Paris Jackson gave a rare televised interview.

The 13-year-old’s appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” has already been taped and will air this Thursday. Upgrade from Lindsay’s scheduled appearance.

Paris admitted that as a younger child she felt it was “stupid” wearing a mask when she went out in public with her famous father.

Jackson, who died aged 50 in 2009, would sometimes give his children masks to wear to protect them from the frenzy of media and public attention that accompanied their every appearance.

“Yeah, I’m like this is stupid, why am I wearing a mask?” Paris told show host Ellen DeGeneres.

“But I kind of realized the older I got, like, he only tried to protect us and he’d explain that to us too.”

Paris, one of Jackson’s three children who are now in the care of their grandmother Katherine, has gradually emerged from her father’s shadow in recent months, and the DeGeneres show was billed as Paris’s first “solo” interview.

The teenager is set to appear in a movie called “Lundon’s Bridge and the Three Keys” based on a young adult fantasy novel.

Asked when she realized that she wanted to act, Paris replied: “When I was really little. My dad was in the movie ‘Moonwalker’ and I knew he could sing really well but I didn’t know he could act. I saw that and I said, wow, I want to be just like him.”

video: paris official