Paris Jackson gets candid on drug addiction and the way it changed her nose

TW: This story touches on issues of drug addiction and self-harm

Paris Jackson is getting candid about her past drug addiction. In a video reuploaded to a fan account on TikTok, the 26-year-old musician and model opened up about the lasting physical reminder from her past struggles with addiction.

Paris started the video by opening up about a dream she had. “I had a dream last night that I was a guest on Jimmy Fallon,” she began. “I was like looking directly at the camera and talking about how we’re not gonna see any improvement in mental health until we start addressing what we eat and how we eat.” 

But midway through her video, the 27-year-old shifted gears and spoke honestly about something she’s “never actually addressed” before – the loud whistle she makes when breathing through her nose. “That is because I have what’s called a perforated septum,” she explained. “It’s slightly different from a deviated septum – and it’s what you think it’s from. Don’t do drugs, kids.”

© TikTok

With a perforated septum, there is a hole or tear in the cartilage or bone that separates the two nostrils (nasal septum). She said she can even run a piece of spaghetti through the hole.

© TikTok

Paris didn’t shy away from the reality of her past, adding, “I’m not gonna tell anyone what to do, but I don’t recommend it because it ruined my life.” 

Despite living with the effects of her past, including the physical challenges of her perforated septum, Paris said she’s chosen not to get plastic surgery. “You have to take pills when you do a surgery that gnarly,” she said. “And I’m just — I don’t wanna f*** with that.”

Now, six years sober and continuing to speak out about wellness, addiction, and recovery, Paris is finding humor and lightness in the journey. “It’s a bitch when you’re in the studio coughing vocals,” she joked. “But Jimmy loved it.”

Paris’s journey with sobriety

© Corbis via Getty Images

Paris opened up about her sobriety journey last month at the 35th annual Friendly House Awards Luncheon. “I didn’t just get my life back. I got a better one,” she said. “I say it’s funny, I feel like getting sober was kind of like getting into a car accident because everything I shoved in the back seat moved forward on impact, and today I’m learning to navigate life on life’s terms.”

In a July 2020 episode of her Facebook Watch series with her ex-boyfriend Gabriel Glenn, Unfiltered: Paris Jackson and Gabriel Glenn, she said her journey with self-harm and the thrill-seeking dopamine rushes came after she moved into her grandmother Katherine’s home following her father, Michael Jackson’s, death in 2009.

She found food to be an addiction and gained a lot of weight. When her cousin called her during the day, she “fell into self-harm” and would cut and burn herself. “Pain is way better than numb because at least you’re feeling something,” the singer shared.

“Dopamine is called dope for a reason; it feels good,” she said. “Things like food and sex and drugs and music and working out — there are a lot of things that cause a dopamine release. Self-harm was one of them, tattoos were one of them, and so there was that, and then also it was a distraction from emotional pain, transferring to physical pain, and the need for control.”

She went on to confess, “Yes, I tried to kill myself many times.”