Paris Jackson has overcome a lot in 18 years. At 15, she ended up in the hospital after trying to kill herself. And that wasn't the only time it happened, as she said in an interview with Rolling Stone.
She told the magazine she'd tried to take her own life "multiple times" — possibly as many as three.
"It was just once that it became public," she said. Because of the hospital's "three-strike rule," she was directed to an in-patient program following the last incident. She attended a therapeutic school for her sophomore year and part of her junior year of high school.
Jackson didn't share any details about the other incidents, but she did further explain the one we've heard about, which she's attributed to online bullying .
"It was just self-hatred," she said, "low self-esteem, thinking that I couldn't do anything right, not thinking I was worthy of living anymore."
Jackson and her late father Michael both suffered from depression, she said. On top of that, she recounted being sexually assaulted by a stranger at age 14.
But now, she's "a completely different person." Jackson and her boyfriend, Street Drum Corps drummer Michael Snoddy, are glued at the hip. "I never met anyone before who made me feel the way music makes me feel," she said.
She also makes music herself, but her biggest career interest is modeling, which helps with her confidence, she explained. "Plenty of people think I'm ugly, and plenty of people don't. But there's a moment when I'm modeling where I forget about my self-esteem issues and focus on what the photographer's telling me — and I feel pretty. And in that sense, it's selfish."
Her work isn't just about looking good, though. She wants to use her fame to make an impact on the world.
"I'm really scared for the Great Barrier Reef," she said. "It's, like, dying. This whole planet is. Poor Earth, man."
"I was born with this platform," Jackson explained. "Am I gonna waste it and hide away? Or am I going to make it bigger and use it for more important things?"
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