Growing up with a famous last name is hard enough. Prince Jackson got a famous first name too.
Prince is Michael Jackson’s oldest child, born on Feb. 13, 1997. His father, of course, was known all over the world as the King of Pop. So the boy grew up as the son of a king, with a first name that sounded like a royal title of its own.
Plenty of kids in that spot would try to run from it. Prince did something different.
In late 2016, he started his own production company. A few months later, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight published on March 6, 2017, he explained how he’d named it and the motto that goes with it. He was 20 years old.
Before he got to the company, Prince talked about the man behind the crown. At home, he said, Michael “was our dad, or daddy, whatever you want to call him.”
But Prince also knows what the rest of the world saw. He told ET that his father “had earned the epithet King of Pop.” An epithet is a title, like King of Pop, that people give you because of what you’ve done.
Prince sees his own name in a very different light.
“So, I was born as Prince and that was the name my dad had given to me,” he said.
That simple idea is at the heart of the company. He named it King’s Son Productions, and its motto is short enough to fit on a business card: “a title is earned, but a name is given.”
Read it twice and you can see what he means. Michael earned “King of Pop.” Prince never had to earn his name, because his dad handed it to him. Now it’s up to him to build something of his own.
He said it pushes him. “So, it’s a form of motivation because my name is Prince, but for all intents and purposes I am the King’s son,” he told ET.
And he isn’t trying to borrow his father’s title. He told ET he’s “working to get my own epithet,” meaning a title that belongs to him and nobody else.
In this Entertainment Tonight clip, Prince talks frankly about not being able to sing or dance like his legendary dad, and it tells you just how big those shoes are.
Prince Jackson talks with Entertainment Tonight about growing up as Michael’s son
It’s an honest way to look at a famous name. A lot of families know the feeling, even without a superstar in the house. A kid inherits a name from a parent or grandparent and spends years figuring out what to do with it.
Prince found his answer by putting it right in his company’s name. King’s Son Productions says exactly who he is and where he comes from.
The motto is about what comes next. Back in 2017, Prince made it pretty clear that part was up to him.