Authors: J. Randy Taraborrelli
Michael Jackson
THE SECRET LIFE OF MARILYN MONROE
ELIZABETH
JACKIE, ETHEL, JOAN:
Women of Camelot
ONCE UPON A TIME:
Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Ranier
First published in 1991 by Birch Lane Press.
A revised, expanded, and updated hardcover edition published in 2003 by Sidgwick & Jackson, an imprint of Pan Macmillan.
An updated paperback edition published in 2004 by Pan Books, an imprint of Pan Macmillan Ltd.
Copyright © 1991, 2003, 2004, 2009 by J. Randy Taraborrelli
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Grand Central Publishing Edition
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First eBook Edition: August 2009
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ISBN: 978-0-446-56568-4
This book is dedicated
to the memory of
Michael Joseph Jackson
1958–2009
Why not just tell people I’m an alien from Mars. Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They’ll
believe anything you say, because you’re a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, ‘I’m an alien from Mars and I
eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight,’ people would say, ‘Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is
nuts
. He’s cracked up. You can’t believe a damn word that comes out of his mouth.’
Michael Jackson to J. Randy Taraborrelli, September 1995
Contents
Creating The Jackson 5's First Hit
‘It just kept gettin' better…’
Joseph and Katherine Buy an Estate
Jermaine Falls for the Boss's Daughter
Jermaine's and Hazel's Wedding
Michael's Private Meeting with Berry
CBS Offers the Jacksons a ‘Sweet Deal’
Joseph to Jermaine: ‘Sign It!’
‘Why do people think I'm gay?’
Michael and Joseph Meet with CBS
Michael Turns Twenty-one… and Gets His Own Lawyer
The First ‘Nose Job’… and Other Freedoms
Katherine Tells Joseph to ‘Get Out!’
Michael Meets with Berry, Again
‘Billie Jean’ and ‘Beat It’ Videos
Another Bombastic, Attention-getting Melodrama?
Michael Gets Burned by Pepsi-Cola
Another Nose Job, and Katherine's Party
The Misery of the Victory Tour
Jackson vs. Jackson on the Road
Michael Buys the Beatles' Songs
A Million-dollar Bounty on Michael’s Head
Michael’s Mother Gets the Reward Money
‘I want more money than anyone else…’
David Geffen Influences Michael
Losing Count of the Plastic Surgeries
A Maddening Decade, An Uncertain Future
‘A place where boys have rights’
Either Jordie’s Mom Trusts Michael… or She Doesn’t
Michael Meets with his Accusers
‘Jordie will never forgive me…’
Elizabeth Taylor to the Rescue
Michael Proposes to Lisa Marie
Michael and Lisa Marie Become Lovers
Michael and Lisa Marie: Happily Ever After?
Lisa Marie Wants to Know Why Michael is ‘So Selfish’
Lisa Marie Confronts Michael in Hospital
Lisa Marie has a Change of Heart
HIStory, Blood on the Dance Floor & Invincible
Michael’s World Caves In… Again
Booze, Naked Women… and Michael Jackson?
‘I don’t recall seein’ any head lickin’’
I first met Michael Jackson when we were both children. The Jackson 5 had just appeared at the Philadelphia Convention Center
on Saturday evening, 2 May 1970, their first performance subsequent to signing with Motown Records. It was a heady time for
the boys; Michael was a very young eleven-year-old trying to come to terms with it all. I remember him then being happy, so
full of life. Something happened along the way, though… we both grew up, but in very different ways.
When I moved to Los Angeles at the age of eighteen to begin my career as a writer, I regularly interviewed Michael for magazine
features. I clearly remember the day I wrote ‘Michael Jackson Turns 21.’ Then, there was ‘Michael Jackson Turns 25.’ ‘Michael
Jackson Turns 30,’ and so many other articles about him in celebration of milestones along the way, and those of his talented
family members. As he grew older, I watched with mounting concern and confusion as Michael transformed himself from a cute
little black kid to… what he is, today. As a journalist and frequent chronicler of Michael's life, I had somehow to make sense
of what was happening, putting the pieces of the puzzle together to see how they fit in with the Michael I had known of yesteryear.
Thanks to my many encounters with him, I am able to quote at first hand his intimate reactions to so much of what has taken
place during his life and career.
In 1977, when I was at the Jackson home in Encino, California, to interview the family, Michael wandered into the room with
bandages on his face; he was nineteen at the time. I remember being dismayed. I thought then that rumours his father, Joseph,
was beating him might be true, and that bothered me for many years. Actually, as I later learned, he had just had the second
of many plastic surgeries.
In another interview, conducted after Michael had just returned from making
The Wiz
in New York in 1978, he mentioned to me that he had certain ‘secrets’ he didn't wish to reveal to me, adding that ‘
everybody
has deep, dark secrets’. I never forgot his words, especially as the years went by and he became stranger, his behaviour
more opaque and incomprehensible to many people.
Why are we still so fascinated by Michael Jackson after all of this time? Is it because of his awe-inspiring talent? Of course,
that's part of it. The voice is instantly recognizable, and the dance moves are his and his alone. Just as he had been influenced
by trailblazers before him, such as Jackie Wilson and James Brown, he has influenced a generation of entertainers. When you
watch Justin Timberlake perform, does he remind you of anyone else?
Michael is also an important touchstone for many of us, personally. Since he's been famous for more than thirty years, some
of us can mark moments in our lives by certain achievements in his. Many of us are old enough to remember how impossibly adorable
and prodigious he was as lead singer of The Jackson 5, and we can remember where we were at when the brothers first became
famous. We may recall the first time we saw him glide across a stage or screen doing the magical ‘Moonwalk’; we remember the
day we first saw the ‘We are the World’ video, in which he led an all-star cast in the first charitable effort of its kind
in the United States; we remember his amazing concert appearances and groundbreaking videos.
To say that Michael has succeeded spectacularly in his career is to state the obvious. However, as record-breaking and historical
as his artistry has been, it is his private life that has kept many of us on tenterhooks.
We probably also remember the first time we saw each of his new physical ‘looks’, and wondered what on earth that boy was
doing to his face.
Did you ever wonder if he was straight? Or gay? Or asexual?
What did you think when you first heard that he had been accused of being a paedophile?
Do you remember seeing the emotional speech from Neverland, during which he spoke of the police having photographed ‘my body,
including my penis, my buttocks, my lower torso, thighs and any other areas they wanted’?
And what of Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe, his mysterious ex-wives? Have you ever speculated about the true nature of
their relationships with him?
