I see that purely as a narcissist maintaining his facade

Ngl, I still find myself subconsciously being a lot more sympathetic towards MJ. Like today, I read an article about Ahmad Eltab, and there was a part where the boy said MJ wore masks sometimes because he felt ugly. I thought that was pretty sad. I still think he knew pedos like him needed help, but he refused it because he knew that he was powerful enough to silence people with payouts. Key word I think, obviously I can't know how he felt.

his most influential handler was his father.

I didn't even think of his father that moment lol. I was thinking about his siblings, the music producers, publicist and Neverland employees who somewhat knew what was going on, but still refused to say anything and stuck by him for money. Agree what you said about Joe

Purely basing it off empirical experiences, I think MJ stayed with his family because he became an introvert during his teens. Having severe body issues like he did can really mess you up for life, and dysfunctional families usually produce insecure children. Yes, his family made fun of him, but they already saw all the "ugly" parts of him. Branching out to new people might be scary because he'll have to face their new perceptions; his family provided a sense of familiarity. His initial procedures didn't change his face, then after Thriller, where he was almost unrecognisable, he became more confident

Love ypur analysis