Prince Jackson is Michael Jackson’s eldest son. He was 12 years old when his father died in June 2009, and here is the thing most people never think about: he never saw his father perform live. Michael had not toured since 1997, two months before Prince was born. The This Is It concerts in London would have been the first — and Michael died the day after the final rehearsal.
So for fifteen years, that door stayed permanently closed. Prince had the recordings everybody else has. He did not have the thing.
Then Jaafar Jackson — his cousin, Jermaine’s son — walked onto the set of the biopic in full hair, makeup, and costume.
Michael: Prince Jackson REACTS to Watching Cousin Jaafar Recreate Dad’s ICONIC Performances
Prince described the moment in an ABC News interview and could barely get through it. “It was really an emotional shock because I had not seen my father in a long time.”
Then the line everybody quotes: “My gut reaction was I really just wanted a hug from him.”
He said Jaafar had somehow brought him back, briefly. So Prince told his cousin he was proud of him and that he was going to be brilliant — and then that he needed to step outside and get some air.
He was not the only one who came apart that day.
Jaafar Jackson’s Transformation Into Michael Jackson Is Unreal
Michael’s original drummer, Jonathan “Sugarfoot” Moffett, turned up on set with tears in his eyes and said it felt like standing inside a time capsule. Michael’s longtime choreographer Vince Paterson sat in the audience wiping his face. The photographer who shot Michael’s tours looked through his lens and said it flatly — he looks like him, he moves like him, he is him.
And Marlon Jackson, watching an actor play a younger version of himself on that stage, said it brought back every memory of the Victory Tour. His voice cracked describing it.
Prince said the people who toured with his father kept telling him the same thing. Watching Michael perform gave you a feeling — and Jaafar gives them that same feeling.
For one afternoon on a film set, Michael’s son got back something he thought was gone for good.