Michael Jackson Died of a Broken Heart

Michael Jackson’s death isn’t really a mystery. What killed Jackson is a broken heart.

In childhood, Jackson suffered relentless rehearsals, beatings, and verbal abuse that affected him throughout his life. His father, Joseph, once held Michael upside down andpummeled him over and over with his hand, hitting him on his back and buttocks. Joseph often slammed his sons into walls. Another time his father climbed through the bedroom window into his room screaming and donning a fright mask to teach Michael not to leave the window open at night. Not surprisingly, for years Jackson had nightmares.

When we’re born, we’re whole human beings filled with potential and self esteem. Growing up, we adapt to our families by adopting patterns of thought and behavior we take into adulthood. If we grow up in a dysfunctional family, these core beliefs and habitual behaviors are like viruses, infecting our lives, relationships, and sense of well-being. The core beliefs that Jackson internalized in response to his childhoodPeople will hurt me and can’t be trusted,I’m ugly, andIf I meet others’ needs and expectations I’ll be lovedwere at the root of his living a life filled with self-loathing, pain, and isolation.

That Jackson’s childhood affected him throughout his life is evident in many ways. He underwent plastic surgery to the point of physical disfigurement. At the root of his tremendous empathy for others’ suffering was the well of his own emotional pain. In pursuit for the idyllic childhood he never had, he built a 2,500 acre paradise called Neverland. He forewent close adult relationships for animals and children, with whom he could have a sense of power and feel safe. By engaging with unsavory people who used him, he replicated the pain of his father’s betrayal over and over again. He tried to fill his voids through material possessions that cost him a fortune, and only when he was performing did he felt loved and accepted.

When his career tanked due to allegations of child molestation and expensive legal trials, Jackson’s downward spiral accelerated. He continued spending excessive amounts of money, but could no longer generate the record sales of the past. Instead of getting help, he married someone who could restore his image and esteem (Lisa Marie Presley), divorcing her and marrying another woman who gave him custody of their two children, and having a third child by an anonymous donor. He withdrew from public life with his children, and apparently lived the rest of his years as a very lonely and unhappy man.

Jackson went from a beloved superstar to being disdained by many people as a weirdo and child molester. Instead of judging who he was or obsessing on the sensationalist circumstances surrounding his death, it’s my hope that people will use his tragic death to understand the power our childhoods have on who we become as adults. While heart failure may be what ultimately led to Jackson’s demise, it was a broken heart that really killed him.

Coach Lauren Mackler is the bestselling author of Solemate: Master the Art of Aloneness & Transform Your Life and the host of the weekly Life Keys radio show on www.hayhouseradio.com. Visit Lauren’s website at www.laurenmackler.com.