Paris Jackson Talks Mask-Wearing and Getting Grounded by Michael Jackson in Oprah Sit-Down

Daughter of the late King of Pop opens up on her much-scrutinized childhood, reveals that she and Blanket have grown especially close since father's death

By Gina Serpe Jun 07, 2012 5:24 PMTags

If you thought you were confused the first time you saw Michael Jackson's young children wearing masks in public, then spare a thought for the kids themselves.

In a new interview with Oprah Winfrey, Paris Jackson opened up about how it felt to be subjected to the face-covering paraphernalia, what sort of parental punishment Michael used to mete out, and why he was, in the end, just your typical, "normal" dad.

"I was really confused, like I didn't get why I was wearing a mask," the 13-year-old told Oprah. "But I understand it now, why our dad would want our face to be covered, so we went out without him, we wouldn't be recognized and we could have a normal childhood."

The idea of maintaining some semblance of normalcy was an important one in the Jackson household, and a notion that frequently came up during the interview.

"He did," she said, when asked if Michael wanted his kids to have a so-called normal life.

"He had his doubts, because he told us that when he was younger he didn't really have a childhood. He'd always be stuck in the studio singing while other kids were out playing. And he wanted us to have that...Chuck E. Cheese and Toys 'R' Us were our favorite places to go."

Cut to today, and the Jackson trio of Paris, Prince Michael and of course Blanket are still acutely aware of their loss.

"Now I see other kids and their parents and I compare them to my dad. Our dad was a really normal father when he was with us. We would get grounded if we did something bad. He would ground us. He wouldn't call it grounding; he'd just say, 'You're on punishment.' Sometimes we'd be on punishment a lot. Mostly me and Blanket, because me and Blanket would always fight."

However, that sibling rivalry seems to have tapered off, as now Paris and Blanket are closer than ever.

"Prince has started to drift off; he's a teenager, he's a teenage boy, he's gonna do that. But me and Blanket have found a lot of things in common, more things than I thought we did, so me and him have gotten a lot closer."

The full interview airs Sunday on OWN.