I still admire and listen to MJ music. He was brilliant musically, warped personally, as so many noted artists are wont to be. I’m capable of separating the two. His early life was not easy and he was very likely abused himself. That does not excuse his apparent later behavior, for which he is now answering having left this world.
Anna Nicole Smith, no strong opinion. She worked with what she had to get to where she got. Grasping for fame and fortune is seldom pretty.
His Wikipedia "early life" entry contains no clue -- well-to-do parents even in the days just after WWII, private school, university (London School of Economics), sang in church choir as a kid. I've heard he even has Tory leanings because he is educated. To what abuse and hard life are you referring? I have never read any in-depth biographies, so I have no idea.