Michael Jackson

by J. Randy Taraborrelli

  Lisa recalled, ‘I thought to myself, Wow, this is a real guy. He swears. He’s funny. I told him, “Dude, if people knew who the hell you really are, they would be so surprised. People wouldn’t think I was so crazy for being into you if they saw who you really are; that you sit around and you drink and you curse and you’re fucking funny, and you have a bad mouth and you don’t have that high voice all the time.”’

  ‘He said, “Well just don’t tell them.” I thought he was normal and that everything you saw of him publicly was just a mask.’

  Lisa recalled, ‘As time went on, Michael and I talked more, I thought, I’m getting to know the real man here. He puts on an act for outsiders, this sort of victim thing, I thought, but I’m the one seeing the real deal, the real person. I started thinking I was special, that he was opening up to me as he never had to anyone else. He made me feel that way. He can be very seductive when he’s pulling you in.’

  In truth, as a potential mate, Michael did seem to have it all: intellect, drive, brains, energy, vision, success… money. As for his appearance, well that, admittedly, was a bit off-putting, with the plastic surgery and pale skin colouring. And his sexuality still seemed ambiguous. However, he was kissing her fairly passionately and, from many accounts, in public places. He seemed to enjoy doing it, too. Either he was playing some kind of manly role, perhaps an emotional consequence of the damaging allegations, or he was really interested in her. Lisa was definitely into him. ‘I’m not a woman who goes for the norm, anyway,’ Lisa said in explaining her attraction to him. ‘I like strange guys, the ones on the edge, the ones with an edge, the ones with fire in their bellies. That was Michael, to me.’

  Lisa was Elvis’s kid; she’d been around ‘strange’. When she was seven, she and her daddy were eating breakfast in front of the TV when singer Robert Goulet happened to appear on the screen. For some reason, Elvis hated Robert Goulet. When he saw his image before him, he pulled out a .22 shot gun and blew the TV away, blasting it to smithereens. Then, he calmly went back to his ham and eggs. Lisa just sat in her chair, stunned. At least Michael was afraid of guns…

  As far as Lisa was concerned, she and Michael were dating, and her motive was to see where it could take her, romantically. Most people in his circle, though, were not as certain as to his motives for being with Lisa, though he did seem to like her. There was talk that he was after her money, which was ludicrous – as if he didn’t have enough of his own.

  As Elvis’s sole beneficiary, Lisa would come into a fortune of about $300 million, but not until she turned thirty. Most of Lisa’s money would be the result of the savvy Priscilla Beaulieu Presley’s business acumen. While Elvis had earned roughly $250 million in his life, by the time he died his estate was valued at $5.4 million. It was his ex-wife, Priscilla, who turned Elvis’s failing Presley Enterprises around to make a profit. Turning Elvis’s fourteen-acre estate, Graceland (purchased by him in 1957) into a tourist attraction, in 1982 was one stroke of genius on her part. It brought in $20 million a year.

  Throughout 1993, during the time Michael seemed obsessed with Jordie Chandler, he was dating Lisa, intermittently. When the molestation allegations surfaced in his life, however, Michael’s relationship with Lisa became a more urgent matter to him. Ironically, if not for Jordie’s accusations and the ensuing scandal, he and Lisa may never have become anything more than just friends, a coupling similar to the innocuous, non-sexual ‘romances’ he had with Brooke Shields and Tatum O’Neal. However, after Michael began the second leg of his Dangerous tour and the investigation intensified, he began to depend on Lisa for emotional support, telephoning her from overseas, seeming desperate and alone. During such anguished calls, Lisa would attempt to counter his sadness with humour, cheerfulness and good advice. As he grew to depend upon her, their relationship strengthened.

  ‘I was in on the beginning of the molestation stuff, and I was getting the phone calls, and he was telling me that it was extortion,’ she recalled. ‘I believed him at the time. I mean, I was convinced. He was freaking out. I believed that he didn’t do anything wrong, and that he was being wrongly accused and, yes, I started falling for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it.’

  Elizabeth Taylor to the Rescue

  In the midst of all of the turmoil, there was some good news for Michael Jackson when he heard that Elizabeth Taylor and her husband, Larry Fortensky, would be joining him in Singapore, his next tour stop, to lend their emotional support and celebrate his thirty-fifth birthday with him.

  Many people have wondered about Michael’s relationship with Elizabeth, thinking it an unlikely friendship. However, they actually have a great deal in common – and much more than just having been child stars. Like Elizabeth, Michael has known loneliness, he has lived in fear of not being able to fully love… and of not having love returned.

  Michael once explained to me that he and Elizabeth first met in the early 1980s. Out of the blue, he had sent her a dozen tickets to one of his Los Angeles concerts at Dodger’s Stadium. ‘I didn’t know it, but it was her birthday – February 27,’ Michael recalled. ‘I thought I was giving her great seats because they were in the VIP box. But when Elizabeth got there, she became very angry because the seats were so far away from the stage. And she left, upset! The whole time I was performing, I was thinking, Oh my God, Elizabeth Taylor is watching me. Elizabeth Taylor is watching me! But, she wasn’t even there. When I got offstage, they told me she had gone home, mad. The next day, I called her, and I cried because I felt so awful.’

  According to Michael’s memory, Elizabeth was cordial, but direct. ‘Michael,’ she said, ‘a major star such as myself never sits in the cheap seats.’

  ‘After that, we talked on the phone every day, on every stop of my tour,’ Michael said. ‘And I thought, Wow. Doesn’t she have other things to do? After all, she’s Elizabeth Taylor! At the end of the tour, I asked her if I could come by for tea. She said, “Yes.” I brought Bubbles along. She didn’t mind…’

  When asked, Michael will always say that no one is a better, more understanding friend than Elizabeth Taylor. She can deal with any problem; nothing shocks her and she is always available with a warm hug and an understanding ear. Because she is also extraordinarily charismatic, it’s easy to become swept away by Elizabeth – just as it is easy to be swept away by Michael. The two became so fascinated with one another so quickly that, in 1989, Elizabeth toyed with the idea of moving Michael into her home so that they could spend all of their waking hours together. At the time, Michael was about to move out of his family home in Encino, and was considering buying Neverland.

  ‘But why do you need all of that space when you and I can live together in my home,’ Elizabeth suggested, according to what Michael told me. ‘Imagine the fun we’ll have. Maybe we’ll even get married.’ She was probably being facetious; she, no doubt, realized that the ever-so-secretive Michael was troubled and in need of love and acceptance. Maybe she also sensed that he was ashamed of his inability at that time to truly connect with and be intimate with anyone, male or female. ‘But will we have to have sex?’ an alarmed Michael wanted to know. ‘Oh, of course not, you silly boy,’ Elizabeth told him, cackling in her inimitable way. ‘Why, I don’t know any married couples who have sex!’ Michael considered her proposition. ‘In the end,’ he said, ‘I thought that might be taking things too far.’ Instead Michael bought Neverland, but he and Elizabeth remained close friends. In fact, Elizabeth married her seventh husband, Larry Fortensky, under a gazebo at Neverland in 1991 – amidst swans, doves and at least one giraffe – in a million-dollar ceremony.

  It speaks well of Elizabeth that she was so vociferous in her defence of Michael, especially since it wasn’t a popular stance; such public support was certainly not forthcoming in the same degree from his other high-profile friends, such as Diana Ross, Jackie Onassis or Liza Minnelli. *

  ‘Michael is one of my best friends in the world,’ Elizabeth Taylor told a reporter on the plane to S
ingapore; she and Larry Fortensky took the trip surrounded by a coterie of press people. ‘I can’t think of anything worse a human being could go through than what he’s going through now,’ she observed. ‘He’s a very sensitive, vulnerable, shy person. I believe that he will be vindicated.’ When asked about the reason for such allegations, Elizabeth became irate. ‘Ext-oooooortion,’ she exclaimed in a shrill voice. ‘I think that’s clear. Well, isn’t it?‘ she demanded, wanting the writer to agree with her.

  On arrival, Elizabeth and Larry checked into the same hotel in which Michael was staying, the exquisite Raffles. As soon as she checked in, she rushed to her friend’s room. When Michael answered the door, he collapsed into her arms in a heap. ‘Oh, there, there, you poor thing,’ she said, patting him on the back. ‘I’m here, now. Elizabeth is here.’

  Michael did manage a show that night, 29 August, his birthday. At the end, forty thousand people sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him. Later, Elizabeth hosted a small party for him in his suite.

  The next stop was Taiwan, which is where Joe, Katherine and some of the Jackson boys had decided to join Michael. ‘Just what I need,’ he told Elizabeth, according to a witness. ‘Why do they have to come?’

  ‘They are your family, Michael,’ she said. ‘You must put up with them.’

  ‘My father,’ Michael said, burying his face in his hands. ‘I can’t even stand to be in the same room with that man.’

  ‘Neither can I, dear,’ Elizabeth said, massaging his back, sympathetically.

  When he finally got to Taiwan, Michael simply refused to see his visiting family members. Bob Jones, his long-time publicist, was even assigned the task of keeping them from him. Katherine was hurt. ‘Why does Elizabeth Taylor get to see him any time she wants,’ she complained, ‘but I have to make an appointment to see him for five minutes?’

  Dealing with the allegations against Michael was hard on Katherine. It affected her blood pressure, and the family was worried about her. It was even tougher on her when she realized that she couldn’t see him, couldn’t comfort him. She and the family members felt isolated in the hotel, wondering when they would ever have a private audience with the King of Pop. Later, Jermaine would complain bitterly about it on The Larry King Show. ‘Michael’s handlers don’t want us to get to him,’ he said.

  As his family waited to see him, Michael had lunch with Elizabeth Taylor. Holding a messy slice of carrot cake with frosting in her hand, she urged him to eat it. He had lost six pounds since the second-leg of the tour began, just a short while ago in Bangkok. ‘Take this,’ she insisted. Michael sneered at the cake, seeming repulsed by the sight of it. ‘No, take it away,’ he said, begging her.

  ‘Michael, if you don’t eat this cake, I swear to God, I will call your family in here and let them have a go at you,’ she warned. ‘And you know I’ll do it, too.’

  Michael laughed. ‘Give me that goddamn cake,’ he said, scooping it out of her hands. He wolfed it down.

  ‘Good boy,’ she exclaimed with delight. ‘Good boy!’

  The next day, Michael gave in and hosted a luncheon for Katherine, Joseph and the rest of his visiting family. Mostly, he sat in a corner quietly. Before the luncheon was over, though, Jermaine approached him about participating in the upcoming Jackson Family television programme. No longer in a position to avoid the question, he agreed.

  By the fall of 1993, as the legal manoeuvrings continued, Michael was in worse shape than ever, physically and emotionally. He was devastated by an interview with Evan and Jordie – although neither was identified by name. ‘I imagine Michael Jackson is pretty scared right now, really scared,’ the kid was quoted as having said. ‘And he should be, because what he did to me is a really bad thing. Michael hasn’t called me or anything…’

  June and Dave Schwartz decided to align with Evan against Michael. It was said by her friends that June feared reprisals from Evan if she continued to oppose him. She thought it possible that if Michael was found guilty, Evan might then accuse her of neglect. Meanwhile, her lawyer, Michael Freeman, quit saying that he was ‘uncomfortable’ with her decision and had a bad feeling about Evan, whom he later described as ‘not a genuine person’.

  Then surprisingly, Evan’s lawyer Barry Rothman resigned from the case too and was replaced by civil attorney, Larry Feldman. So it was on 14 September 1993, Evan Chandler filed a civil suit against Michael for the sexual molestation of his son. It was effectively an insurance policy should the criminal system not work for him. Plus, it was a sure way to see that Michael paid in financial terms for what Evan said he had done to Jordie. Jordie would be represented in the legal action by attorney Feldman, who said at the time, ‘Michael was in love with the boy. It was a gentle, soft, caring, warm, sweet relationship.’ Larry also believed his client when told that the relationship was sexual, thus the lawsuit.

  Though the lawsuit seemed to double the trouble for Michael, some of his advisers hoped it might actually provide a catalyst to end the matter. If the lawsuit could be settled with money, they reasoned, the police investigation might go away, as well. Though a trial for the civil case was set for 21 March 1994, there was still hope that a deal could be brokered before that time. There was a sense that Evan Chandler would accept money from Michael, and with good reason. They had already tried to negotiate a deal with him, albeit unsuccessfully, when he originally asked for twenty million dollars, before he went to the authorities. The problem, though, was that it was well-known within Michael’s camp that he would never pay Evan a dime. Michael still maintained his innocence in the matter and was certain that any cash settlement would suggest otherwise; he wasn’t going to do it, not without a fight. However, it was decided, as one adviser put it, ‘to cross that bridge when we come to it.’

  Though some secretly felt the matter might actually be settled given a little time and a lot of cash, others in the: Jackson camp weren’t as optimistic. According to a person familiar with the case, Elizabeth telephoned Michael to tell him that ‘things do not look good back here.’ She said, ‘You’ve got to take action.’ Michael asked for details, telling her not to ‘hold anything back’. She said, ‘All hell is breaking loose.’

  Recalled one of Michael’s representatives, ‘Miss Taylor and I were on speaker phone with Michael. Michael was crying, asking, “What should I do? What can I do?” She became impatient. “Michael, you mustn’t substitute my judgement for your own,” she said. “You need to stop freaking out. You need to take charge of your life.”’

  In August 1994, Michael would tell me, ‘I swear to you, I didn’t know how bad things were. If I had known, maybe things would have been handled differently.’ It does seem, in retrospect, that he knew more than he said he did, and was actually just in a state of denial about it.

  Elizabeth told him that, in her view, no one was handling matters for him in the States in a way that would benefit him. ‘I think they need to be kicking ass, and they’re not,’ she said. ‘Thenyou be the one kicking ass, Elizabeth,’ Michael said. At that, I cringed,’ recounted the adviser. ‘All we needed to make things worse was Elizabeth Taylor handling the defence. Much to my chagrin, and that of others on Michael’s team, Miss Taylor offered to hold strategy meetings at her home two or three times a week, and then report back to Michael what had been said, and by whom.’

  In the next few weeks, Elizabeth Taylor hosted many conferences at her house with about ten of Michael’s team and was often critical of those handling Michael’s public relations, though not so much his legal defence. Some on Michael’s team did not want to attend the Elizabeth Taylor summits, protesting that for a movie star to have such control over his career was ridiculous. They dubbed her ‘Queen of the Defence’. In truth, she wasn’t spearheading any legal tactics, as much as providing a forum for attorneys, publicists and other strategists to brainstorm so she could then keep Michael apprised of their view points. Of course, some of Michael’s staff did not wish to attend Elizabeth’s meetings for fear of a negative
report being sent back to the boss.

  During one meeting, Elizabeth said, ‘I’m afraid he will never sell another record again if we can’t get this goddamned ridiculousness straightened out. I think we have to make sure there’s something left for Michael after this is resolved.’

  ‘He just might be in jail after this goddamned ridiculousness is resolved,’ muttered one of Michael’s advisers.

  Elizabeth looked down and scribbled on her legal pad. She then looked back at the adviser. ‘I just made a note to remember to tell Michael you said that,’ she told him.

  He lowered his head, duly chastised.

  Anthony Pellicano simply refused to attend the Taylor meetings. ‘What are you, kidding me?’ he asked when asked why he wasn’t present. ‘I’m fucking busy. I’m out here working for Michael. I don’t have time for tea with movie stars.’

  Elizabeth was unhappy with Anthony, anyway. ‘He’s not a team player,’ she said. ‘We can’t keep track of him. He does his own thing in his own way, and we don’t know what he’s thinking. I don’t like it. He makes me nervous.’

  During another of her home meetings, Elizabeth, Sandy Gallin (Michael’s manager at the time) and Howard Weitzman telephoned Michael overseas to discuss the matter of Anthony. According to a witness, all three were on ‘speaker phone’, talking to Michael.

  ‘Look, Mike, maybe he has to go,’ Howard said of Pellicano. ‘I like the guy, but I’m not sure about him, any more…’