MICHAEL JACKSON WAS DUE TO STUDY FINE ART AT UNIVERSITY

MICHAEL JACKSON WAS DUE TO STUDY FINE ART AT UNIVERSITY
29th November 2009 By Dominik Lemanski

POP legend Michael Jackson was planning to start a university course in fine art after his daughter Paris begged him to follow his dream of studying.

Michael wanted to head back to the classroom to become a qualified art historian.

But it was 11-year-old Paris who gave her famous dad the push he needed to study.

Last May he got his assistants to contact both Christie’s Education and Sotheby’s Institute of Art, both in New York, with a view to starting a year-long course in September next year.

Last night a source close to the star, who died in June, aged 50, said: “It was all because of Paris that Michael decided to follow his dream.

“She gave him the confidence to finally contact the colleges that are attached to the famous auction houses.”

The course Jackson had pencilled in was called “Certificate in Modern Art, Connoisseurship and the History of the Art Market”.

The source added: “Michael regretted the fact that he never got the chance to go to university because his music career started so early.

“But he made up for it by reading widely. He absolutely devoured books on art and crafts and was an avid collector. He had an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

n“People don’t realise but Michael was surrounded by a whole gang of academic friends. Many of his closest associates had nothing to do with showbiz.

“He was also inspired by a motivation to prove his father wrong, as Joe Jackson constantly accused Michael of being stupid. Most of all, Michael wanted to be an inspiration to his own kids.”