Lionel Richie Claims Michael Jackson Was Nicknamed 'Smelly' for His Questionable Hygiene

An excerpt from Lionel Richie's new memoir, "Truly," claims Quincy Jones nicknamed Michael Jackson 'smelly' because he would wear the same clothes for days on end...

From Page Six

Lionel Richie is calling out Michael Jackson’s bad hygiene, saying he was “smelly” and claims wouldn’t change or wash his clothes for days.

“Michael was very close with his siblings and his mom, but once he went solo, making these monster albums, movies and videos, he was in charge of his own ship,” the “Endless Love” singer wrote in his newly released memoir, “Truly.”

“His day-to-day life was what you could call eccentric. Like an absent-minded professor but still a kid,” Richie, 76, added.

The “American Idol” judge said he and late music producer Quincy Jones would make fun of their pal Jackson, whom they nicknamed “Smelly.”

“Michael would laugh, too, realizing that he was oblivious to the fact that he hadn’t changed or washed his clothes for a couple of days or so,” Richie wrote. “We all have our quirks.”

The “All Night Long” crooner said the “Thriller” musician would perform on tour in “elaborate costumes made for him by his stylists” and would wear pajamas, slippers or going out attire to the studio.

“Whenever Michael came to visit me, he was wearing whatever — jeans and a T-shirt,” Richie penned, adding that Jackson would never put on deodorant around him. “And the jeans were either falling off him or too short to even be jeans and, well, smelly.”

When the former Commodores frontman inquired about Jackson’s pants, the “King of Pop” replied, “‘Lionel, I walked by a store in the Valley. The owner came out and gave me a free pair.'”

“Everybody kept something for a souvenir,” Richie wrote. “He just got into the habit of wearing the same pants until they were unwearable.”

Richie recalled a time when he gifted Jackson a pair of jeans and clean underwear and encouraged him to shower when the Jackson 5 frontman allegedly had a foul odor.

“I drove him home, on his back streets, and he was sweet and thankful,” Richie claimed in his memoir.

“As soon as I walked back into my house, I passed by the living room and noticed that there on the carpet was the pair of Michael Jackson’s underwear and his old ratty jeans. Just lying there like roadkill,” he added.

“What do I do but laugh? MJ was here.”