“There’s Many Days I Don’t Want to Be Around People and I’m a Nasty Person, an Evil Person”: Michael Jordan Once Got Blunt about the Pain of Being Put on a “Pedestal”

Michael Jordan has never been a very public personality. In his playing days, Michael rarely made public appearances for interviews but considering the time, the opportunities were not as much as there are right now. There wasn’t much social media when Michael Jordan was in his full flow. However, for that matter, in his retirement MJ has kept his personal space and has hardly made any such appearances. MJ has always been a lowkey person when it comes to his fan following. While he loves the attention and used to thrive on it when he played, personally Michael has always been a private person. And he once confirmed his lesser known side.

MJ sat down with GQ for an exclusive interview in 1989. This was even before he won his first NBA title. But nonetheless he was a sensation like no other. MJ was never one to be around many people and very much enjoyed the privacy from time to time. Now when he played the fans were inescapable. Obviously he needed their craze and love to get better and win games. However, sometimes it was a whole other story. He once explained what being put on the pedestal meant and how it would get painful sometimes.

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MJ said, “I go into hid­ing. I just stay in. There’s many days I don’t want to be around people and I’m a nasty person, an evil person. I stay in till I’m back in the mood to deal with peo­ple again.” Michael sometimes just used to “disappear”.

Michael Jordan felt pain in people’s unreal treatment

Jordan’s fans pretty much worshiped him. He even said that people used to treat him like he was Jesus Christ himself. People wanted Michael to succeed so much that it meant they would “put him on a pedestal”. This meant that even when Michael did not deserve much praise, people would go beyond their ways and support MJ with every bone. Moreover, this was a huge compliment to Michael when he was playing. However, Michael also provided another perspective to that treatment which is rather unknown.

“As far as being on a pedestal, it’s a compliment, yet it’s somewhat painful to me that one person can be viewed so high above other people. For example, if I go to a restaurant, I am very likely to get that meal free. But poor peo­ple who go to the same restaurant got to wash dishes to eat. And I’m the one that can afford it. If you can explain that, then you can explain society.” Michael stated in the interview with GQ.

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Michael has always been a people’s man. And he has also been someone who has given back so much to people, whether it be joy, tears of happiness and celebrations or whether it was just contributing to society. Even after not being that public MJ’s influence has always been unreal and that just proves the greatness of his legacy.