Paris Jackson Says ‘Homosexuality Is Very Taboo’ In Jackson Family

Paris Jackson has revealed her struggles coming out to her family, saying that being gay is ‘very taboo’ among the Jacksons.

The 23-year-old said she felt she was ‘not accepted’ by some members of her family, most of whom are devout Jehovah’s Witnesses, after coming out as queer when she was 14 years old.

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I’ve reached a point right now where I have love and respect for my family, their beliefs, their culture, their religion and if I’m to expect them to set that aside just so I can feel accepted, expectations lead to resentments for me…

I’m still kind of figuring it out. My family is very religious and a lot of homosexuality is very taboo, so they don’t like to talk about it, it’s not really accepted.

Jackson, who was 11 when her father, Michael Jackson, passed away in 2009, has previously spoken out about the pressures of growing up as part of one of the world’s most famous families, but has now revealed for the first time the challenges that she faced from some of her own relatives too, explaining that she avoids talking to some members of her family about her sexuality.

However the model and singer also revealed that she’s been given huge support from her two brothers, Prince, 24, and Bigi, 19, revealing that while in high school her elder brother joined a club for LGBTQ+ and ally students in an attempt to connect with her.

‘They’ve always been super-supportive… not a lot of people can say they have siblings that support them like that,’ she said.

Speaking to Willow Smith, with whom she has been friends since childhood, Jackson also spoke about the continued trauma she suffers as a result of press intrusion into her father’s life, revealing that she experiences ‘auditory hallucinations’ and ‘severe paranoia’ due to her past encounters with paparazzi.

‘I’ll hear a trash bag rustling and flinch in panic. I think it’s standard PTSD,’ she said.

Jackson went on to explain that despite her father’s incredible fame, she and her siblings had been raised with ‘solid morals,’ and were made to earn visits to the amusement rides at her father’s Neverland Ranch.

‘It was very clear to us that those rides and the zoo were for underprivileged children. Children who were sick and couldn’t go to Disneyland. If we were good, and we did our homework and we worked hard throughout the week, maybe we could go at the weekends, but we had to earn it,’ she said.