An unnamed source who was at the hospital where Paris Jackson is recovering from a reported suicide attempt was quoted as saying, “She’s going to be OK.” Well, she isn’t going to be just fine—not without the very best psychiatry has to offer.  And that may or may not be enough. How can I say that without having evaluated Paris Jackson in person?   I can say it because I know human beings are not only emotionally sensitive, but also self-searching.  We need to know our authentic life stories and to have a firm grasp on our truth.  This makes us able to survive the real challenges that any life inevitably includes—such as the loss of loved ones, transitions through adolescence to adulthood, relationships that veer into conflict, people who don’t like us and say so, setbacks and challenges and traumas of every conceivable variety. When you are born to a talented musician addicted to plastic surgery, who conceived you with a woman he hardly knew, who appeared in public in costume, behind dark glasses, you are not going to be OK.  When you are born to a man who was accused by multiple people of being a pedophile, who himself spoke and acted frequently like a little boy, who dangled a child out a window several stories off the ground, you are not going to be OK.  You are going to have a long journey in search of your truth, fraught with pain.  And overcoming all of it will be a significant triumph. It is perhaps telling that Paris Jackson, born into Neverland Ranch as a live product of the entertainment industry, would tweet lyrics from songs as a way of trying to express herself.  “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.  Now, it looks as though they’re here to stay.”  Tweeting them is part of the problem, of course.  Who tweets when having survived a reported suicide attempt?
