LONDON - Michael Jackson’s new tapes that have surfaced have revealed that the singer’s acne problems in his teenage years had an effect on him mentally and left him paranoid.

The King of Pop is heard saying in the tapes that he was extremely worried about his skin problem.

“You can clear up physically but still mentally you’re scarred - so you really haven’t improved,” the News of the World quoted him as saying in the tape.

“My skin broke out real bad. It was tough - especially after everyone had been calling me cute for such a long time. And the more I worried about it the worse I got,” he added.

Apparently, the late singer only felt comfortable with his looks on stage when it was primarily hidden with his hat.

He said: “I wore hats, I kept my head down all the time, I wouldn’t look at people when I talked to them.

“I wouldn’t say nothin’ hardly. It was terrible. I felt I didn’t have anything to be proud of. My success meant nothing.

“On stage I didn’t think about it, it was gone. But when I came off stage, there it was again.”

The ‘Thriller’ hitmaker defended his decision to undergo surgery to make his looks better.

However, he did not want people to know about his skin problems.

He said: “I’m a perfectionist when it comes to skin. I would look in the mirror and I didn’t like they way I looked, so.. of course, never print this. Please don’t…

“But take Marilyn Monroe, and all those people. They got the works. Julie Andrews, Raquel Welch. Even Elvis. You look at his nose and the difference.. it’s true. But nobody ever mentions it.”

Jackson denied that by having his skin bleached white he was escaping the black community.

He said: “That’s so silly. People will say anything to sell newspapers.” (ANI)