the growth and the rise to stardom and the hard work and effort that my father put into it,\u201d Prince Jackson told Davis.<\/p>\n
Prince Jackson and Jafaar Jackson, the son of Michael Jackson\u2019s brother Jermaine Jackson, spent time together as children at Hayvenhurst \u2014 the California home of their grandfather Joe Jackson.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the greatest experiences of my life \u2014 growing up with Jafaar as we did at Hayvenhurst as siblings, as cousins, making home movies to now here we are making a major motion picture about my father, his uncle \u2014 someone we both love very much,\u201d Prince Jackson said.<\/p>\n
The music legend\u2019s son said he was surprised by how much it struck him to see Jafaar Jackson in costume as his father.<\/p>\n
\u201c[It] was really an emotional shock because I had not seen my father in a long time,\u201d Prince Jackson told Davis. \u201cAnd it was difficult to maintain and keep composure because I really just wanted to give him a hug in that moment. But I had to tell him like, \u2018Jafaar, I\u2019m proud of you. You\u2019re gonna do great. But I need to take a little step outside and get some air.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Some critics have reported that the film was \u201csanitized\u201d and did not dive deeper into controversies that followed Michael Jackson later in his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that my father is probably one of the most misunderstood people out there,\u201d Prince Jackson said. \u201cAnd I hope that you get a glimpse into the life and the cause and effect that made him who he was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prince Jackson also talked about his nonprofit, Heal Los Angeles Foundation. He noted how his father\u2019s example sparked the decision to bring some families his nonprofit served to the LA premiere of Michael to give them a glimpse of the red carpet and the opportunity to meet cast members and celebrities.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Michael Jackson] still made time to give back and used his platform to highlight social needs,\u201d Prince Jackson said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s where we take inspiration at the Heal Los Angeles Foundation \u2026 we want to inspire young people to be their best and to give them the tools that they need to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prince Jackson and Jaafar Jackson attend Lionsgate\u2019s \u201cMichael\u201d Los Angeles premiere at Dolby Theatre on April 20, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,18,117,19,17,34936],"class_list":{"0":"post-452451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-syndicated"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116462613155581909","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}