People think they know the myth of Michael Jackson. They all think they know Michael Jackson. Michael was totally misunderstood by so many people. I think there’s a huge stigma attached to anybody who’s a little bit different than someone else. You like to say a few words to your fans, Michael? Anything else? Happy to be here.
How does it feel to be meeting the royalty tonight? It’s very exciting. There’s an image that the media I think want you to have of him. Michael Jackson earned his title as the King of Pop through sheer determination, uniqueness, and groundbreaking influence. He’s a great entertainer. Oh, he is.
He’s out of this world. There’s God and there’s Michael. I love you very much. Thank you. His legacy has transcended his passing, solidifying his status as one of the 20th century’s most iconic figures. One of the greatest artists of all time, Jackson’s impact on the world is undeniable. It is our power to change the world that our children live in.
Yet, he remains a mystery to many. Because of the image that he portrayed, very few people really know the real Michael. Who was he truly? Beyond the persona and the fame. Who was the soul behind the King of Pop? Michael Jackson’s music career kicked off when he was just 5 years old, making him a child star. The Jackson 5, formed
by their father Joe, exploded onto the global music scene in 1969. However, life behind the scenes was far from glamorous. Joe subjected his sons, particularly Michael, to severe physical and emotional abuse. His relentless and cruel methods pushed Michael to his limits, but no success ever seemed to satisfy Joe.
Michael later revealed how his father would embarrass him, calling him big nose and instilling a deep sense of fear. That had such an impact on the way Michael saw himself. Sometimes he would fear seeing his own father. Just just looking at his own father would bring this um feeling of doom and you know, just bring this anxiety on him.
So, it had a massive massive impact what uh the way he was brought up by his father. I mean, the the treatment Joseph Jackson on the brothers had a positive impact on the stage. Um it made them one of the most successful bands ever. It made Michael Jackson Well, it didn’t make Joseph Jackson didn’t make Michael Jackson, but um he was certainly very pivotal in the making of Michael Jackson.
Michael’s mother, Katherine Jackson, noted that while such discipline is seen as abusive today, it was a common practice in the 1960s. Yet, the harsh treatment left lasting scars on Michael despite his outward toughness. The whippings profoundly traumatized him. His childhood was marked by loneliness and isolation, overshadowed by the harshness he endured at home.
Out of all the brothers, he is the most sensitive. He is the He is the one I would say who’s less built for superstardom other than like uh like Tito who really couldn’t care less what anyone would say about it. Jermaine, he would take you on, you know, he was a tough cookie. And Randy’s tough. And you know, Michael was soft.
He He was gentle. And And he he would find it very very difficult on his own. Cuz he was the lead singer. He had the lot on his plate. He had to sing, dance, but he had to make sure he was perfect so the other brothers could follow. But uh it certainly had a an impact on his life, but he never complained. As Michael Jackson grew older, he retained a childlike innocence and sensitivity, seeing the world through a child’s eyes and cherishing time spent with children.
To them, he was simply Michael, not the iconic MJ or the wealthy superstar. His favorite place was Neverland, the sprawling fantasy theme park he created in Santa Barbara, California. Neverland was his escape, his sanctuary, a paradise that allowed him to relive the childhood he never experienced and stay connected to his roots.
My kids absolutely adore Michael. When my two younger daughters, Harriet and Olivia came with me to Neverland, and we spent about a week there. And they had access to everything, the the cinema, the zoo, the fairground, all of Neverland, with the chefs, they could have anything they wanted. And at the end of the week, I was with Michael, and I’m prompted, and I’m talking about they would have been about 8, 9 years old, and I said to them at the end of the week, I said, “What was the best thing that you liked about Neverland?”
And they both turned around and said, “The best thing about Neverland was being with Michael.” He actually preferred the company of children because they had no prejudices. All kids would play happily together in this not even naive, it’s just an innocence which Michael absolutely loved. There was no stigma attached to anyone, say, who was disabled, uh, of their the color of their skin, of their level of education.
All children was like a level playing field. And Michael reveled in that because it was this total innocence. And Michael told me that he or when he wrote his music, he tried to get into the mind of a 10 to 12-year-old, and that’s how he wrote his stuff, through the eyes of the children.
He just saw this wonderful innocence in children. He wants to be around children because they could trust them, you know? They didn’t ask him silly questions. They didn’t want to talk about Thriller all the time, about the moonwalk. They just wanted to treat him as Michael, so he could trust them a lot more. The obsession with childhood in general is because he believes that he didn’t have one. So, he wanted to compensate.
He always used that word, compensate. I’m compensating for my lost childhood, the childhood I never had. That’s why he built Neverland. That was the place that he thought he could build so he could have everything he never had as a child. He would have been touring, he would have been with adults all the time, so his whole world is when he was, you know, from 5 to 10 years old would have been an adult world.
And he wasn’t allowed to do stuff that other kids did, like, you know, just muck around and play sport or go to school or go to the movies. I had a very interesting conversation once. I remember it very well cuz I learned a lot from it. And we were talking about the importance of how he feels to stay childlike.
And he said to me, “If you look at the most geniuses in the world.” Like, he he he named a few, like Steven Spielberg and people like that. “If you meet them, they they are very childlike characters and they remain creative.” “When people are starting believing they’re getting older, then they don’t they’re not so creative anymore.
So, he made an effort to stay childlike. And that’s how he believed he could he could come up with hits after hit. Michael was a kindhearted and playful individual known for his practical jokes. Yet, he was also a complex person. Offstage, he was shy, but he transformed into a magnetic performer in front of an audience.
Michael constantly pursued perfection, yet his imperfections made him who he was. Michael loved to tease and joke, which was sometimes uh to the detriment of others. I remember one time we were in Los Angeles and we had driven back from Neverland and we were staying at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
So, my kids were there, Michael’s kids were there, and Michael sent Al for some water balloons. Anyway, they had they had these little many water balloons and they were filling them up with water and from the sink and they were throwing them out the window and they were hitting people with water. I was we I had visions of us all getting arrested and busted down to the local police station.
My dad adored him. They met when they were 18 and that’s what I mean, like Michael just thought it was absolutely hilarious. He was throwing these water water balloons off the balcony, hitting people underneath. Yeah, Michael was a prankster. That’s just the way he was when he wanted to have some fun.
He couldn’t go out. He couldn’t He couldn’t do nothing. If you sat down with Michael and tried to watch a movie, it would drive you mad because he would not shut up the whole time through it. He would say, “He made a mistake. He should have shot it from that angle. I can’t believe they’ve done it that way.
The shot of the lighting is not good enough.” And I’m like, “Michael, will you be quiet?” You know, and and Michael would be laughing his head off and stuff, but he just couldn’t sit down unless it was Bart Simpson or something like that, which he would be glued to. You wouldn’t miss an episode of that, you know, but other movies he would find it hard.
He was majorly into Bruce Lee and that used to drive me crazy, too, cuz he literally knew every one of Bruce Lee’s lines. So, he would be you watching a Bruce Lee movie like Enter the Dragon and he’d be saying all the lines. As you like seriously and doing the actions and stuff and you’re thinking, “Michael, will you be quiet so I can actually focus on on the film?” And when the groove is gone Everybody sing.
Michael was completely different when he was on stage. He was an amazing showman. Electric. He was like almost like super like I don’t know. It was like the Hulk thing. It was a completely different guy. Uh incredible energy that he that he drew from the audience. And when Michael was on his own or with us privately, he was just very quiet.
Not insular, but just a very mild-mannered, very quietly spoken guy. By the 1980s, Michael had become a global musical phenomenon at the zenith of his fame. He was a mega star, unique, inspiring, and otherworldly, captivating audiences everywhere. Despite the controversies, his music celebrated diversity.
The world was fascinated by him, drawn to his elegance and charisma. I think to summarize it, he’s probably the most talented musician of the time, the most famous person of the time, who was also seen by many people, and probably the people that matter most to Michael was being one of the nicest people that’s ever lived and ever met.
When he did the History tour, I actually went to the History tour, you know, thousands and thousands of other people did. I stood there and watched 80,000 people and watched him perform. And I wanted to see that in action. I wanted to see that and and emulate that him and and try and learn something from him on stage to take away to motivate me to to be successful in my own business.
Michael Jackson was the biggest success story for the American dream basically, isn’t it? Where he’s gone from nothing, rags to riches to the most famous man in the world. I remember once they did a survey and Michael got to hear about it and he was smiling from ear to ear. He was so happy.
And they were showing people pictures in New York of the current president at the time. And they were showing pictures of Michael Jackson and they did a survey who’s the most recognizable and it was Michael Jackson and he was just over the moon, you know, about the whole thing. Michael redefined music and performance. From the electrifying beats of Billie Jean to the timeless anthem Thriller, his innovative sound and iconic dance moves captivated the world.
With a career spanning over four decades, Michael’s music broke barriers and set new standards. Michael Jackson wasn’t just a creator of iconic music. He was also a passionate listener. His diverse taste in music fueled his creativity, drawing inspiration from various genres and artists. Mike was very in touch with music.
I mean, he was always listening to latest stuff that was coming out. I mean, he had deliveries coming up to Neverland of all the the recent stuff that was coming out. He would listen to absolutely everything that was in like the top 100 cuz he wanted to have a finger on, you know, what was going on. This deep appreciation for music not only shaped his legendary sound, but also connected him to fans worldwide.
His songs weren’t just hits. They were cultural phenomena. Each track a testament to his unparalleled talent and visionary artistry. He’s been in business 24 years now. I guess he was 14 when we first got together. Um He’s his squarely he’s the man of the ’80s. Definitely. Maybe the ’90s, too. Michael Jackson was not just a brilliant performer.
He was also an extraordinary humanitarian. In 2000, he was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most philanthropic pop star in history. His generosity and kindness knew no bounds. He dedicated much of his life to helping people with mental and physical health issues, especially disadvantaged children and supporting the homeless.
He spent countless hours in hospitals lifting the spirits of those in need. His philanthropy extended to education rights, ecological causes and refugee support. He would turn up unannounced. The kids had no idea. He would have a back sack full of toys and he would go in, meet the kids, leave and there was no big deal about it. Michael used to just do this off his own back and he’d probably do hospital visits at least once a month.
He used to have loads of kids come up to Neverland. They used to bus them in and sometimes Michael wasn’t even there. These kids they usually it’s sick kids. Sometimes kids from poor backgrounds would come in and they were escorted like a school trip through Neverland and they would just you know it was just a great treat for these kids come up.
Obviously just spend time at Michael Jackson’s place. In 1988, Michael donated $450,000 to Charles and Diana for the Princess’s Trust, a charity supporting disadvantaged children. His foundation, Heal the World, aimed to assist those in need globally and conveyed a powerful message to parents and adults about their responsibility to make the world a better place for future generations.
This message was echoed in his inspirational song, Man in the Mirror. If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that change. Na na na na na na na na na. Gonna make you feel good. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Na na. He was head of many many many charities across the world for child poverty, for sick kids in Africa, a lot of charities I think in Southeast Asia as well, in in places of extreme poverty.
It wasn’t done for publicity. It was done because he felt like he wanted to do it. You know, you’d watch something on TV that’s negative like starving kids or something in Ethiopia or if he if he’d hear about a sick sick child or so on then you know, tears rolling down his face.
He wanted to do something about it. I lost my mother in 2012 to breast cancer which was first diagnosed with breast cancer back in the year 2000. I told Michael about it and I didn’t really expect him to react too much about it at the time. Straight away he said, “Get me her phone number.” And he called her there and then in front of me.
And he said, “I’m going to stay in regular contact with your mother and he to keep her spirits up, keep her positive and focusing forward.” And he would always call her no matter where he was in his in the world and I wouldn’t prompt those calls. He did it goodness out of his heart. He just remember, I need to ring Matt’s mom and they become very close on the phone, you know, and he would take a great interest in her and she used to credit him for being able to see my children grow up a lot more and to live to 2012.
And it’s sad to see her to watch him pass away in 2009. But a very caring man. His charity work is unreported and is one of the things that really gets to me. He actually did a tour once, he told me, and he donated all of his personal profits from that tour to a charity. He didn’t take anything of that pleasure that he got all around the world performing like he does, the energy he does, and singing and dancing three or four hours a night, all the jet lag, and not earning a penny for me.
And he said he was born on Earth to make music, entertain, and give back. He didn’t need the public’s approval for what he gave away financially, and he gave away so much. Heal the Kids is about doing something about making a difference and trying to help adults and parents realize that it is our power to change the world that our children live in.
Everyone knew and loved Michael for his groundbreaking music and captivating performances. However, few truly understood the man behind the spotlight. Beneath the fame and persona was a complex individual whose heart and soul were often overshadowed by his public image. From the age of 16, Michael Jackson became increasingly uneasy about his appearance.
Many fans missed the charming young Michael and seemed to lose interest as he grew older, leaving him feeling rejected. He disliked being seen offstage, preferring to maintain an air of mystery and feeling more at ease when his bare face remained hidden. Although his distinctive style, smooth dance moves, and iconic music made him a global sensation, he was at heart a fragile individual.
He’s admitted that he hated looking in the mirror. Um and that’s partly why he wore the surgical masks, privacy, uh so people didn’t have to look at his face. Uh he also said that, you know, if if he could never be photographed, then he’d be the happiest man in the world. But, he resented his own looks, and we can see how that manifested itself eventually, unfortunately, in how Michael had plastic surgery and um maybe took that too far times.
That all stemmed from that childhood and the way he was treated by uh Joseph, especially being teased by your own father by your looks when you’re less than 10 years old. I mean, of course it’s going to have an impact. Just created an anxiety in Michael. In 1984, during a Pepsi commercial shoot while performing Billy Jean, a pyrotechnic mishap caused Michael’s hair to catch fire, resulting in severe second-degree burns to his scalp.
The incident necessitated plastic surgery to repair the damage, but it marked a turning point in his life. Instead of suing Pepsi, Michael settled out of court for $1.5 million, which he generously donated to the burn unit of the Brotman Medical Center, showcasing his immense compassion. Following the accident, Michael began wearing a wig and needed Demerol, a potent painkiller.
This moment was pivotal, leading to a series of plastic surgeries and a dependency on medication, which ultimately contributed to his tragic demise. Michael began to change. The sweet, outgoing young boy transformed into a reclusive, withdrawn man. He felt incredibly lonely and troubled, often admitting that he had no one to talk to.
Michael was a paradox, a dreamer who was also down to earth. One side of him remained free, joyful, and eccentric, while the other side felt stuck, broken, and uncomfortable. He even confessed to his mother that he felt strange, like an animal in a cage. One of the few people Michael believed could understand him was Princess Diana.
Michael used to talk to me about Princess Diana a lot. He he felt she was the only person in the world that could understand his fame. And had the level of fame that he had, where he couldn’t go out or do anything, was wrongly treated by the media at times, misunderstood. He used to tell me he wanted to marry her. He thought she was perfect wife.
And uh with Michael, you try and tell him he can’t do something, then he says it’s got to be done. And they they had this friendship and bond, and he tried to continue it on, but somebody put a stop to it. So uh it didn’t carry on. But he he was very fond of her. And and when when she died, he was devastated.
He canceled some concerts. And uh never really got over it. But it made him wake up a little bit about the danger of the paparazzi. Yeah, that hit him hard. But he felt she was the only person that would be able to understand him. And they used to have very very late-night conversations that lasted for hours and hours and hours.
And of course, this is before my time, but this is what he used to tell me about her and how much respect he had for her. In the 1990s, Michael Jackson’s appearance began to change noticeably. He started to develop lighter patches on his skin. The media quickly speculated that he was bleaching his skin to appear white, accusing him of wanting to change his racial identity.
Some African-American psychologists criticized him as a lousy role model for black youth. These assumptions gained traction with the public largely unaware that Michael was suffering from vitiligo, a skin disease causing loss of melanin and pigmentation, making his skin sensitive to the sun. As his skin grew lighter, rumors spread.
But Michael had to use light colored makeup and skin whitening creams to conceal the uneven pigmentation caused by the condition. The skin color thing turned out to be true. Yet no one wants to believe it. Yet it’s in the autopsy report. And uh Michael had vitiligo and that was that.
He had a choice to put up a patches all over his faces or make his skin smooth out white. And for a long time he tried covering up black. Overtime, his facial structure also changed fueling even more speculation. His nose in particular drew attention leading to rumors about extensive cosmetic surgery. While it is claimed he underwent six procedures to alter his nose, Michael admitted to only two with a total of around 10 procedures overall.
In June 1992, the Daily Mirror described him as hideously disfigured by plastic surgery. Although the vitiligo was beyond his control, his decisions regarding plastic surgery remained a mystery. Oh God, Michael was totally misunderstood by so many people because of the image that he portrayed. Very few people really know the real Michael.
The deeply sensitive almost humble guy that he was. In the summer of 1993, Michael Jackson’s life was upended by accusations of child abuse at Neverland which he vehemently denied. In the last few weeks, a A amount of ugly malicious information has been released into the media about me. The information is disgusting and false.
All of Michael’s accusers has always been about money. In ’93, the civil lawsuit filed by the Jordan Chandler family and the um police report, that was simultaneous. A judge ruled that the civil lawsuit would be heard first. The important one was the criminal one because you could end up in jail.
Civil one is just about money. It’s not that important in the grand scheme of things. But if you’re hearing the civil one first and that could help get you in jail, Michael’s team was like, “The only option we’ve got because the judge ruled the civil one is going to be heard first is to get rid of it. How do you get rid of it? You have to settle.
” Jackson settled out of court with the Chandler family for $25 million dollars and with insufficient evidence, the case was closed. That made Michael look guilty. What is he hiding? Why is he paying off this family? But people don’t know the ins and outs of why he was forced to make that settlement.
Bottom line is first case was about money and once the civil lawsuit was settled for just over $20 million for the whole family, the boy got $15.3 million in a trust fund. They were like, “Okay, that’s it. We’re done. Um we’re not going to testify against Michael Jackson anymore.” Once they had that money, they said, “We’re not interested anymore in the criminal proceedings.
” If you’re a mother or father, surely if something had happened, you would want Michael Jackson to be behind bars. The public humiliation branded him a criminal in the eyes of many, prompting him to adopt an even more reclusive lifestyle. He consistently maintained his innocence, feeling deeply hurt and humiliated by the allegations, describing the experience as a living nightmare.
The Chandler thing made Michael angry and let down because, you know, by being over friendly to this boy who was taken advantage of. I know my kids and my daughter, she’s a very smart girl and she said that if she ever had felt the slightest bit uncomfortable in Michael’s presence, she would have shouted it from the rooftops, you know, but there was never any any inappropriate behavior.
Throughout his life, Michael seemed to attract people who exploited him. Many accusers later admitted they had lied for financial gain, acknowledging that he never molested them. Even some individuals close to him did not have his best interests at heart. The few friends who genuinely tried to reach out and help him found it challenging to break through his barriers.
His management at that time was all over the place. Different managers, different advisers. And then as the 90s progressed, Michael would affiliate himself with different business partners or or they were trying to affiliate themselves with him. Promise him the moon cuz Michael loved movies. So any businessman that could promise Michael, you know, we’re going to make movies together, Michael would be like, yeah, great.
They’d promise him the moon and ultimately not deliver and Michael would invest some money and never see any of it again. It was a mess, complete and utter mess. Partly Michael’s fault, but they have a duty representing him to have his best interests at heart and they didn’t. They had their own interests at heart.
After his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley ended in 1994, Michael Jackson had children in 1997 with Debbie Rowe, his nurse. Despite their relationship not lasting, Debbie had offered to bear his children, fulfilling Michael’s long-held desire to be a father. His children became his world, and he was a devoted father.
Every time he walked into the room like that, their faces just like lit up. The kids would all immediately like, like a magnet, go to him. They’d want to be picked up, they’d want a hug and a kiss. You know, he absolutely adored them. Oh my god, Michael’s kids adored him. They would follow him like little ducklings following the mother mother duck.
He was just great, but he had boundaries with his children. They had to go to bed at certain time. They had a tutor. They had to have 4 hours minimum every day of schooling. What I think one thing that really stood out was how well brought up the children were. They weren’t I mean, these were children that could probably like have anything that they wanted, but Michael like, you know, he obviously cared about their education.
They never were like bratty in their behavior at all. They were just like so polite and respectful to everyone. You couldn’t imagine him in a million years, Michael, actually even doing in the slightest bit in anything inappropriate. He also protected his children by making them wear masks so no one knew what they looked like in public.
And quite often, some of the times that I went to visit him in Las Vegas, I would take Prince and Paris before Blanket was around. I’d take Prince and Paris out to local McDonald’s, and no one knew who they were. That privacy, you know, putting the masks on his children, he wanted them to be childlike, to be able to do whatever they want without being photographed, without being recognized, so they could remain sort of anonymous almost their entire childhood.
In head, he felt Joseph treated him wrong, and he wanted to bring up his children the opposite to to Joseph. He said that I would never ever touch any of my children the way my father did. However, an incident in Berlin raised questions about his parenting when he was photographed holding his baby over a hotel balcony to show fans, a moment that quickly made headlines worldwide.
Of course, you know, that that hit every paper in the world virtually. Michael Jackson, irresponsible father. I mean, God’s sake, he was just holding the kiddie up. There was a the platform underneath. He couldn’t have even dropped. The boy would not have plummeted to his death. I mean, he was holding him, you know, he was just showing his kid off.
In 2003, Michael’s troubles deepened with another accusation of sexual abuse. He was taken to court, but maintained his innocence. The allegations caused him immense pain, especially given his love for children and his inability to tolerate their suffering. He was so broken, you know, when it all first came out, he was absolutely devastated.
He just couldn’t comprehend how people could think that about him. To be honest, he couldn’t comprehend how anyone could even do that to a child, let alone him. So, then for those accusations to, you know, be made towards him, he was heartbroken. I don’t think he was really the same after. I think he was just a broken man, really. My dad just said, like, it really annoys him when people say that Michael took advantage of them when he was like, “Anyone could clearly see that they were taking advantage of Michael.
” He He had such a big heart, and because, you know, it was children that had, you know, maybe not like the best upbringings, He wanted people to come to Neverland. He wanted them to have this amazing experience. And I think it’s quite sad that people misportray that as if you’re being kind, you must be preying on people or there must be something sinister behind it.
When all he wanted to do was just make people happy. If it was a normal person, if something like that happens, your first reaction isn’t to I must go on TV and talk about it. It’s I need to go to the police. It’s like they don’t I don’t feel like they want justice. There’s so many contradictions. There’s so many mistakes that have been made.
If you lie, you’ve got to remember your lies. So, if it happened, then there’s a version of events and and that’s it. You don’t chop and change it all the time. Michael didn’t have a normal upbringing. He didn’t get the boundary issue possibly with some of the sleepovers that he would have had with kids which would have deemed to be inappropriate to what I’d say normal society, whatever that is. Michael just didn’t get that.
He he couldn’t understand why, you know, they were having it was fun. There was a lot of kids there. They were having a party. They were having watching movies, Disney movies, popcorn, and they were all just having a massive sleepover. I think there’s a huge stigma attached to anybody who’s a little bit different than someone else.
The way he looked and appeared to people, they just assumed rather than look for the facts. And and the facts are that they don’t lie and there is no evidence and there never has been. In 2005, he was found not guilty and was fully exonerated of all charges. Michael Jackson’s complex relationship with the media is ironic.
He was portrayed as a master manipulator, yet he often appeared naive, and this naivety often worked against him. Beyond the myth perpetuated by the media, Michael was deeply empathetic and remarkably generous, placing others well-being above his own. Unfortunately, these aspects of his character were largely overlooked by the press, which typically favors sensationalism over positivity.
He’s been found innocent in a court of law. He’s been acquitted of all charges. The FBI investigated him for 10 years. They found absolutely nothing. His Neverland home was raided. But people don’t want to hear that. Because, like I said, people just want a villain. And it doesn’t it doesn’t make headlines.
You know, Michael Jackson, the man that, you know, did loads of the charity. He was such a lovely guy. I just remember Michael as just being a very generous, very kind, very you know, he’d always listen to what you were saying. It wasn’t always about him or what he was doing. In fact, very little. He’d listen an awful lot, and he used to listen to my children.
He used to ask them how they were doing at school, you know, what their what their favorite subjects were, what they wanted to do when they grew up. And he took a lot of time finding out about what other people and what their interests were. And he was a very, very good father, to the point where it used to annoy me, the fact that how good a father he was, cuz it made me used to make me look not such a good dad.
To be honest, I think that was the first time that I that it really drummed home to me how things can get like twisted and not to always believe what you read. There was nothing that he’d done, absolutely nothing. No, it was all just made up. exactly. There’s an image that the media I think want you to have of him.
I mean it completely is staggering how much evidence there is to support the fact that he is an innocent man and people don’t want to hear it. They really don’t. The hardest is defending him against people that have never met him and they don’t know him. Well, that annoys me more than anything is people that will say things that have never even met the man.
It’s like How do you know? You’ve never met the guy. You’re basing your information on something that you’ve been told. I struggle to get my head around that. It’s I don’t know. I guess it’s the way of the world, isn’t it at the moment? People want to They don’t want to hear nice stories, you know, the nice things that Michael used to do in hospitals and that’s never reported.
They suddenly reported him walking around with a mask on his face or being pushed around the hotel lobby in a wheelchair. One of his favorites was surgical mask. He’d walk around with an unmade bed like, “Oh, what’s going on here? You know, why is he going with a surgical mask?” It was for illusion. So, he knew kind of a little bit how to play with the press, but in other ways he was incredibly naive.
In the late ’80s he went on this little PR campaign to make his career the greatest show on earth. So, it was all about PR for him. How can I make myself mysterious? How can I How can I be the center of attention? People had this mystified They were mystified by Michael Jackson. What What does this guy do behind closed doors? What is he like? Weird stories about Michael Jackson sold more newspapers.
So, that was the main reason. The fact that Michael was a bit eccentric helped that. So, this mystery persona, I mean, wow, you know, he sleeps in a oxygen chamber. He lives at on a theme park. His skin color’s changed. Yeah, the image and persona that the tabloid press saw of Michael was not the true Michael Jackson. I think because he was different, like he didn’t conform to the norm.
People didn’t like that. There was this this kind of witch hunt about getting this man because he just didn’t conform to how they wanted him to appear. People think they know the the myth of Michael Jackson. They all think they know Michael Jackson. He was just a genius. PR media genius. He knew how to manipulate the media and at the same time it would backfire on occasions.
The frenzy of when he would come out on stage, sometimes he would come out, he would just stay still like frozen, but wouldn’t move. And it was to build curiosity from the crowd. And he would stay there for anything up to a minute and a half, two minutes, and then he’d do like a little flick and everyone would go mad, crazy cuz they all want to see what’s going to happen next.
And then he would turn his back on them and then take the mask off. And then he knew exactly they wanted to see how what he looked like and the way he looked with makeup and all sorts. He knew that was part of the fascination of the whole Michael Jackson act. Despite facing heinous allegations, Michael pressed on with his music career, touring and persevering until he could no longer bear the strain.
He endured immense pressure and scrutiny which took a toll on his physical and emotional well-being. By 2003, Michael’s grasp on his own narrative began to slip. Numerous troubling accusations and stories circulated about him, over which he had little control. He became a pawn, manipulated and victimized, causing him profound pain.
The whole court case drained Michael. I mean, I still remember him. He wasn’t eating. He was getting very He was just not sleeping particularly well. We were talking to him a lot on the phone, trying to cheer him up. And it was just it it was very very draining for him. He would be weary.
Couldn’t remember some of the lyrics. Uh he couldn’t do his spins, his dances. He was really really struggling for many weeks. His relentless work ethic left him exhausted and coupled with financial troubles and a dependence on antidepressants and sedatives, he spiraled into deeper depression and instability. And Michael started spending quite a bit of money.
Tens of millions of dollars on all the music videos. Although the record company would pay for it up front, Michael had to repay that through his royalties. Um and then he spent 35 million on redoing Neverland. And then, of course, he had the settlement in ’93. And obviously, those allegations harmed Michael’s career.
So, slowly, um his finances were in peril. When Michael died, he was uh 500 million dollars in debt. He was already in debt in the mid-’90s, when he still had good management. It’s partly Michael’s fault, but a big part of it is also his management structure, unfortunately. And it was awful awful for about a decade. Michael says he’s been lonely all his life.
Um that he would struggle to make friends because cuz he’s Michael Jackson. That’s one of the reasons he had child friends because they didn’t see him as the big superstar. Or if they did, they would soon forget. So, Michael disguised himself as the loneliest man in the world on the whole planet. The immense burden of being a superstar from such a young age haunted Michael throughout his life.
His self-imposed standards of perfection and the constant scrutiny took a heavy toll, contributing to his physical and emotional decline until his final days. I mean, obviously starting to record at the age of five, being on stage at the age of five, it’s all he ever knew. He obviously sometimes would resent being thrown into show business at such a young age.
He would say he would like to have been given a choice to be a superstar cuz he can’t remember time before not being Michael Jackson, the famous guy who can’t go anywhere. He had to just get on planes all the time and rehearse and go to recording studio and so on. So, his reality is very, very different to us. He never complained about the Jackson 5 days.
Never complained. He just felt like he wished he had a choice and he felt like his dad should have been a little bit easier on him. However, he also used to say all the time if it weren’t for his dad, he wouldn’t be where he is now. So, he owed a lot to his father, he felt. Well, it led him to be one of the richest people in entertainment ever and to be adored by millions of fans around the world.
So, that’s a great great privilege. Some of the things that he was able to do in his life with the wealth he had, you know, we would most of us would all love that. But, um of course, we know the flip side to that with Michael Jackson and the burden of that. And there’s one story in particular that he would say and um he was recording with Motown and he was in the studio with his brothers and he could hear children playing in the playground opposite.
And he just wished that he could just go over there and, you know, be himself, be a child. But, he couldn’t cuz he was recording. And there was a time when uh the brothers were due to go to South America to tour. And um in the car on the way to the airport, he was just crying because he didn’t want to go. He just wanted to stay and be a child, play.
But, he couldn’t do that. I love you. I really do. You have to know that I love you so much. Really. From the bottom of my heart. This is it. And see you in July. In 2009, while gearing up for his highly anticipated comeback tour, This Is It, Michael Jackson died from cardiac arrest caused by a fatal dose of propofol administered by his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray.
His death was ruled a homicide leading to Murray’s conviction for involuntary manslaughter and subsequent incarceration. Uh it was about 8 weeks before his death he started using propofol. Conrad Murray obviously said yes to that. He shouldn’t have. He didn’t have the correct equipment to be using that in Michael’s home. So, for 2 months he was sleep deprived. He wasn’t eating.
He was losing weight. He just wasn’t with it. And he was also having Botox and fillers done. You know, preparing himself for getting back on stage appearance wise. And to relieve the pain, he would be on Demerol. So, he was taking Demerol and propofol at the same time for about 2 months, which is just you’re not going to be in tip-top shape.
Physically, he just wasn’t in the condition to be able to do 50 days. We had like over an hour long conversation. Uh Michael sounded like he was drunk or he was Well, I guess he was drugged, but he just didn’t sound right. Worryingly not right. And people believe that show. And people believe my show. And I want to say I have never seen a new life like this in my life.
I think Michael was possibly close to canceling the whole tour. He was just absolutely exhausted. He was terrified about this as if and also tears in his eyes that he sold so many concerts so quickly. And all he was concerned about was his children. And he looked at Mark and said, “I don’t know how the public are going to receive me after the trial.
” He He really felt people felt differently about him after the trial. He could sense that. Um in fact, it was the first time too after after the trial we would hear negative comments being shouted at him when we were body guarding him, too. And he said, “If anything happens to my children, Mark, you’re their godparent, make sure you look after them.
” I just wanted to say Ever since I was born Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him so much. Michael’s sudden death shocked the world, sparking a global outpouring of grief. His public memorial service was broadcast live, drawing millions of viewers worldwide.
Even in death, Michael’s legacy of generosity endured. As his will directed 20% of all future earnings from his estate to be donated to various charities. They kept changing. They were saying that he was okay. He was in He was in a coma. And And then I think one by one everyone is sort of was confirming that he’d passed away.
And I was like I was glued to the TV. Didn’t accept it until every single channel had sort of said that they were going hoping that it was going to be I I was really hoping it was like it was like a bad practical joke. Yeah. That’s what I was hoping that it was it was actually no, he’s he he hasn’t died. I was So, I was only 17 when he passed.
And I think I’d love for him to be here now and just be able to have conversations with him about stuff now. Now that I’m Suppose now that I’m more aware of this you know, the like the pop icon status that he had. I miss Michael a lot. My kids miss him. They miss his kids. It’s just such a shame that the man isn’t around with us.
He’s He’s a He’s a great great loss to the world really, but absolutely the most misunderstood man. The public need to open their minds a little bit to see that this man is a genuine guy, and you don’t just wake up one day in Gary, Indiana, and and become the most successful man on Earth. He was an intelligent, smart guy, not some comic figure that people seem to think he is.
And that intelligence is not shown, and having to deal with stuff that’s been dealt with. 10 years with FBI, child services, and a trial by the highest court in the world by a man who really wanted to put him in jail, Tom Sneddon, you know, tried everything. And millions and millions of dollars tried to jail him, so but he never really recovered from that.
That broke his heart. He’s a good entertainer. Oh, he is. He’s out of this world. There’s God, then there’s Michael. Michael never truly wanted to grow up and lived a life filled with controversy. His unexpected passing left many questions unanswered. Questions that might never find resolution. I remember Michael as the most misunderstood man in the world and also as one of the biggest mentors in my
life. He was just like a really like down-to-earth. He was really like just kind and sweet. He was always asking. He always wanted to know like what we were up to. Didn’t he? Yeah, it’s he’s a he’s a great great loss to the world really. One of a kind. We’ll never see the like of him again. We’ll never see a star that big again.
Michael Jackson was a once-in-a-lifetime entertainer whose career soared to incredible heights. Yet, despite his success, he grappled with personal issues that severely impacted his health. Falling into the wrong hands, he never received the support he truly needed. The most talented musician of all time, the most famous person of all time who was also seen by many people and probably the people that matter most to Michael was being one of the nicest people that’s ever lived I’ve ever met.
He was like the like kindest like most loving like person, father, friend, godfather that like you could probably ever hope to meet. I miss Michael a lot. I miss him a lot and my kids miss him. They miss his kids and it’s just such a shame that the man isn’t around with us.
