 Jackson 's biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli promoted the theory that " Billie Jean " was derived from a real life experience the singer faced in 1981 . The Magic & The Madness documents how a young woman wrote Jackson a letter , which informed the singer that he was the father of one of her twins . Jackson , who regularly received letters of this kind , had never met the woman in question and ignored it . The woman , however , continued to send Jackson more letters , which stated that she loved him and wanted to be with him . She wrote of how happy they would be if they raised the child together . She pondered how Jackson could ignore his own flesh and blood . The letters disturbed the singer to the extent that he suffered nightmares . 
