Michael Jordan consistently teetered the line between ‘media darling’ and ‘absolute recluse’ throughout a majority of his career. A commotion being caused by his appearance in public would be a massive understatement. By the time he was 30 and hadn’t even finished a decade in the NBA, he seemed to be over the fame of it all.
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Being thrust into global icon status by simply being ‘great at basketball’ wasn’t something MJ was prepared for. “I’m so tried that even when it comes time to push myself, I feel the tiredness,” said Jordan to Bob Greene in the midst of the ’92 NBA Finals.
While that exhaustion certainly comes from constant 82-game regular seasons mixed in with deep Playoff runs every year, it cannot be chalked up to just that. His commitment to the media and his fans played a massive role in him ultimately needing multiple breaks from the limelight.
During an interview at age 30, as he was aiming for his first 3-peat, ‘His Airness’ broke down just how taxing media sessions and fan interactions can be. “Everyday is not where I want to be bothered by you,” said a mildly exasperated Jordan. The ‘you’ in question here is self-explanatory.
“Those are the days that I found myself a lot of time at home and avoiding the public so that they don’t see the ugly side of Michael Jordan. Because, there is an ugly side.”
The responsibility of being the face of a multi-billion empire such as the NBA weighed heavy on the Bulls legend’s shoulders. Fresh off the Barcelona Olympics, Jordan’s popularity skyrocketed which meant a hundred million more eyes were locked in on MJ’s every move.
It got to a point where Jordan began seeing fans in a bit of a negative light. During his 1992 Playboy interview, he revealed he wanted to tell a fan to, “go screw yourself,” after he was berated for not signing an autograph at 3am following an arduous day of basketball.
“It’s my job to try to show you a very positive side of me,” was his mentality when it came to hiding his perception in the media. Jordan’s ‘Magic Johnson-esque’ smile along with his all-American charm made him the poster-man for family friendly corporations such as Gatorade and McDonald’s. Slip-ups in the public were simply not acceptable in his eyes.
Of course, he did have his very public pitfalls such as his marital issues and questions about his gambling tendencies. However, for someone as famous as Michael, he did his job better than 99.99% of people would be in that same exact position.
Fast-forward to present day and the billionaire has completely shut himself off from interacting with the outside world. He barely does any interviews and makes little to no public appearances. If fans are lucky, they’ll catch a glimpse of him on his superyacht sailing the seas somewhere near Greece.
