 Jackson stated several times that " Billie Jean " was based on the groupies he and his brothers encountered while part of The Jackson 5 . " Billie Jean is kind of anonymous . It represents a lot of girls . They used to call them groupies in the ' 60s . " He added : " They would hang around backstage doors , and any band that would come to town they would have a relationship with , and I think I wrote this out of experience with my brothers when I was little . There were a lot of Billie Jeans out there . Every girl claimed that their son was related to one of my brothers . " 
