Jackson ‘bore the burden’ of early stardom: Bill Clinton

HAITI: Former US president Bill Clinton honored Michael Jackson Tuesday as an “immensely gifted” artist and lamented that the King of Pop, who received a worldwide farewell Tuesday, bore the burden of superstardom at such a young age.

“I was very sad that he died and I was very sad also for all the troubles that he had in his life,” Clinton, now a United Nations special envoy, said as he took a few moments out of an aid mission to Haiti to recall his own connection with Jackson.

“He was an immensely gifted man,” Clinton added. “He bore the burden of being a phenomenon at a very, very early age.”

Jackson’s glittering career began when he was just five years old when he made his singing debut with his brothers, The Jackson Five. By age 10 he was a household name.

Clinton stressed that being in the limelight so early undoubtedly took a toll on Jackson: “It’s almost impossible to develop (as) a normal stable well-grounded guy,” he said.

“He performed in my inauguration in 1993 and then he performed nine years later” at a Democratic Party fundraiser at New York’s Apollo Theater, Clinton said.

GONAIVES, Wednesday, AFP