Prince Michael “Bigi” Jackson II is Michael Jackson’s third and youngest child. After years of being known as Blanket Jackson, he changed his name to Bigi in 2015. Bigi’s biological mother, a surrogate, remains unknown. When his father died in June 2009, he was seven years old.
Early Life and Mother
On February 21, 2002, Prince Michael Jackson II was born. He is the third kid of music great Michael Jackson and reputedly the sole biological child of the artist, but no confirmation has ever been made. He was known as Blanket throughout his youth and now Bigi. His biological mother, who was a surrogate, is unknown.
Following Bigi’s birth and ensuing media speculation over his conception, Debbie Rowe, Michael’s other two children—Paris Michael Katherine and Michael Joseph “Prince” Jackson—publicly denied being Bigi’s real mother.
Bigi made headlines in 2002 when his father dangled him from a Berlin balcony at the age of 9 months.
Father’s Death
Bigi’s father, Michael, died immediately after suffering a heart arrest at his home in Los Angeles on June 25, 2009. The pop singer was 50 years old when he died, and Prince Michael Jackson II was seven.
Katherine Jackson, Bigi’s grandmother, was appointed as his legal guardian, as well as the guardian of his siblings, Michael and Paris.
The three children addressed their father’s fans during his burial in 2009, and again in January 2010 when they accepted Michael Jackson’s posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards.
An official coroner’s report on Michael’s death was released in February 2010, stating that the singer died from severe propofol intoxication. Michael had used the medicine, among other things, to help him sleep, with the assistance of his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray.
A police inquiry eventually showed that Murray was not licensed to prescribe most controlled drugs in California, and the doctor’s actions as Michael’s caregiver were therefore probed further. Murray was found guilty of homicide on November 7, 2011, and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Wrongful Death Lawsuit
The Jackson family chose to sue A.E.G. Live, the entertainment firm that promoted Michael Jackson’s planned comeback event, This Is It, in 2009, believing that the corporation had failed to adequately protect the singer while he was in Murray’s care. Katherine and Michael’s three children have officially sued A.E.G. for wrongful death.
The trial started in April 2013. In the case, lawyers sought up to $1.5 billion, an estimate of what Michael may have earned in the months after his death if he were still alive.
A jury ruled in October 2013 that A.E.G. was not responsible for Michael’s death. “Although Michael Jackson’s death was a terrible tragedy, it was not of A.E.G. Live’s making,” A.E.G.’s lawyer Marvin S. Putnam said.
Name Change to Bigi
Several stories appeared in 2015 claiming that Jackson no longer wanted to be known by his nickname Blanket. According to Radar Online, the young youngster now prefers to be addressed as Bigi.” He adopted the name after being ridiculed for years for his previous codename, Blanket.
Personal Life
Jackson currently resides in Calabasas, California. In Sherman Oaks, California, he attended the Buckley institution, a private institution. Jackson was under the supervision of older cousin T.J. Jackson in his latter teen years due to his grandmother’s advanced age, as well as brothers Michael and Paris departing the nest as young adults.
According to People magazine, he had the most difficult time adjusting following his father’s death among his siblings, but he is now doing well, having focused on schoolwork and athletics while in school and spending time with his more than 30 cousins.
Bigi has largely remained out of the spotlight among Michael’s children. In May 2019, he made a rare appearance at his older brother Prince’s graduation from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
In August 2023, on what would have been their father’s 65th birthday, he and Prince attended the Michael Jackson ONE event at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.