Elizabeth and Michael

by Donald Bogle

  Elizabeth was then a patient at the same hospital—with yet another very serious life-threatening health crisis. Once again a seemingly mild (sinus) infection had developed into a 104-degree fever, which led to pneumonia. “Within two weeks, Elizabeth Taylor was fighting for her life in the intensive care unit of St. John’s,” People reported. “It was by far her gravest illness since she suffered a near-fatal bout of pneumonia while filming Cleopatra in 1961. Coming after more than 30 years of drug and alcohol abuse and aggravated by persistent, if apparently unfounded rumors of AIDS, it was also the most alarmingly mysterious. As her family gathered by her bedside, concern for the star escalated.” The media rumors that the woman who had fought so hard for AIDS was suffering from the malady itself appeared to be a cruel way of undercutting her battles for others.

  But the seemingly indestructible phoenix slowly rose again. Margaret Maldonado Jackson, then the spouse of Jermaine, had visited Michael at the hospital with Jermaine. Michael sat in his hospital bed wearing his black fedora and a hospital gown. When she realized that he had no bathrobe, underwear, or slippers, she went shopping to pick up some items for him. When she returned, Michael didn’t want Margaret or Jermaine to stay. Why? He was expecting Elizabeth. Recovering but still weakened and in the hospital, she’d learned that Michael was a patient there and went to comfort him. Elizabeth’s visits lifted his spirits, although some family members once again may have felt Michael was becoming too close to her, especially when Michael preferred time alone with her.

  “Elizabeth Taylor was going to visit and Michael wanted some privacy,” recalled Margaret Maldonado Jackson. “Jermaine made a wisecrack about Elizabeth and was quickly put in his place. ‘Don’t ever talk bad about Elizabeth Taylor to me, Jermaine,’ Michael said softly. ‘She’s beautiful. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.’ ”

  Said Maldonado: “By this time Michael and Elizabeth were already well acquainted, but their friendship would grow during this brief stay in the hospital. She came for visits several times a day and sometimes brought him violets, which stood in sweet contrast to the dozen black roses La Toya had had delivered from London.”

  • • •

  On June 8, Michael was released from the hospital. Immediately, he resumed preparations for recording his new album Dangerous. No longer did he work with producer Quincy Jones. Perhaps he believed that without Jones he was stretching himself creatively. But it was hard to find a talent as formidable as Jones—or someone who understood Michael artistically and music itself as well as Jones. Nonetheless, he produced the album himself along with such fine talents as Teddy Riley, Bill Bottrell, and Bruce Swedien. Of the fourteen songs on the album, he wrote or cowrote twelve, including “Remember the Time,” “Give In to Me” (which featured Slash), “Heal the World,” “In the Closet” (which featured Princess Stéphanie of Monaco and was about two lovers in a clandestine affair), and “Jam” (which featured rapper Heavy D). For this album he recorded ballads. But he also included social commentary with the song “Heal the World” as well as commentary on the racial situation with “Black or White.” Aware that musical tastes were always changing, he now sought an edgier, hard-hitting sound on some songs. He explored rap with “Jam,” with the help of Heavy D. With writer/producer Teddy Riley on such songs as “Why You Wanna Trip on Me” and “She Drives Me Wild” (featuring Wreckx-n-Effect), he recorded a genre known as new jack swing. On the completed album, there would also be his tribute to Ryan White, “Gone Too Soon.” It was an ambitious, daring undertaking that proved to be a long and demanding process that took more than a year. Dangerous was completed October 29, 1991. The album was set to be released in November.

  By this time, there had been a significant shift with his record label Epic. In 1988, Sony Music had bought CBS Records. Henceforth Michael’s music would be distributed by Sony. In 1989, Branca negotiated Michael’s contract with Sony Music Entertainment, which was now the parent company of CBS/Epic. For each album that Michael would do in the future, he would receive an advance of $15 million. Michael’s new royalty rate would be 25 percent. In March 1991, he had also negotiated a $50 million contract with Sony, then the biggest deal in music history. He was committed to do three studio albums (which included Dangerous) as well as a remix album and two compilations of his greatest hits. Still at the forefront of the music industry, he intended to remain in that position with the belief that no one could top him but himself.

  Interestingly, at this point his sister Janet had made extraordinary inroads in popular music with songs—a mixture of pop, funk, rhythm and blues—that were socially relevant and in time sexually daring. She had come a long way from the start of her career in the 1976 television variety show The Jacksons. Under the management and tutelage of her father, Joe, she had signed a contract with A&M Records at age sixteen in 1982. After her first two albums—Janet Jackson in 1982 and Dream Street in 1984—had gone nowhere, she ventured into new musical territory. Working with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, she recorded Control, released in 1986. The title song applied to Janet herself, taking control of her life, living on her terms. Her theme of personal self-empowerment was present in such songs as “What Have You Done for Me Lately,” “Nasty,” “When I Think of You,” and “Let’s Wait Awhile,” all of which, along with the title song, became top five singles. Her next album Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814, released in 1989, also soared to the top of the charts and scored fifteen Billboard Music Awards. Now a social consciousness was a part of her music. The song “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” and its video also revealed a more sexual, adult Janet as she was seen seductively on a beach dancing and in the arms of actor Antonio Sabato Jr. In 1991, she signed a huge $32 million contract with Virgin Records—just days before Michael made his deal with Sony.

  Michael once said Janet was his best friend in the family. But now gossip circulated that there was a complicated competitive edge in their relationship—on Michael’s part. La Toya Jackson recalled an earlier time when Michael had helped her record a number. Unsatisfied with the results, he wanted changes. In the end, La Toya felt the changes suggested by Michael were not for the best. She said her mother told her that Michael did not want her to do better than him. Nonetheless, Janet Jackson had emerged, steadily becoming a major recording star. She also had hugely successful tours and eventually appeared in such films as Poetic Justice, The Nutty Professor II, and Why Did I Get Married? In time, such albums as Janet in 1993, The Velvet Rope, All for You, and Damita Jo would simply extend her remarkable impact in popular music.

  • • •

  Once Elizabeth had left Saint John’s Health Center, she had been back on the move. She shed pounds again, resumed her nonstop schedule, and was ready to give life another full-blast try. When she announced plans to marry Larry Fortensky, the former construction worker twenty years younger (she was fifty-nine; he was thirty-nine), whom she had met during her second stay at the Betty Ford Center, most of the media and the public were skeptical. How could a woman who had socialized with royalty, who hobnobbed with the likes of everyone from Robert Kennedy to Malcolm Forbes to Aristotle Onassis to Henry Kissinger, who from the time she was a teenager had enjoyed the high life on the international stage, now just pick up with an ordinary joe? Had she gone bonkers? But Elizabeth had made up her mind about Fortensky, and of course, no one could change it. Surely, her mother and her brother, Howard, knew it was pointless to talk to her about it.

  Michael seemed delighted that she had found love again. If Elizabeth loved this man, then he would, too. He decided to host the wedding at the most idyllic setting either he or Elizabeth could think of: his Neverland Valley Ranch. Though neither Elizabeth nor Michael ever publicly commented, the plan for a Neverland wedding was a stroke of PR magic, which sent the media into frenzy. Neverland, however, would be closed off to everyone except the very exclusive list of guests.

  Elaborate plans were made to dress up Neverland in a special way for the occasion
. A tent—draped in ivory silk—was erected for the wedding reception. The ranch’s flower beds were pulled out, replaced by white blooming plants. Security would be provided by a one-hundred-man force, led by a former Israeli army officer, Moshe Alon. Arriving limousines with guests would be searched—except for the one that would carry former first lady Nancy Reagan. The bride would wear a $25,000 yellow wedding gown—a gift from its designer, Valentino. Following the ceremony, the bridal bouquet of roses and lilies would later be frozen and donated for an auction for AIDS research. To help ensure all went well were Elizabeth’s assistant Jorjett Strumme and Michael’s assistant Norma Staikos. After all, this was to be a wedding made as much in Hollywood as in heaven. And not only did Elizabeth have to be guarded but also her host, Michael, had to be.

  On the morning of the wedding, October 6, 1991, as the gazebo was being bedecked with gardenias, so excited was Elizabeth that she rose early—still in her nightgown—to watch the florist David Jones at work. “She was like a little girl at her first party,” said Jones.

  Estimated cost of the wedding: $1.5 million. Michael insisted upon footing the bill.

  Invitations were limited to some 160 guests, including Nancy Reagan, Quincy Jones, Elizabeth’s longtime friend Sydney Guilaroff, Carole Bayer Sager, Barry Diller, Diane von Furstenberg, Barbara Davis, Merv Griffin, Eva Gabor, designer Valentino, and Brooke Shields, who was Michael’s date. Touchingly among the most honored guests were Elizabeth’s frail ninety-five-year-old mother, Sara, and her big brother, Howard, as well as Elizabeth’s children and three granddaughters. Members of the groom’s family were also present. The only journalist invited was columnist Liz Smith, who had become the most important celebrity/entertainment columnist of the time. By now, columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons were long gone. No longer was the old-style gossip columnist needed to get the big scoops. Television programs such as Entertainment Tonight covered movies, TV, music, theater—and dished out some of the dirt on stars. “Page Six” in the New York Post and later the television show TMZ also provided information on celebrity doings—and undoings. But Smith maintained her position as a reliable, perceptive, and balanced insider whom some stars such as Elizabeth still “confided” in to break stories. Of course, as Smith herself knew, Elizabeth was quite skillful at knowing what to divulge and what to still keep under wraps.

  The ceremony itself was delayed for an hour and a half by the bride, as might have been expected. Escorting her down the aisle were her oldest son, Michael Wilding Jr., and Michael himself. The best man was Elizabeth’s hairstylist José Eber; matron of honor was Elizabeth’s longtime friend Norma Heyman. Her granddaughters were among the bridesmaids. For decades now, Elizabeth’s children had “shared” their famous mother with the adoring, curious masses—and with her close friends and her husbands. Sometimes it may not have been easy for them. In the case of Michael—a surrogate son for their mother—here was someone close to them in age. But the children seemed to accept him without any problems. In the midst of the ceremony, helicopters buzzed above, filled with photographers hoping to snap pictures. One photographer on a glider landed on the property and was promptly escorted off. After the exchange of vows, the bride and groom took their first dance. They were cut in by Brooke Shields and, of course, Michael. Over the years, Shields and Michael had maintained a warm friendship. Toasting her host with mineral water, Elizabeth said: “You’ve been so generous, it makes me want to cry. I’ll never forget it as long as I live.” The wedding may well have symbolized the optimistic high point of Elizabeth and Michael’s friendship. “I couldn’t think of what to give Michael to show my undying thanks,” she later said.

  A few days later, Elizabeth—with Larry by her side—began a two-day promotional tour for her new perfume, White Diamonds. Michael resumed preparations for the release of the new album, Dangerous. Not long afterward, he received a call from Elizabeth, who planned to drop by with a gift. He awaited her, and true to Elizabeth Taylor, she arrived in her own special way—by helicopter. The gift? “I had been trying to think of a truly meaningful way to thank him,” she said. “Then I got an idea: Michael has a zoo. I’ll get him an elephant! That clinched it. I got him a great big Asian elephant [named] Gypsy.”

  That same day, he presented her with a gift: a huge wall-sized tapestry of Elizabeth, patterned after a photograph of her. Michael had the whole incident filmed for posterity.

  Some years later, a replay of the elephant gift occurred when Elizabeth and Michael, along with others, including dermatologist Arnold Klein, were in Las Vegas for Elizabeth’s birthday. “We stayed at the incredibly beautiful Bellagio, where we had dinner and watched the fountains. The whole thing was just perfect for me because I’ve grown tired of big-deal birthdays. At one point, I turned to Michael and said, ‘All right, where’s my present?’ Well, he looked at the ground, he looked around the room, he looked at our friend Arnie Klein, but they didn’t really say anything. So I said, ‘Michael, I know they have great jewelry shops in the lobby, I can’t believe you haven’t noticed.’ Michael and Arnie start giggling. I continued, ‘This is really breaking my heart, Michael, I’m not sure I can go on.’ You know, I was really hamming it up. Finally, Michael and Arnie excused themselves and returned to the table some time later with a perfectly interesting-sized box.” Inside she found “the most exquisite titanium elephant evening bag” with an elephant “saddle of rubies and pearls.” She saw that “the dear little creature had huge diamond eyes” and was “the most unusual thing I’d ever seen.”

  She admitted: “I was also a little embarrassed that he had actually gone and gotten me something this amazing. But Michael and I do kid around a lot, and I knew I hadn’t really overstepped my place in our relationship.”

  But that was not the end of the story. Once she was back at her Bel Air home, she discovered her “real birthday present from Michael,” one of the then new flat-screen television sets. “Truly, the biggest one I’ve ever seen. I was the innocent in all this, the most happy innocent. And Michael played it totally straight.” But the elephant evening bag brought back memories of her helicopter visit to Neverland with her special gift of Gypsy. “I guess you could say we exchanged elephants.”

  “Over the years Michael has given me some truly incredible jewelry,” Elizabeth said.

  Indeed he had. Other jewelry given to Elizabeth by Michael: A diamond bracelet. A colored-diamond pendant necklace. A suite of diamond, emerald, and ruby jewelry by Massoni. A diamond and gold “Lord Kalla” bracelet watch by Vacheron Constantin. A ruby, sapphire, and diamond bracelet. A ruby and diamond bracelet. A diamond and emerald necklace. A diamond and gold bangle bracelet. A diamond gold bow brooch. A diamond necklace. An emerald and diamond necklace by Oscar Heyman and Brothers. A diamond and colored-diamond line bracelet. And at least three rings: a diamond ring, a diamond and sapphire ring, and a ruby and diamond ring.

  And so it went for the two for many years—extravagant gifts, laughter, exchanging stories and secrets, during times spent together whenever possible and many such times coming not too long before the darkness set in.

  But now and in the years to come, there were also quiet times, away from the spotlight. Michael loved to have egg sandwiches some afternoons at her home. There were also still those picnics at Neverland. On Thursdays, the two would slip off to a movie together. Originally, Michael wanted to head to the Warner Bros. studio—for private viewings. But Elizabeth wouldn’t hear of it. “No, I’m getting you out,” she told him. “So we go right into this area, which I can’t say, and walk right in. And it’s usually empty because people are working at the time. [The theater employees] go ‘Wow, come on in,’ and we never really pay. And we’re the ones who can afford it.” Other times the two would wear disguises when they went to movie theaters. They’d sit in the back and hold hands. He recalled her excitement at viewing the animated film A Bug’s Life, which she playfully had hounded him time and again to see with her.

  Once, when s
he was asked if she saw much of Michael, she answered: “More of him than people realize—more than I realize.” When he was asked to describe her, Michael answered: “She’s a warm cuddly blanket that I love to snuggle up to and cover myself with. I can confide in her and trust her. In my business, you can’t trust anyone. . . . Because you don’t know who’s your friend. Because you’re so popular, and there’s so many people around you. You’re isolated, too. Becoming successful means that you become a prisoner. You can’t go out and do normal things.” He added: “But Elizabeth is also like a mother—and more than that. She’s a friend. She’s Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, the Queen of England and Wendy [the soul mate of Peter Pan]. We have great picnics. It’s so wonderful to be with her. I can really relax with her because we’ve lived the same life and experienced the same thing.” And he said that they liked the same things: the circus, amusement parks, and animals. At Neverland, she loved the carousel and Ferris wheel, but she steered clear of the “scary rides.”

  Chapter 16

  * * *

  THE PERIOD FROM 1984 to early 1993 marked the good years for the two. Elizabeth’s perfume empire grew. Her acting career continued, primarily in television films. Most important, her work for AIDS gave her something to fight for, in a sense to deal with something bigger than herself and her own health issues. “You know, I was always famous, so it didn’t have meaning to me,” she confided to Liz Smith. “But when I saw that my fame could help in my fight against AIDS, I thought, Bring it on! If people wanted to come to an AIDS event to see whether I was fat or thin, pretty or not, or really had violet eyes, then great—just come. My fame finally made sense to me. I’d always loved my life—the parties and jewels and clothes . . . and the men. But that was all just a warm up.” She added: “That was off the record, Liz. It sounded like I was ready for my halo or my grave, and I’m not ready for either.”