Prince Jackson grew up inside one of the most famous families on earth. His dad was Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, a man who filled stadiums and sold records by the hundreds of millions. You’d think a kid raised around all that would pick a tour or a huge show as his best memory.
He didn’t.
A few years back Prince sat down for a rare interview and got asked about his favorite memory of his dad. His answer had nothing to do with fame. It was a small, sweet thing that happened at home, between him and his little sister.
Paris Jackson is Michael’s daughter and Prince’s younger sister. The two of them were close as kids, the way siblings are when they share a strange and private world most people never get to see. And one day the two of them got fired up about a cause.
So they held a protest. Right there in their own bedroom.
The thing that lit them up was saving the animals. Prince and Paris got so worked up about it that they decided to march around and make their voices heard at home. Their youngest brother, known to the family as Bigi, was in the room too. And playing in the background was one of their dad’s own songs.
Prince tells the whole thing himself, and the way he grins through it is the best part. Hear him describe the bedroom protest in his own words.
Prince Jackson talks about growing up with his dad Michael
The song they had on was “They Don’t Care About Us.” Michael released it in 1996 on his “HIStory” album. It’s one of his most pointed songs, a cry for the people the world forgets, and these two little kids picked it as the soundtrack for their living-room cause.
Can’t think of a better pick, honestly.
If you want to hear the song the Jackson kids were playing while they marched around their room, here it is.
“They Don’t Care About Us,” the song playing during their protest
Michael passed away in 2009, when his three children were still young. Prince was the oldest. Stories like this one are why fans hang on his words now. They give a peek behind the gates, past the headlines and the music, to a dad raising three kids who argued and played and cared about things the way all kids do.
A protest about animals, run by two children in pajamas, with a Michael Jackson record playing in the background. Out of everything he could have named, that’s the one Prince holds onto.