*ET caught up with Michael Jackson’s eldest child, Prince Jackson, who opens up about walking in his late father’s footsteps when it comes to both entertainment and philanthropy.
“Everybody thought I would do music or be a dancer,” Jackson told ET’s Nischelle Turner on Wednesday. “I can’t do either. I do enjoy film. I do enjoy that business a lot.”
Jackson’s primary interests in showbiz are behind the camera. He has produced music videos for rapper Omer Bhatti and the Sco Triplets through his company, King’s Son Productions. Jackson says he often looks to his father’s seminal videos for inspiration.
“I like to study and see the little things that they could have done to make it better, or what they did to make it better and stand out from among the rest,” Jackson, 19, said. “I think ‘Smooth Criminal’ [is my favorite]. Or ‘Thriller’ might be my favorite, because the magnitude and the size it had.”
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On the philanthropic side, Jackson co-founded the organization Heal Los Angeles, which aims to end child abuse, homelessness and hunger.
“I’m trying to continue his work in helping children, helping homelessness and helping hunger,” Jackson said. “That’s what we really focus on with Heal LA, but we focus on a more local base.”
Jackson said the most normal thing about his dad was watching him “trying to cook.”
“He would make Daddy bread,” Jackson said. “I didn’t really know what it was until recently. It was really like French toast.”
Jackson was 12 years old when his father died in 2009, and he shared with ET a key piece of advice his father once offered:
“[His best advice] would be, ‘Do not trust anyone at face value,'” Jackson said. “You need to verify exactly what it is.”
Today, Prince is a typical sophomore at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and he’s enjoying a PRIVATE life with his special lady friend.
“I don’t think I’d ever go down the road with a reality series,” he said. “I like to keep everything private, because there’s been so much of my young life that wasn’t private. I like to cherish what I’m able to.”
Jackson says he and his girlfriend have been dating “since college started,” and while it’s unclear if he’ll be spending time with her during the holidays, he will be getting together with his famous family.
“My dad used to always say around this time, ‘Be thankful for what you have, because some people don’t have it,'” Jackson said.
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