The 23-year old daughter of the late Michael Jackson on Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk said that she told her family when she was 14 that she is queer, and that others found it harder to believe than others. Most of Paris’ relatives are Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“Some of my family I talk to about it openly, some of my family I don’t,” Paris said. “I’ve reached a point right now where I have love and respect for my family, their beliefs, their culture, their religion and if I’m to expect them to set that aside just so I can feel accepted, expectations lead to resentments for me.
“I’m still kind of figuring it out. My family is very religious and a lot of homosexuality is very taboo, so they don’t like to talk about it, it’s not really accepted.”
However, Paris insisted that despite their differing opinions, she has been able to get to a point where she “respects” her family’s beliefs and religion.
“They’ve been super-supportive,” she said, noting that to better connect with his sister, Prince Jackson joined a student-run club in high school that unites LGBTQ+ and allied youth. “Not a lot of people can say they have siblings that support them like that.”
Paris was speaking to a long-time friend Willow Smith, Will Smith’s son, for an episode of the hit show, in one of the first editions of the Facebook series feature Smith speaking to a guest one-on-one. Smith explained that she had met Jackson on the set of Hawthorne that starred Smith’s mother Jada Pinkett Smith.
“As long as I’m living a life of love and being of service and honesty and I’m not hurting other people, I think I’ll be alright,” she smiled.
Paris has said in previous interviews that she considers herself to be gay, although she has dated more men than women in the past.
