On top of being a world-class singer and performer, Michael Jackson was well-known for donning some iconic fashion statements. From red leather suits and long black hair to his white glove, Michael stood out in the music industry.
The American singer approximately first started wearing the glove on his right hand in 1983 while he was on tour and making TV appearances.
However, the Mirror has now pointed out that the star’s glove choice was actually a way of hiding something he was ashamed of.
Actor Cicely Tyson spoke about Michael’s glove at his memorial service in 2009, after he died on June 25.
Cicely claimed she shared a fashion designer with Michael, and the conversation turned to the King of Pop’s glove during one visit.
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Cicely said: “All of a sudden, [my designer] said to me: ‘I’m doing this glove for Michael.'”
She went on to claim that Michael’s Vitiligo had just started, and that the glove was a way of covering up what he was suffering.
Vitiligo is a skin condition that Michael was dealing with beginning in the 1980s through to his death in 2009. The NHS describes it as: “Vitiligo is a long-term condition where pale white patches develop on the skin. It’s caused by the lack of melanin, which is the pigment in skin.”
“Michael was beginning to develop the vitiligo,” Cicely said. “And it started on his hand … The glove was to camouflage it. That’s how that glove came into being.”
When pressed on how she knew this, she went on: “I was there when he was creating it.”
Michael was once asked why he only wore one glove. He replied: “I felt that one glove was cool… wearing two gloves seemed so ordinary.”
Oprah Winfrey quizzed Michael on his skin colour in the 1990s when she interviewed him.
She pointed out: “The colour of your skin is obviously different than it was when you were younger … is your skin lighter because you don’t like being Black?”
Michael defended himself: “This is the situation, I have a skin disorder that destroys the pigmentation of the skin. It’s something I cannot help, okay? … But when people make up stories that I don’t want to be what I am it hurts me … It’s a problem for me. I can’t control it.”
