Understood. The stigma, the jokes, no one can deny that they exist and shouldn’t. But they do have a long history, don’t they. Mental illness can be easily faked, misdiagnosed, used as an excuse, hence the cynicism which greets such people as the Jacksons or the mafiosi showing up in courtrooms wearing pyjamas. And who can forget the hoax of Sybil, and the more recent hoax of recovered memory syndrome. With all that, the posters here will continue to treat this Jackson person with the cynicism that he has duly earned, I predict. (And I don’t believe that a person just out of a Mayo treatment falls of the wagon as quickly as he did.)
You’re right, there have been people who have faked mental illness, but it isn’t as easy as one might think. Even if Jackson has BiPolar, that will not get him off the hook for any illegal activities - nor should it.