Tonight kids all over America will knock on doors in capes, wigs and rubber monster faces. For Michael Jackson’s oldest son, that sight brings back the best nights of his childhood.
Prince Jackson is the eldest of Michael’s three children. He was born on Feb. 13, 1997. His sister Paris came along on Apr. 3, 1998, and their little brother Bigi, who was once called Blanket, was born on Feb. 21, 2002. They grew up as the children of the most famous entertainer on the planet, and that meant a lot of eyes on them wherever they went.
Years later, when Prince talked about the holiday he loved most growing up, it wasn’t Christmas. It wasn’t his birthday either.
It was Halloween.
He told the story in late October 2021 on “The Mix,” a talk show on the Fox Soul channel, and TODAY.com shared his words a few days later. He said the attention the three kids grew up under made Halloween a favorite. This is the full Halloween episode where he talked about it, so settle in and listen for the part where he describes going out with his dad.
Prince Jackson on a Halloween episode of “The Mix”
So what made one night so different from the rest?
If you’ve ever seen photos of Michael out in public with his kids, you probably remember the masks. Michael’s children often wore them to keep their faces out of the cameras. Most days, that made the little group easy to spot in any crowd.
But on Oct. 31, a kid in a mask is just another kid on the sidewalk.
Here’s how Prince put it, in his own words: “Halloween is such an awesome holiday for me because when we were growing up, obviously, we wore masks to conceal our identity, but Halloween is one of those few holidays where it’s normal for everybody to wear a mask, that one day of the year where we got to go out with my dad to some family friends’ houses and do some kind of trick-or-treating a little bit and do kind of a normal celebration of Halloween.”
That’s it. A dad and his kids walking up to a friend’s front door, the way half the families on your street will do tonight. For Prince, that simple night out was the whole point.
Prince has kept a soft spot for the holiday ever since, and that includes the grown-up fans who dress as his father. Back in 2018 he told Entertainment Tonight that those fans want “to continue on his tradition, his legacy.” He admitted it’s “a little shocking” when they “do it so well,” and said he tries to “have respect for that and really feel honored.”
These days he keeps Halloween going for other people, too. His charity, the Heal Los Angeles Foundation, holds a yearly “This Is Thriller” event.
And this week he sat down in a pretty fitting spot. Prince spoke with the Associated Press inside the Palace Theatre in Los Angeles, where his father filmed the movie theater scenes for “Thriller,” to talk about the new “Michael” movie. Keep an eye on the old theater all around him while he talks.
Prince sits down inside the “Thriller” theater this week
So if a tiny Michael in one sparkly glove rings your bell tonight, think of Prince. He was that kid behind the mask once, heading up a family friend’s walk with his dad.