by Donald Bogle
A second bodyguard, Javon Beard, was also hired to stand on watch for the King of Pop. Michael’s long stay in Vegas was a time of isolation and loneliness. Scattered visitors came to see him, including will.i.am, who had worked with Michael in a studio in Ireland—and who now worked with him on plans for a twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Thriller. Michael’s friend Miko Brando visited with his children. A schoolteacher conducted classes for the children. His mother, Katherine, came. But, according to the bodyguards, other family members were not welcomed. When Joe Jackson unexpectedly showed up, Michael refused to see him. “I’m working. I cannot be disturbed when I’m being creative. Tell him he has to come back and make an appointment.” Siblings Jackie, Rebbie, and Randy also tried to see him, according to Michael’s bodyguards. Michael was especially adamant about not seeing Randy. Oddly enough, his bodyguards said at that time he wouldn’t see Janet. Long discussions were also conducted between Michael and his lawyers, between Michael and various managers. But his children were his priority. When his daughter, Paris, was ill, it was arranged for a doctor to come to the Vegas home to see her. Polite and professional and evidently making a good impression on Michael, the physician was Dr. Conrad Murray.
Others who came in contact with Jackson, such as a repairman working on the Vegas home, had to sign confidentiality agreements. Cell phones were not permitted. His every move was one of secrecy. He was suspicious of every camera he saw. “The man was paranoid, very paranoid. Didn’t sleep much. He was always going around the house at three, four in the morning, checking the locks on all the doors,” Bill Whitfield recalled. “Mr. Jackson trusted no one.”
There were forays out of the Vegas home—to FAO Schwarz with the children, to shows with the children, also a trip to Virginia for a vacation of sorts, originally intended to be three weeks, but it went longer. Making a trip to Washington, DC, he visited the Smithsonian with his children. Whenever he ventured other places, security measures were always taken. He used disguises in order not to be recognized. Obviously, he didn’t want a stampede of excited fans. But also in the back of his mind was a fear that he might be denounced by onlookers as a pedophile. Sometimes those disguises drew suspicion. The fake mustaches and beards. The unusual clothing. At a large store in Virginia, the bodyguards said the store’s security people thought he was there to rob the place.
• • •
During his stay in Virginia, Michael was also visited by two young attractive women. The bodyguards were never informed of their names. The first was a petite, dark-haired woman with an eastern European accent whom Michael personally asked the bodyguards to pick up at Dulles International Airport. She was taken to a hotel in Chantilly, Virginia. On several occasions during her visit of approximately a week, Michael was driven to see her. He had gifts bought for her, was openly affectionate with her, and on such occasions, he might spend several hours with her in her hotel room. But his bodyguards said he never spent the night. After her first visit, she returned a few weeks later. The other woman was a curly haired blond who flew in from Europe and stayed at a hotel in Middleburg, Virginia. Michael visited her but he appeared closer and more flirtatious with the first woman. The bodyguards knew little else about either woman.
• • •
Except for his children, not much seemed to bring him great joy. The one occasion when he registered great excitement centered on Elizabeth. Michael had been contacted by Elizabeth’s people, who informed him there was to be a seventy-fifth birthday party for her, to be held in Las Vegas. It would be wonderful if he could surprise her on that evening. Some months earlier, she had spoken in his defense—when he was still abroad—on Larry King Live.
When asked by King what she thought of the charges against him, she answered, “I’ve never been so angry in my life.”
“But don’t you think it strange, Dame Elizabeth, to have someone in his forties spend the night with children?”
“All right I’ll answer that,” she said, “because I’ve been there when his young nephews were there and we were all in the bed watching television. There was nothing abnormal about it. There was no touchy-feely going on. We laughed like children. And we watched a lot of Walt Disney. There was nothing odd about it.”
“So you think they were out after him?”
“I think the paparazzi started it, not the paparazzi, the press.”
“Is he going to come back to work?”
“I don’t think so, except maybe in Europe.”
“You don’t think he’ll ever live in the United States again?”
“Well, really, why should he? He’s been treated like dirt here.”
• • •
Michael made great preparations for the birthday party. To see Elizabeth, to spend some precious time with her, to gaze into her eyes, to hear her laughter, to make plans to see her again made him so excited. But also he could be part of a world again, where he felt safe and cared for. It had been too long. The designer Roberto Cavalli was flown in to create a special outfit. So were Michael’s hairstylist and his makeup artist. The bodyguards were instructed to buy new suits for the evening. Michael also informed them that the cars were to be cleaned and waxed. “Make sure your shoes are shined like mirrors,” he told them. “You guys have to look great. I want everybody to look great.” “He never did that kind of thing before,” recalled Javon.
But on the very day of the party—just as everyone was almost ready to walk out the door—there was a crash of a gray Mercedes SUV into the gate that kept trespassers from getting near the house. The driver was Michael’s brother Randy. Told that Michael would not see him and told to leave, he refused. He said Michael owed him money. “I want my fuckin’ money!” Randy was reported to have said. According to Stacy Brown, Randy had “persuaded several friends to remortgage their homes” and “used the cash to help pay Michael’s legal and other expenses.” Now that Michael was back in the States, Randy wanted the repayment. “Randy tried to confront him, but Michael would not have it,” recalled Brown. It was then that a “desperate Randy charged the compound housing Michael. He sat in the driveway for another two hours,” recalled Bill Whitfield. “We had to call his father.”
But even before Joe arrived, a dejected Michael decided not to go to the party. “He’ll just find out how to follow us to Liz’s party and cause a huge scene; she doesn’t deserve that.”
Elizabeth arrived at her party in a wheelchair, which she would be confined to for the rest of her life. Surrounded by her children—her two sons, Michael Wilding Jr. and Christopher Wilding (whose birthday was the same day), and her two daughters, Liza Todd and Maria Burton—she still evoked an old Hollywood glamorous aura as she smiled, laughed, and chatted with guests that included Debbie Reynolds and her daughter, Carrie Fisher; dermatologist Arnold Klein; Vegas hotel/casino mogul Steve Wynn; and former Vegas headliners Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn. Also there was former model Kathy Ireland, who was Elizabeth’s business partner at House of Taylor, which manufactured, marketed, and distributed jewelry. The cameras clicked as reporters rushed to Elizabeth for comments. When asked about Michael, she said she had spoken to him earlier in the day. But he did not get to see her. She left Las Vegas the next morning.
• • •
In 2007, Michael also traveled to New York for two photo shoots: one for Italian Vogue, the other for Ebony, to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Thriller. Italian Vogue put him into the posh Carlyle hotel on New York’s Upper East Side, the kind of luxurious setting he always enjoyed. He also relished all the attention: the makeup artists and hairstylists assuring that he looked just right; the stylists checking out every fold of his clothing; the lighting people; the various crew members all focused on him. Here he seemed safe and secure, his paranoia and fears temporarily put at bay.
During this time in the east, he and his children also stayed at the home of the Cascio family in New Jersey. Frank Cascio recalled that on the evening of August 19, 2007, after a surprise
birthday party was thrown for his mother at the family’s home in New Jersey, most guests had left when Michael arrived—with his children, his dog Kenya, and a cat. Frank suggested that Michael should make use of the studio in the Cascio home. “Start working, start writing, start producing,” Frank told him. He ended up taking residence at the Cascio home, longer than had been expected, for several months.
Having long felt secure with the Cascio family, Michael’s stay was no doubt pleasant and refreshing. A classroom was set up for the children in one of bedrooms. Daily a tutor came. Michael worked with Eddie Cascio in the studio in the Cascio home. He also celebrated his forty-ninth birthday there. Between Michael and Frank, who were no longer working together, there had been tensions, differences, and then an estrangement. During conversations with Michael at this time, Frank felt old issues had been resolved. Though it was evident the trial had affected Michael, Frank believed Michael would rebound. He also observed: “There was no sign that he was on any sort of medicine. He was back to being Michael.”
• • •
Back to being Michael also meant back to tough realities and back to ways to circumvent his pressures. For Michael’s bodyguards, Michael’s excursions and travels were all an adventure, but there was a nagging, ongoing problem: often the bodyguards were not being paid. Once they finally received some form of payment, it might be only half the amount due to them. At other times, they lived off their per diems. As aware as the men were of Michael’s financial problems—credit card payments were declined—they were puzzled by his behavior. Dire as Michael’s financial straits were, he still went on lavish spending sprees. He visited antiques shops in New York. He talked of moving into a $55 million estate in the area. Once, he saw a Ferris wheel at the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey and wanted to buy it. But its cost of $300,000 made that purchase clearly out of the question. At the same time, he also could be generous. His bodyguard Bill Whitfield remembered a badly scarred man who as a child had been set on fire by his father. Michael knew the man and kept in touch with him. One day, he asked Whitfield to deliver a package—a carefully wrapped large sum of money—to the man.
• • •
Returning to Vegas, Michael made a brief trip to Los Angeles. Afterward, he moved into the Green Valley Ranch in nearby Henderson, Nevada, for a couple of weeks. But finances forced him to move. Arrangements were made through an attorney in the music business for Michael and family to stay at the luxurious Palms. There, Michael worked again on Thriller 25. Later, he returned to Los Angeles again. Michael knew the inevitable had to occur: he had to generate an income, and so, in time, he would have to get back to work. Negotiations had begun.
Chapter 23
* * *
IN SEPTEMBER 2008, a deal was being set up between Michael and the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) for Michael to perform a series of concerts at O2 arena in London in 2009. The news spread like wildfire throughout the entertainment industry. Now a whole new cast of players, including a battery of lawyers and advisers, rushed onto the scene, some of whom had been around in the past. Back on the team was Frank DiLeo. Michael’s father, Joseph—with his people—was also around again, ready to launch a reunion tour for Michael and his brothers. Clearly, Joseph Jackson—even at this late date—was still unable to accept Michael as anything other than part of a family affair. Along with the new personalities, often warring with one another for the King of Pop’s attention—and warring among themselves for the huge amount of money that would come from the concerts—there was also a new round of lawsuits about music rights, about managerial rights, about broken deals, about whatever. Michael’s former attorney Tom Mesereau said that Jackson was “the greatest target for civil lawsuits I’ve ever, ever experienced. He’s literally been sued thousands of times by people he hasn’t met, people he knows nothing about.” Mesereau added: “And, yes, there are people who would like to obtain his property, including his interests in the Beatles catalogue.” Referring to Michael’s trial, Mesereau added: “And their desire to obtain his assets would have significantly been enhanced if he had been convicted.” Seeing dollar signs, everyone wanted a piece of the action.
Though feeling the old pressures, Michael also enjoyed the old perks and privileges. A healthy $6.2 million advance from AEG would provide Michael with some much-needed cash. At the same time, an agreement had been worked out with billionaire Tom Barrack Jr., the CEO of Colony Capital, to halt foreclosure proceedings on Neverland. Capital also poured in to restore Neverland. His estate had been saved, although it would now be jointly owned by Colony Capital with plans to later sell it. In fact, it was Tom Barrack who had initially put Michael in contact with Philip Anschutz for the AEG deal.
Once back in Los Angeles, Michael was first ensconced with his children in posh digs at the deluxe Hotel Bel-Air. In December 2008, AEG agreed to move Michael and his family to a luxurious home at 100 North Carolwood Drive in Los Angeles’s exclusive Holmby Hills. The cost of $100,000 a month for the home would later be deducted from his earnings. A staff was provided at the home to keep Michael hopefully content and calm during the arduous rehearsal period for the concerts. The nanny, Grace Rwaramba, was at the home. So were the expected servants. So was a security detail. Eventually, so were a personal chef and a trainer. Also eventually added to the staff was Dr. Conrad Murray, who had been hired by AEG at Michael’s insistence to ensure he was in the best of shape. It was old-style Hollywood extravagance, and though frail and brooding, Michael had to have loved it.
His last Christmas Eve, in 2008, was spent with his children and guests on Carolwood Drive. Arnold Klein arrived with friends. Michael also invited Carrie Fisher to the home. In some respects, because he would always think of her as Princess Leia from Star Wars, Michael asked Fisher to read the hologram speech from Star Wars for his children.
• • •
Still, there were demands to be met. No doubt with great physical effort and with mixed feelings, Michael flew to London for a press conference on March 5, 2009. At O2 arena, he stepped onstage to announce the show—called This Is It—to some four hundred journalists, as well as about seven thousand wildly enthusiastic fans. There would be ten performances. Countless times before, he had launched shows, speaking with enthusiasm and optimism, smiling broadly, never letting his fatigue or anxieties show. Always mindful of old-style PR, he understood that he had to present an image that would excite the fans and get them rushing out to buy tickets to see him. As in the past, he pulled it off. But there was another tone within the enthusiasm and optimism. “And This Is It really means this is it,” he told the excited crowd. “This will be the final curtain call. I love you. I love you all.”
Not long after Jackson’s announcement, the tickets sold out. Then came a change in the concert schedule. Rather than ten concerts, there would be fifty. “When they upped it to fifty shows, he was livid,” recalled bodyguard Bill Whitfield. “Fifty was the original number, because that was how many shows he really needed to do to make this big money they were waving in his face.” But Michael had been adamant about limiting the number of shows. “They want me to do fifty shows,” he had said. “I can’t do fifty shows.” “And it wasn’t just the physical aspect,” recalled bodyguard Javon Beard. “It was his demeanor. Some days he was upbeat, other days he was down. Like with Elizabeth Taylor’s birthday. He could be up, totally in a good mood, ready to go, but if one little thing threw off his day, that was it. He’d shut down.”
• • •
As could be expected, neither Michael nor Elizabeth was in the best of health. In Vegas, Michael had been seen in a wheelchair. Unknown to most, he had problems with his knees and ankles, a curse for a dancer. Elizabeth’s work for AIDS continued, but in 2004, she was reported to have broken her spine, and what with her other ailments, she was increasingly confined to her Bel Air home, just as Michael, in so many ways, was confined to his in Holmby Hills.
Yet, though reclusive, Elizabeth was not the regular, everyday
kind of recluse. Occasionally, there was a touch of Norma Desmond about her. Actor Frank Langella, who became friendly with her during the new millennium, recalled a very strange Oscar night at Taylor’s home. Guests had been invited, none of whom knew her, none of whom she knew. “They were a motley crew of friends of her housekeeper, someone’s cousin, some agent’s secretary,” recalled Langella. “None of them appeared to know each other and were hanging out in little groups of twos and threes.” Seated to watch the televised broadcast of the awards, the group was fed, and no doubt thrilled to be in her home. Yet when she entered the room once the proceedings were under way, she spoke to none of these guests, simply sat in her chair, briefly watched the show. When it ended, her guests headed out the door. “She acknowledged no one’s presence but mine,” said Langella. The only exception was her hair stylist José Eber.
Most times, Elizabeth entertained friends and family, inviting guests over for barbecues and poolside parties. Her spirits could be high on these occasions. Carrie Fisher, Elizabeth’s former stepdaughter, recalled a party at which Elizabeth warned that she would push Carrie, fully clothed, into the swimming pool. Then she did so. It seemed to clear the air finally of any tension there might have been about the fact that Elizabeth had walked off with Carrie’s father. The two became friends. Carrie also wrote the 2001 TV movie These Old Broads, which starred Elizabeth with Shirley MacLaine, Joan Collins, and Debbie Reynolds. Talk about letting bygones be bygones! It was not an easy shoot. Suffering from arthritis in her spine, Elizabeth struggled to walk and was in constant pain. Her doctors had advised her not to accept the role. But Reynolds believed that this also “was an attempt to make amends to Carrie and me for her part in my first divorce decades before.”
Now a family matriarch, Elizabeth had gatherings for her children and grandchildren. Her son Michael’s daughters, Naomi and Laela, who lived with their mother in Wales, would visit her twice a year in Los Angeles. Later, Naomi stayed with her for a spell. Sometimes sitting with her granddaughters, Elizabeth would discuss—what else but, she joked—boys! At Thanksgiving, a table might be set for fifty. At Easter, she relished Easter egg hunts with lots of children at her home. Dogs, cats, birds were part of the place, too. Sometimes performers from Cirque du Soleil did acrobatics outdoors. “Of course when she had to appear at an important event, she would put on the most beautiful dress and the most amazing jewelry and become Elizabeth Taylor the star,” fashion designer Valentino recalled. “But at home she liked a cozy life, friends, good food.”