Strange Details Everyone Ignores About Bigi 'Blanket' Jackson

There aren't many people on the planet for whom the most famous moment of their entire lives occurs when they are just 9 months old. But that is the case for Bigi Jackson, more frequently referred to in the media as "Blanket."

Bigi Jackson is the third and youngest child of the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, who died tragically at his home in Bel-Air in 2009. As a baby, he found himself at the center of one of the biggest headline scandals of his father's often controversial life, when Michael dangled him from the window of the Adlon Hotel in Berlin, seemingly to please the crowd of fans that had gathered in the square below.

Despite the incident, before his death Michael made great efforts to maintain the anonymity of his children, only allowing them to appear in public with their faces covered by handkerchiefs or masks. And though Bigi has remained perhaps the most lowkey member of the Jackson dynasty ever since — he is now in his early 20s, and has only ever given a handful of interviews — several strange details about his life have been made public knowledge. Here are the most intriguing of them.

Michael Jackson's pride over the arrival of his third child, "Blanket," was evident in interviews during Bigi Jackson's early life and, indeed, in the excitement that propelled the pop superstar to dangle him before the lens of the world's media that infamous day in Berlin. Michael's two oldest children, "Prince" Michael Joseph Jackson and Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson, were the product of the King of Pop's arrangement with Debbie Rowe, a woman that worked at his dermatologist's office who he befriended. The two had an arrangement in which she would bear his children, and they even married for a time. The couple divorced in 1999, with Jackson receiving custody of both children.

Bigi was born several years later, on February 21, 2002. However, he was born through a surrogate, with the identity of Bigi's mother never being made public either during Jackson's lifetime or posthumously. Some outlets speculated after Bigi's birth was made public that Rowe was Bigi's mother, but Jackson's ex-wife publicly denied that she was involved in his conception.

When it became public knowledge that Michael Jackson had had a third child, much of the reaction in the media revolved around the child's highly unusual nickname: "Blanket." Though the child's birthname, Prince Michael II, was very similar to that of his older brother "Prince" Michael Joseph Jackson, "Blanket" was the Gloved One's affectionate nickname for his youngest progeny.

Jackson's explanations of why he had taken to calling his new son "Blanket" were various. In one interview with the BBC's Martin Bashir — which you can watch above — he claimed that the word "Blanket" was an expression he used with his family members and employees. "I say, 'you should blanket me, you should blanket her with something,'" Jackson explained, adding: "a blanket is a blessing. It's a way of showing love and caring."

However, the young man himself has admitted that he dislikes the name Blanket — he was reportedly bullied for it in his early life – and has made steps to distance himself from it, preferring to go by the name Bigi from 2015 onward. The meaning behind this name is unclear, but he has gone by it almost exclusively for the last decade and is credited as Bigi Jackson in the film industry, in which he has written, produced, and directed independent films. 

Bigi Jackson was just 7 years old when his father died suddenly on June 25, 2009, at the age of 50. Michael Jackson's death came on the eve of a hugely lucrative 50-night comeback residency that was due to take place at London's O2 Arena, titled "This Is It." Jackson's physical and mental health had been under scrutiny for many years, his reputation tarnished by allegations of child sexual abuse stretching back to the 1990s. However, the surprise announcement that the superstar was staging a comeback was greeted with wild excitement from fans.

Sadly, few knew that the pressures of rehearsals were taking a devastating toll on Jackson's health. It was later found that he had been suffering from insomnia, and was reliant on regular doses of drugs from his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, to get him through rehearsals and to get him to sleep afterward. He was later deemed to have died of propofol intoxication, with Murray found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in 2011.

However, despite the Murray ruling, the Jackson family — on behalf of Jackson's children, including Bigi — filed a wrongful death case against the "This Is It" concert promoter, A.E.G., who they claimed had a role in Jackson's death by hiring the doctor and not doing enough to check their star was receiving adequate care during his attempted comeback. However, the Jacksons lost the case in 2013.

The American entertainment industry has produced countless dynasties over the years, with the continued success of several extended families seeming to suggest that a great deal of talent is truly in the blood. Indeed, Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris-Michael, has followed in her father's footsteps and begun to make waves in the world of music, per People.

However, the boys in the family have seemingly turned their backs on the spotlight. While "Prince" Michael Joseph has preferred to stick to making online content rather than getting involved on the stage or screen, Bigi has been drawn to the other side of the camera and is looking to establish himself as a director. "I can't dance or sing; I'm not that kind of person who sings and dances," he has admitted when comparing himself to his famous father (via SCMP.com).

Instead, Bigi and older brother Prince Michael have unashamedly nerdier interests. The two, who by their own admission have remained very close to one another as they've entered adulthood, have bonded over the years through a shared love of science and science fiction. And like many people of his generation, Bigi is reportedly deeply concerned with climate change and is passionate about educating society about its potentially damaging effects.

Litigation and infighting have sadly not been rare events in the Jackson family. And though more than 15 years have passed since Michael Jackson's untimely death, his relatives, including his son Bigi Jackson, continue to battle over his estate, which today is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

In March 2024, it was revealed that Bigi had filed against his own grandmother, Katherine Jackson, arguing that his father's estate — of which he is an inheritor — shouldn't pay Katherine's legal bills for an appeal she filed against what Billboard describes as an "unnamed transaction." The transaction, outlets speculate, is likely to be a $600 million deal to sell a percentage of the King of Pop's music catalog to Sony, a deal which would hugely enrich each of his inheritors.

A statement from Bigi's lawyers read: "It is readily apparent that a reversal on appeal would be an extreme longshot ... Given those odds, Bigi decided not to waste his resources to participate in an appeal. Nonetheless, Katherine has decided to appeal this court's ruling. That decision is not for the benefit of the heirs" (via People).