Michael Jackson (101 page)

In 2001, he was offered ten million dollars simply to perform two nights in Las Vegas. He also had $100 million guaranteed
for a national tour. Imagine what he might command for a
world
tour? He could earn enough to handle his responsibility with the bank loan – plus whatever he may require to cover his annual
Toys ‘R’ Us budget. ‘But it takes too much out of me,’ he told me of touring, back in 1995. ‘It’s like a two-hour marathon,
every show. I swear, I must lose ten pounds a concert. The expectations are too high. It’s hard.’

Michael also spends a fortune on presents for children around the world, some of whom he knows but many of whom he doesn’t
and who are connected to him through various charities. Also, of course, he splurges on himself: for instance, in June 1999
he paid $1.54 million at a Sotheby’s auction to own David O. Selznick’s Best Picture Oscar for
Gone With the Wind
. Moreover, he gives generously to friends such as Elizabeth Taylor, who is accustomed to receiving expensive baubles from
Michael on a regular basis, and he doesn’t disappoint. He recently spent $10,000 in Las Vegas, on perfume for her.

Unfortunately, making his life more complex is the fact Michael is always involved in lawsuits from people with whom he’s
done business in the past: former promoters, producers, managers, accountants, investment bankers, employees have all come
after him for tens of millions of dollars. It seems that the lawsuits never stop coming. Brian Oxman, who has represented
Michael and some of his siblings for more than ten years, says that Michael has given about 500 depositions in his lifetime
and, amazingly, been involved in more than 1,500 lawsuits. If one figures that Michael didn’t start becoming involved in litigation
until he was a professional entertainer of about ten years of age, and it’s unlikely that the suits started that early, it
would amount to thirty-five years of lawsuits or an average of forty lawsuits a year.

Michael, of course, is not the only one giving depositions – all of the litigants are required to do so, as well. Such interrogations
then become public record and, often, the foundation for interesting assertions. Earlier this year, as a result of depositions
given during a lawsuit filed against Michael, it was reported by
Vanity Fair
that he hired a witch doctor named, Baba, to sacrifice forty-two cows in order to curse David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and
dozens of others on a Hate List. Sure, it’s preposterous, but in Michael’s world – one in which he whisks his baby out of a
hospital, ‘with all the placenta and everything all over her’ – it could be argued that anything goes.

In Michael’s song ‘Tabloid Junkie’ he wrote, ‘Just because you read it in a magazine or see it on a TV screen don’t make it
factual.’ He might have added,’… or read it in a deposition.’

Michael becomes anxious about each lawsuit filed against him, but often not until it involves his personal participation which
is usually at the time of deposition. ‘He has, on some occasions in the past, not eaten when he should,’ says Oxman. ‘He can
become very concerned and nervous at depositions. He doesn’t like lawsuits, and it makes him ill to have to cope with litigation
that people heap on him. He is tired of being sued. But this is the kind of life that Michael leads. No one wants to be reasonable.
Everyone wants to be crazy.’

Perhaps it’s not surprising that one person more moved by Martin Bashir’s
Living With Michael Jackson
documentary than maybe anyone else in the Jackson family was Michael’s father, Joseph. Every time he sees Michael on television
describing how he was beaten as a child, Joseph can’t help but cringe.

Today, Joseph regrets many of his actions, wishes he had made different choices as a parent – even if he does put up a tough
front. Michael first spoke about his view of his father in a 1993 interview by Oprah Winfrey. ‘There were times when he’d
come to see me, I’d get sick,’ Michael said. ‘I’d start to regurgitate. He’s never heard me say this,’ Michael added. ‘I’m
sorry,’ he said, looking into the camera. ‘Please don’t be mad at me.’ He hastened to add, ‘But I do love him.’ Afterwards,
a visibly hurt Joseph went on television and said, ‘I didn’t know he was ’gurgitatin’, [sic] but if he did ’gurgitate, he
’gurgitated all the way to the bank.’ True to the nature of their conflicted relationship, Michael then felt so badly about
his words to Oprah that, to show his deep regret, he bought Joseph a new automobile.

‘I was tough on him,’ Joseph told me of Michael, a few years before Oprah’s interview. At the time, he and Michael weren’t
even speaking; the subject of their disagreement was not known to me. ‘See, the thing is that I wanted him to know that the
world was not a nice place,’ Joseph went on. ‘He was so damn sensitive, more than the other kids, I was worried about him.
Me and Katie both were. So, yeah, I admit it,’ he said, a bit defensively. ‘I was hard on him. Maybe too much, huh?’ His eyes
searched my face for an answer. ‘Maybe I should have backed off, do you think? I don’t know. I do know this. I would do it
differently, today.’ He shook his head, sadly and concluded, ‘What father doesn’t wish he had the chance to go back and do
it… differently?’

By February 2003, Joseph’s son, Michael, was four years older than Joseph had been on the day he took his talented boys to
Motown to audition for the company. Then, Joseph was vigorous and full of fight, arguing with Berry Gordy and Ewart Abner,
playing around behind his wife’s back and ordering his boys about in his own inimitable way. Now, he’s slowed down. He sometimes
finds it difficult to rise from a chair.

Those who know him best say that seventy-three-year-old Joseph Jackson has become, in his senior years, sentimental and even
sad about the past. He wishes his relationship with his wife and children had been better, more satisfying. Somehow, he has
managed to set it straight with Katherine, especially in the last ten years. Despite all that has happened to their family – the
in-fighting, family politics, hurt, anger, betrayal and disappointment – Joseph and Katherine, seventy-two, remain united as
husband and wife. They have been married for more than fifty years. The names of the women who have come and gone from their
lives have been relegated to the distant past. ‘Now, what was that girl’s name?’ Katherine recently asked him in front of
a family member. They were speaking of Gina Sprague, from almost twenty-five years ago. Joseph thought for a moment, and had
to smile. ‘I swear to God,’ he said, ‘I can’t remember.’ Katherine looked perplexed for a moment, then exclaimed, ‘My goodness,
Joseph. Neither can I. Oh, well…’

Given all the evidence, it could be said that what should have been the story of a family’s transcendence and triumph over
poverty turned out, instead, to be a tale of tragedy and disappointment. However, maybe that’s a cynical view of the Jacksons’
story. What if Joseph hadn’t been so driven to transform the lives of his family? What if they’d never left Gary, Indiana?
Would they have been better off there? It’s doubtful. They’ve had a remarkable, thrilling life in Los Angeles, even with all
of the intense, and often hurtful, melodrama.

‘At the root of it, we love each other,’ Joseph has explained, ‘and I guess that’s what has kept us together all these years.
Even when it got bad,’ he said, before correcting himself with a smile, ‘even when I got bad and I
did
get bad, that woman loved me, and my kids loved me, I like to think. You don’t see that in this world so much. I’m a lucky
man.’

Joseph and Katherine were both upset about the Martin Bashir documentary. They know how easy it is to paint a sensational
picture of their most famous son. They felt that Bashir had exploited his obvious eccentricities, and were incensed by his
machinations. They were also moved by Michael’s recollection of his childhood. It was obvious from his demeanour that he was
still in such pain.

When Joseph telephoned Michael early the next morning, he found him crying. Michael said he felt wretched about the way the
documentary had turned out and, according to a family member, he told his father, ‘I just hope that, in twenty years, my kids
don’t see it. What will they think of me, Joseph?’

Joseph said that he and Katherine wanted to visit him as soon as possible at Neverland. It had been some time since they’d
been to the ranch. Michael was suspicious. In the past, whenever Joseph wanted to meet with him it had to do with a scheme
to reunite him with his brothers. Michael didn’t have the energy to turn him down again. ‘I promise you, Michael, it’s not
about the brothers,’ Joseph said. ‘It’s about us, you and me and Katherine. Plus,’ he said, ‘we want to see the kids. Please.’
(He was referring to his grandchildren.) ‘They’re as important to us as they are to you, Michael.’

Michael must have been moved. Whereas show business was once paramount in his life, it’s true that his children are, today,
his primary concern, his great passion. Ironically, the allegations of sexual abuse levelled against him a decade ago, those
charges that practically laid ruin to his life and career, had a surprising consequence: they were the catalyst for change.
Evan Chandler, father of Jordie, had promised to ruin Michael. ‘You’re going down,’ he told him. ‘You are going
down
.’ It was a terrible threat, one no person would ever want to hear. In an effort to reprioritize his world, Michael then reached
within to learn what might truly matter to him. He wanted to be vitally involved in something meaningful, not just in show
business, and he decided that it would be in the raising of his own children that he would find the most satisfaction. So,
he had children – not in a conventional manner, but what else could one expect of Michael Jackson?

Katherine and Joseph arrived at Neverland a few days after the United States broadcast of the Martin Bashir programme. They
would then spend the next five days with Michael and his children. Mornings would begin with the ritual of Katherine and Michael
having breakfast together on one of the patios, the air thick with the mingled scent of the wildflowers Katherine has said
she so enjoys. They would then feed the children in the expansive kitchen.

Meanwhile, Joseph would sleep late in one of the guest quarters. When he awakened, a personal butler, on staff at Neverland,
would assist him with his morning needs. Joseph would then spend afternoons with Michael, taking in the well-manicured vistas
of Neverland, talking privately. From all accounts, they looked happy to be together. One of the few associates of Michael’s
also present that week at Neverland recalled the afternoon father and son were seen having a picnic with Prince Michael I
on one of Neverland’s verdant lawns. Katherine and Paris were off with a staff member to a Toys ‘R’ Us store in nearby San
Maria. (The baby spent the afternoon, sleeping.) Because it had rained earlier in the day, dampness lingered into the chilly
February afternoon. Still, as they ate a fried chicken meal prepared by Michael’s personal chef, the bright sun shone down
upon them, three generations of Jackson men, laying on a blanket… talking, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. ‘I
love him,’ Michael later said of his father, ‘and I totally, totally forgive him.’

Joseph and Katherine were delighted to check in on their grandchildren and see how Michael was progressing with them. They
found that Prince Michael I and Paris are bright, confident, affectionate and considerate. They pray before meals. They are
polite, thoughtful and funny. Michael becomes angry when they swear, as they sometimes do since most of their friends are
adults. He never spanks them, however; he would never lay a hand on them, but as he puts it, ‘No means
no
.’ He doesn’t raise his voice in anger, and doesn’t seem to have to do so – they are generally well behaved. If one does act
up, he or she has to endure a ‘time out’, which means standing in a corner, alone, to cool off.

Michael explained that he rations the youngsters’ toys and sends presents they receive as Christmas gifts from his fans to
orphanages around the world, allowing the children to keep just one. He has taught them not to refer to any of their toys
as ‘mine’, when friends are over to visit; he wants them to learn to share. It’s telling, maybe, that he doesn’t like seeing
his children stare into a mirror for too long when getting ready for the day. ‘I look great,’ young Prince once said, as he
combed his hair. ‘No, you look okay,’ Michael said, correcting him. Though Michael has always been frightened of dogs (since
being bitten as a child), he got over his fear in order to buy the children a much-wanted Golden Retriever. If they have a
question (and children always have questions), Michael will not give them an answer unless he is sure it is accurate. He makes
use of his expansive library to look up factual responses to even the most innocuous questions asked by his children.

Michael and his governesses dress Prince up as if he were little Lord Fauntleroy, whereas Paris wears dainty, lacy and velvet
dresses. The baby, Prince Michael II, seems happy and well-adjusted. All three openly adore their father. Once a year, he
dresses up in full clown regalia, and thrills them. ‘If I could spend all my time with Daddy, I would do it,’ Prince Michael
I told Katherine. ‘I think he’s the best daddy in the whole world.’ Michael scooped the boy up into his arms. ‘And you’re
the best little Prince, ever,’ Michael said, kissing his face. ‘I love you,’ said the child. ‘I love you, more,’ Michael responded.

While Michael was recording tracks for
Invincible
at The Hit Factory Criteria studio in North Miami, Prince Michael I spilled some popcorn on the floor. A producer was about
to bend over to clean it up when Michael intervened. ‘No, let me,’ he said, apologetically. ‘He’s my kid. I’ll clean up after
him.’ Then, according to the producer, ‘I look down and there’s Michael Jackson on his hands and knees picking up his son’s
popcorn. I’m not sure you would see Madonna doing that.’

Of course, there could be problems for his family in the future. The day may come when his three progeny will wonder why their
mothers have decided to play such a small part in their lives. They could feel abandoned. Might they one day lament their
childhoods, just as their father does his? Though there are never any guarantees in child rearing – only time will tell how
these three will turn out – Michael Jackson’s family is unique in almost every way. His children face challenges in life perhaps
even greater than those faced by their famous father.