He never identified as white, he was proud of being black. His facial surgeries weren’t about looking more white, but more beautiful, which due to white supremacy culture includes characteristics you could describe as white but not very accurately.
He used a skin whitening cream to even out his skin tone, because there was no skin darkening cream. It’s medically possible to destroy melanin but not to easily replace it. The vitiligo comes in in spots from my understanding.
His facial surgeries weren’t about looking more white, but more beautiful, which due to white supremacy culture includes characteristics you could describe as white but not very accurately.
Notable absolute completely irredeemable piece-of-shit Joe Jackson’s constant abuse of Michael, that also included comments about his looks, specifically his “black nose”, also had something to do with it.
His serious burns from a hairspray-accelerated fire while filming a video probably played a role in him having plastic surgeries. The footage is out there for those who need proof, there was a tragic lack of proper response in the moment to his hair catching fire.