Michael Jackson

by J. Randy Taraborrelli

  While he stood there silently, a light rain began to fall. He tilted his head back, letting the gentle drops fall upon his face. As if on cue, a young male in his twenties, wearing a black silk shirt and slacks, hurried toward Michael, trailed by two uniformed, ageing housekeepers. The trio gained momentum as they realized the King was getting wet. The man opened a bright, red umbrella with a flourish, and held it above Michael’s head. The women wrapped him in a scarf and cloak as he stood motionless, like a mannequin being staged for display. Michael attempted a small smile of appreciation to the three; their faces remained stoic.

  As the rain began to fall harder, Michael turned away from those gates that opened to the outside world. The four then made the long trek back to the main house at a slow pace: Michael and his young man-servant, side-by-side under an umbrella; the two old maids dragging behind, becoming drenched in the downpour. An eerie parade of strangers in the rain. None of them speaking, all knowing their task. Onward, to Neverland.

  Michael’s World Caves In… Again

  He thought being ten was hard, being famous before he knew what it was to be a human being. He thought being eighteen was hard, going through adolescence with the eyes of the world upon him. Twenty-one was hard, too, feeling like a phoney, not fitting in… choosing plastic surgery, hoping it would be the solution to all his problems. He came to thirty with a desire to do good, but it was hard. While his career was history-making, his life remained… hard. Forty. Then forty-five… harder than he ever dreamed possible.

  The end of 2003 and beginning of 2004 has been the worst period of time in Michael Jackson’s life. Making it even more unfortunate for him is that he had, at the time that the last edition of this book was published, been working, even if tentatively, on repairing his personal life as well as his career, trying to come to terms with the past, with his father and other family members, and making important choices about how to handle other problems in his life. Yet he still had not made the most important decision of all, the one having to do with the on-going habit of entertaining other people’s children at Neverland. Such continual lapses in judgement and caution has caused another massive personal upheaval for him, a true crisis in his life.

  What a shame. There are no other words to describe the sight of Michael Jackson being led away in handcuffs… then, the mug shot… then, the arraignment on child-molestation charges.

  Michael was at the Mirage Hotel suite in Las Vegas on 18 November 2003 when a police raid of Neverland, the second one in ten years, occurred. He was shooting a video for a new song, ‘One More Chance’, written and produced by R. Kelly (who has also been arrested on child-molestation accusations, in a case that is still pending). However, there was no way for him to continue with the project. Seventy officers had descended upon the Jackson ranch and spent fourteen hours searching for evidence that might connect him to the latest charges. ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to get through it,’ he said, according to an aide who was present. Michael looked desperate and alone, said the aide, ‘the very foundation of his soul, shaken. But, still, there was a strong sense among people present that he had somehow brought it onto himself.’

  It’s true that after the first allegations of molestation were made against him ten years ago, Michael Jackson had every opportunity to change his behaviour. He would have been smart to stop himself, not just from making obsequious comments about young people (‘I would die if there were no children in the world’) but from seeking out the company of other people’s offspring. At the very least, it seemed unwise and even foolhardy for a man once accused of molestation to continue having sleepovers with the children of strangers.

  After the Chandler case was resolved, many on Jackson’s team hoped he would never again mention the subject of children – and certainly not be seen on television cuddling them, as he was on the controversial Martin Bashir documentary. As we have seen earlier, during his interview with Bashir, Michael admitted sleeping in a bed with many children. ‘When you say bed you’re thinking sexual,’ Michael said. ‘It’s not sexual, we’re going to sleep. I tuck them in. It’s very charming, it’s very sweet.’ While watching Michael holding hands with the wide-eyed and star-struck youngster in the documentary, who was described as a cancer-survivor, anyone who had been following Jackson’s chequered story over the years and knew his troubled history with the parents of young boys could sense trouble ahead. Indeed, a year later, that same boy is Michael’s accuser.

  What was Michael Jackson thinking? Had he been so emboldened by the solution to the Jordie Chandler problem that he was now arrogant about the way he lived his life? Did he not recognize the need to protect himself from the possibility of similar events? Was he so naive that he simply didn’t understand the danger in which he continued to place himself by entertaining hundreds upon hundreds of children at his Neverland ranch? Or, one at least has to wonder, did he just have the misfortune to cross paths with a family that is now out to get him, and ruin him?

  Of course, there is another possibility: Maybe Michael Jackson is a paedophile – a remote prospect as plain and simple as it is sick and twisted – and he got caught… again. The question remains unanswered at this stage, at least from a legal standpoint. There are many who believe in his innocence, and probably just as many who believe in his guilt.

  Ten years earlier, even at the height of the Jordie Chandler scandal, matters hadn’t escalated to the point where an arrest warrant was filed against Michael. During the latest raid in 2003, if Michael had been home, he would probably have been taken to jail and booked, immediately. The authorities had an arrest warrant with his name on it, and an ambulance present in case he fainted.

  There was good reason for such concern about Michael’s state of mind, though it seems unlikely that Santa Barbara District Attorney, Tom Sneddon, was genuinely worried about him. Michael is so fragile a person, the Chandler case almost sent him over the brink; he became addicted to drugs and, if not for the positive influence Elizabeth Taylor and Lisa Marie Presley, he might never have been able to recover. However, he did recover – and, then, paid Jordie millions of dollars to settle the matter in order that he be able to move forward with his life.

  Though Michael was able to put the other case behind him without admitting guilt – in fact, with many declarations of innocence – his career never recovered; his record sales were never the same. There was hope that a 2003 CD, a greatest hits compilation called Number Ones, would help matters when issued in November. A single from it, ‘One More Chance’, a melodic tune with multi-layered and lush harmonies, in the vein of some of his best 1980s work, seemed poised for success. In the UK, the compilation found quick acceptance: Number Ones debuted at the top of the charts. ‘One More Chance’ was also a hit. It’s clear that Michael’s British fans remain supportive. He also has the support of legions of fans in most other countries, but not in America. In the USA, he may never be able to rebound, especially now that he has been arrested. Indeed, in America, Number Ones was a huge commercial disappointment, nowhere close to being considered a hit record.

  ‘You have to stay strong,’ Michael’s aide told him on the day of the Neverland raid. ‘For your children, you have to be strong.’

  Michael crumpled into a chair. ‘I’ll do the best I can,’ he said. ‘But…’ His voice trailed off as he buried his face into his hands. ‘Oh, my God. What a shock. I can’t believe this is happening to me… again.’

  Explaining Away His Pain

  Michael Jackson is always caught by surprise whenever something terrible occurs in his life. He never seems able to connect the dots of unfolding misery back to his own impulsive actions and questionable judgement.

  For instance, he had never recognized that for every disadvantaged youngster who visited Neverland Ranch, there would always be a set of parents in the background. Some, such as those of his present accuser (and those of Jordie Chandler’s), might be at war with each other in a battle that could involve child custody (as it has
in both cases). Also, each child and each parent was likely to have his and her own dysfunctional history, as well as aggressive attorneys. Since there was no way to check the backgrounds of every child and every parent who entered his private domain, would it not have made more sense to keep strangers out of Neverland? If he was so determined to host an amusement park for kiddies, could he not have maintained Neverland for that purpose, but chosen to live elsewhere? The simple answer for Michael is: no. He must be around children. He must have them in his midst. Neverland is a shrine to adolescence. There are statues of youngsters and photographs of boys and girls all over the place. He’s obsessed with kids.

  How long, one wonders, can Michael and his enablers continue to explain his strange behaviour by saying that he is compensating for a childhood ripped from him by his career, his fame, his fans?

  The duration of a person’s conscious childhood probably spans the years between five and eighteen. Michael became famous at the age of ten. Not to be reductive of a person’s dysfunction in such a complex world, but if one insists upon harping on the notion of a lost childhood, then it would seem that Michael ‘lost’ eight years. Michael bought Neverland in 1988. He has lived there, surrounded by a dreamy and fake adolescence, for roughly sixteen years. Therefore, it would seem that he has compensated for his ‘lost childhood’ two times over.

  In truth, Neverland remains a monument to Michael’s confusion and conflict about childhood, and not how much he missed out on it but, rather, how much he misses it. He clings to every vestige of youth with almost manic desperation, as if growing up would be the worst thing that could happen to him.

  The ride on the private jet, a Gulf Stream G-4, from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara on 20 November 2003, the day Michael was arrested, was, of course, a difficult one. He was frightened and pessimistic about the future. ‘Why does everyone else get to be happy, and I’m always thrashing through the mud?’ he asked.

  Michael arrived at the jail wearing a black suit with his hands cuffed behind his back. He was photographed and fingerprinted and handed over his passport; it took about a half-hour. He was charged with ten counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under age fourteen, each count punishable by three to eight years in prison. Michael was freed on $3 million bail, which means he had to come up with $300,000 – not a difficult thing for him to do.

  Later, Michael would claim that he had been abused by police officers while at the station; they had even dislocated his shoulder! It was unlikely that Jackson suffered at the hands of law enforcement; there were video cameras everywhere. When did the abuse happen? He seemed fine when he arrived at the station, and was waving to people and flashing the victory sign when he left. The bruise Michael displayed to 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley (on 29 December 2003) as evidence of handcuffs that had been too tight was so high on his arm it had to be the result of some other occurrence. Some speculated that he had actually hurt himself during the caravan ride from Santa Barbara to Las Vegas, while shaking hands with fans out of the half-opened window of his automobile.

  There was something about Michael’s detailing of police abuse that felt impulsive in delivery, as if he hadn’t thought about it in advance but, rather, made a snap decision in a desperate, anxious moment. It’s doubtful that he discussed it with his attorneys in advance. Coming directly from Michael, the accusation of abuse truly was disconcerting. Everything Michael says these days has to hold up under scrutiny; his credibility is on the line now, more than ever. It’s also doubtful that anyone in his camp would dare take him to task for such impulsive behaviour, though. It is more likely that, after they were caught by surprise, they scrambled to figure out how to handle it.

  After the accusation of abuse made headlines, the police department retaliated by releasing a video in which it seemed Michael wasn’t abused at all but, rather, actually treated well by the authorities. The suspicious allegation against the police made things worse for Michael; it looked like a diversionary tactic and caused some of his critics to speculate as to why he would need one.

  The Way He Wants It

  A compelling image and one his fans want to believe is the notion of Michael Jackson hunkering down with his staff in a boardroom, ordering people about, expressing his ‘outrage’ about whatever is going on that day, issuing edicts and pounding his fist on his desk as frightened minions scramble about him. Actually, there’s little evidence to suggest that Michael is, at least in the last few years, the calculated strategist his handlers describe as they spin his present situation in the press. In truth, he spends most of his time with his three children, ignoring as much as he can the frightening details of his dilemma.

  ‘When he is forced to become involved in meetings with lawyers and accountants, he is often in a tense, sullen and uncooperative mood,’ says another person who knows him well.

  Perhaps it is understandable that Michael would just as soon not face his troubles, and maybe he’s lucky to be able to avoid most of the details. He has many people in his employ whose job it is to shield him from the reality of litigation, as well as the media coverage of the on-going molestation story. When he hears of a particularly controversial report – usually second-hand since he does not watch television or read the newspapers – he is ‘appalled’ by it. Someone then writes a statement expressing such empty emotion, and ‘exposing’ the untruth of the story. New people in his circle act as if we’re living in a parallel universe, and that everything ever published or said about Michael or his family – including that which they have said and written about each other in the past – occurred in some other reality, not our own. The only history the public is supposed to have with Michael is one that begins on the morning someone in his inner circle appears on television to proclaim that all is well… and that we’re wrong-minded for believing, or even suspecting, otherwise.

  Unfortunately, coddling and indulging Michael serves to reinforce his own self-image of being a rich kid in a mean world of money-grubbing adults and, thus, unable – or unwilling – to deal with his responsibilities and obligations. When he does give a firsthand interview, he seems distracted, disconnected from reality. He expresses himself as if he’s never been around adults, as if he has no social skills. He looks troubled, scared, sick to his stomach. He truly is childlike. However, it remains disconcerting to hear family members and reasonable-thinking, educated people describe him that way as if it’s an admirable, even awe-inspiring, trait for a man in his mid-forties, instead of a troubling, worrisome one. What can be done to help Michael Jackson? Certainly more than just approve of him.

  After his arrest, Michael came forth to say, once again, that he would never hurt a child and the public is ‘crazy’ to think that there is anything strange about his rapport with children. ‘I love children. I would slit my wrist before hurting a child,’ Michael told Ed Bradley in the televised 60 Minutes interview. His eyes were wide and heavily lashed, the nose small and sharp. He seemed delicate, frail, almost like a geisha girl as he sat so primly in his turquoise-blue silk blouse. His hair fell to his shoulders, a jet-black swoop that contrasted with his whitish skin. Every now and again, someone would rush to his side, looking alarmed. He said he didn’t feel well, he clearly wanted to wrap the interview up. He looked as if he was about to wilt under the pressure.

  Later, his family members, in support of Michael, confirmed that he ‘loves all children’ and as Jermaine put it, ‘he would never harm a child’.

  Actually, the Jackson family’s defence of Michael’s obsessive love for children does little to help him. Rather, it tends to make them look out of touch with society and with what is considered appropriate behaviour in the real world. Simply put, loving children and not wanting to hurt them is no defence against child molestation. In fact, most child molesters express great affection for their victims and feel that they are not hurting them. Most would rather ‘slit’ their ‘wrists’ than hurt a child… and, horribly, they all end up hurting children.

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�People in the real world will always out-number them in their world where, it seems, anything goes,’ remarked one legal analyst. ‘They are not going to be able to beat us, or change our minds about what makes sense and what looks inappropriate when it comes to kids and adults. They may as well join us in the real world, and maybe sit down and have a very strong talk with their son and brother.’

  ‘After the 60 Minutes interview, we looked at each other and said, “Holy Christ! That did not go well, did it?” says the former spokesman. “What happened there?”

  ‘Michael has been around for so many years, one expects him to shine on camera. But people who know him well know that he does not do that. Instead, he acts as if he’s never done an interview in his entire life.

  ‘He tries, God knows he does, and it’s hard for him. I saw it firsthand. He is sick before going on camera for an interview, throwing up, so nervous, so upset, so filled with anxiety. Your heart goes out to him. You wonder how he ever ended up in the public eye, and what an ordeal he has been through just to get this far in it.

  ‘After he’s on TV, his people have to do clean-up work to minimize all of the late-night talk-show criticism and joking, and explain that he’s fine, it’s the public that has a problem. “Focus on the message” was always my tactic. “Forget the messenger”. He’s innocent of any wrong-doing. I’m sure of it. Just stick to that truth and forget how much damage he’s done by trying to express such innocence on television. Get him help? It’s not an option. No one is close enough to him to even presume to suggest it.’