MICHAEL JACKSON - JACKSON FAMILY UNDER FIRE FOR PARIS SPEECH

JACKSON FAMILY UNDER FIRE FOR PARIS SPEECH

Child psychologists have blasted the JACKSON family for allowing MICHAEL JACKSON's daughter to speak at her late father's memorial, insisting the media attention thrust on young PARIS could be "potentially very traumatic".
The 11 year old fought back tears as she paid tribute to her dad on stage at the service in Los Angeles on Tuesday (07Jul09), sobbing, "Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine and I just wanted to say I love him so much."
She then collapsed into her aunt Janet Jackson's arms at the emotional climax of the memorial, watched by hundreds of millions of people around the globe.
But experts believe the youngster, whose father tried desperately to keep his children out of the media, could face difficulties adjusting to the spotlight as her speech makes headlines worldwide.
And child psychologist Linda Blair believes the Jackson family made a "bad judgment" when they allowed grief-stricken Paris to take the microphone.
Blair explains, "To be thrust into the limelight as Paris was is potentially very traumatic. This is a girl who has been shielded from the media her whole life.
"When a child is in shock, as Paris still will be from her father's death, the most important thing is to keep everything as normal as possible. But the opposite has happened here.
"The world has rarely seen Paris' face and has never heard her talk. But here she was making a speech to billions of people across the world. She is completely unused to speaking on stage. But here she was speaking on the biggest stage possible.
"In times like this logic goes out the window, so you can't blame the family for letting her do it. But they certainly made a bad judgment."