Glove Comes Off in Jackson Interview : Entertainment: In a talk with Oprah Winfrey, the pop star denies he’s had his skin bleached or undergone much plastic surgery.

Pop megastar Michael Jackson said Wednesday that he has a disorder that destroys his skin pigment and insisted during a live television interview with Oprah Winfrey that he has had “very little” plastic surgery.

In his first solo interview in nearly a decade, Jackson said that he regrets working through his childhood and that he was beaten by his father. He also assailed some news stories about him as “garbage.”

Jackson confronted a question about his fading skin tone and declared: “There is no such thing as skin bleaching. I’ve never seen it. I don’t know what it is.”

The singer revealed that he has a disorder “that destroys the pigmentation of the skin” but didn’t identify the disorder, which he said began after his “Thriller” album was released in 1982.

“Using makeup evens it out. Why is that so important? That’s not important to me,” Jackson said.

Responding to another oft-repeated question, he said he has had a little plastic surgery--a minor procedure to his nose--but no alterations to the rest of his face.

“Very little. You can count it on two fingers,” he said, referring to cosmetic procedures.

Jackson defended his frequent crotch-grabbing during dance movements in concerts by saying, “It happens subliminally.

“It’s the music that compels me to do it. You don’t think about it, it just happens. I’m slave to the rhythm,” he said.