It's almost fitting that a celebrity who became tabloid fodder and embroiled in scandal dies far too young.
The last two decades of Michael Jackson's life were light years from his rise as the talented singer/performer.
Since the announcement of his death, people are continuing to argue whether he truly was a pedophile, with fans coming to his defense.
And I'm sure every media outlet will squeeze every word they can out of his life, including the accusations and the often bizarre moments he was involved in.
Regardless of the accusations, I can't believe there is anyone who will say the man wasn't troubled.
The celebrity that brought Jackson to such heights of fame and personal wealth had, in my opinion, as much to do with his crumbling mental state.
The man was barely in his 20s when "Thriller" was released. That album helped cement his status as pop culture icon.
It's hard to know how many people were leaching on to him, building his image and stroking his ego.
By the 1990s, plastic surgery and medical problems resulted in a far different person than what I remembered growing up in the 1980s.
Maybe some people are able to ground themselves in family, able to keep some semblance of normalcy.
Perhaps that was something he didn't have with people because of his fame and fortune.
Or perhaps the fame was only just a small part of an individual stuck yearning for the normal life, but unable to tell between reality and celebrity.
It's often been said Joe Jackson didn't give his children much of a childhood and was abusive.
All one has to do is see the train wreck Britney Spears became.
Perhaps if any good can come of Jackson's death it will be another cautionary tale of the personal pain that fame and fortune can bring.
Like Elvis before him, perhaps Jackson destined to become a real life Norman Maine from the movie "A Star is Born" — always trying to grab hold of the fame and fortune they had once held at the height of their career.