His skin had been a medium-brown color for the entire duration of his youth, but starting
in the early 1980s, it gradually grew paler. The change gained widespread media coverage,
including rumors that he was bleaching his skin. According to J. Randy Taraborrelli's biog-
raphy, in 1986, Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo and lupus; the vitiligo partially light-
ened his skin, and the lupus was in remission; both illnesses made him sensitive to
sunlight. The treatments he used for his condition further lightened his skin tone, and, with
the application of pancake makeup to even out blotches, he could appear very pale. The
structure of his face changed too: several surgeons speculated that he had undergone multi-
ple nasal surgeries, a forehead lift, thinned lips, and cheekbone surgery.
He lost weight in the early 1980s because of a change in diet and a desire for "a dancer's
body." Witnesses reported that he was often dizzy and speculated that he was suffering
from anorexia nervosa; periods of weight loss would become a recurring problem later in
life. Some medical professionals have said he was suffering from body dysmorphic disor-
der, a psychological condition whereby the sufferer dislikes his appearance and has no
concept of how he is viewed by others. He had a fourth rhinoplasty in 1986, and had a cleft
put in his chin.

He became the subject of increasingly sensational reports. In
1986, The National Enquirer published a series of photo-
graphs of him lying in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, claim-
ing that he slept in the chamber to slow the aging process.
When Jackson bought a chimpanzee called Bubbles from a
laboratory, it was reported as an example of increasing de-
tachment from reality. In 2003, the singer claimed that Bub-
bles had been trained to use the toilet and to clean his own
bedroom. Later, it was reported that he had offered $1 million
for the bones of Joseph Merrick, the "Elephant Man." The re-
ports became embedded in the public consciousness, inspir-
ing the nickname "Wacko Jacko," which was commonly shortened to "Jacko" in tabloid
headlines. Despite Jackson's insistence that the reports were completely invented, a biogra-
pher said in 2004 that Jackson's publicists had leaked the rumors to the press for promo-
tional reasons. Jackson remarked to a reporter:
Why not just tell people I'm an alien from Mars.
Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo
dance at midnight. They'll believe anything you say,
because you're a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson,
were to say, "I'm an alien from Mars and I eat live
chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight," people
would say, "Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts.
He's cracked up. You can't believe a damn word that
comes out of his mouth."
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