Michael Jackson (97 page)

For one thing, the vulnerability that he had before, born maybe of paranoia or an impending sense of doom, had now been replaced
with a kind of bravado. It appeared that Michael felt invincible. A particularly troubling fact for Lisa was the appearance
of a thirteen-year-old Norwegian boy. He was a cute kid who wore a red baseball cap all the time, given to him by Michael.
His presence, even if it was innocent, was disconcerting. Did Michael still not realize how dangerous it was for him, in terms
of his public image, to have young boys with him on tour?

On Friday 10 October, Michael performed before 47,000 people at Johannesburg Stadium. Afterward, Lisa spent hours backstage
with Michael. During that time together, she attempted to raise the topic of Michael’s new friend. The appearance of impropriety
was something that she felt had to be addressed. Yet, Michael made it clear to her that the issue would not be discussed.
It seemed he no longer required, or at least welcomed, her counsel.

It had been the self-doubting, vulnerable part of Michael Jackson that had always been the bridge between him and Lisa Marie
Presley. Now, without that part intact, and with the bridge of their sexual compatibility also broken down, Lisa felt not
just powerless, she also felt like an outsider.

The next day, Lisa and her children were on hand for the formal ceremony when Michael was made an honorary member of an African
tribe, Bafokeng Ka Bakwena (People of the Crocodile). The 300,000-strong Bafokeng is regarded as one of the richest in the
country due to its ownership of the world’s second-largest platinum reserve. Katherine and Joseph, who met the tribe a few
days before, were also given ‘citizenship’ certificates.

Dressed in a military-style jacket adorned with gold badges on the chest and arms, Michael walked slowly through a crowd of
native women and children in the town of Phokeng, ninety miles northwest of Johannesburg, after the ceremony. With Lisa clutching
his arm proudly, Michael smiling benevolently and touched the hands of his admirers as if he was visiting royalty. At all
times an aide carried a blue-and-yellow umbrella to provide shade for him and Lisa.

That afternoon, Michael and Lisa went water-skiing at South Africa’s Sun City resort. Then, that night they had dinner with
Katherine at the resort. During the meal, they applauded as youngsters dressed in leopard skin tribal garb performed for them.

The next day, Michael rehearsed for his concert at Johannesburg Stadium. Lisa, with her plans to depart already made, watched
from backstage, waiting for Michael to finish so she could say her ‘goodbyes’.

A small coterie of people watched Michael as he and the dancers rehearsed ‘Thriller’. In the middle of the song, he halted
the performance. ‘Hold it, guys,’ he said. ‘That’s all wrong. It goes like this. Watch.’ He then glided across the stage effortlessly,
as if on air, thereby demonstrating the correct moves for his troupe. Katherine, who was standing with Lisa, beamed.

‘When I think of how bad it got with those damn lies, and how far he has come since then, I have to cry,’ Katherine said,
not taking her eyes off her son. ‘He was almost destroyed. Now, just watch him, he’s so darn good.’ She then put her arm around
Lisa and gave her a warm look. ‘And it’s because of you that he got through it. Do you know that? Do you know how much we
appreciate what you did for him?’

Lisa smiled dimly and shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know if I helped, or not,’ she told Katherine, modestly. ‘I did love
him. That I know. But, face it, Katherine, your son is one big mystery.’

Katherine tilted her head back and laughed. ‘Girl, tell me about it,’ she exclaimed.

Michael came off the stage just as the two women were sharing their conspiratorial moment. ‘Now, what are you two gossiping
about?’ he asked, good-naturedly.

‘You!’ they both said, in unison.

He executed a quick, soft shoe routine, made a funny face at them, and went back to work.

In November 1997, Debbie Rowe announced that she was pregnant with a girl, her second ‘gift’ to Michael. This was the child
they said had been conceived in Paris. Michael was elated. At this time, he bought her a new house in Los Angeles. She moved
in with her two pet dogs, and seemed happy with her life.

Michael anxiously prepared himself for the birth of another baby, excited to see his family grow. Though he and Debbie still
did not live together – and never would – they got along well. She was his friend – the one who had his children. The other woman
in his life, Lisa Marie Presley, was still the one who had his heart, and Debbie knew it. ‘She told me that Michael had Lisa’s
picture in his bedroom, on his nightstand,’ said Tanya Boyd. ‘Debbie never had any misguided notion that Michael was in love
with her, and she’s never been in love with him either, I don’t think. “What he has with Lisa, now that’s true love,” Debbie
told me. “I have always known it,” she said. “I’ve never fought it. I’ve only encouraged it.” She never wanted to come between
Lisa and Michael. “If Lisa would have had his children,” she told me, “I never would have done it for him. There would have
been no reason for it.”’

On Saturday, 7 February 1998, Michael got together with Lisa for dinner at the Ivy in Los Angeles. He had telephoned her and
said he wanted to take her out for her thirtieth birthday, which had been about a week earlier.

They arrived at the restaurant holding hands. Michael wore a black hat and matching surgical mask, Lisa a dark blue dress
with a gold choker. Because they didn’t have a reservation, the manager took them into his office and served them drinks while
they waited for a table in a quiet, romantic corner. Once seated, Lisa enjoyed a plate of steamed vegetables. Michael ate
crab cakes and fried chicken. However, he slipped the food underneath his mask, rather than take it off. One wonders what
it might be like to sit across the table from a person who is eating while wearing a surgical mask. ‘Once you get past the
preposterousness of it,’ Lisa explained, privately, ‘and decide in your head, okay, now, look, the guy is
not
going to take the mask off…’

For dessert, they shared a piece of cake, decorated with a single candle – which Lisa happily blew out. ‘How’s it going with
Debbie?’ Lisa wanted to know, according to what she later recalled to a friend.

Half-heartedly, Michael said it was ‘okay’ with his wife. He had another glass of red wine, his fourth. He told her that as
much as he cared for Debbie, when he was with her, ‘I focus on what I don’t have, instead of what I do have. I just want to
be in love. Like what you and I had. I was so afraid,’ he told her, according to her memory. ‘I know now that I closed you
out. What can I do now?’

Lisa says that she didn’t respond. She no longer had the answers to his problems – not that she ever did – or the solution to
his life. There wasn’t much she could propose, except perhaps the most basic of offerings between two people with a history
who still care about each other. ‘I want you to know,’ she told him, ‘that if you ever need a friend, I’m here for you. You
have such a good heart, Michael,’ she added. ‘But, dude, tell me this: why do you have to be so
fucking strange?
‘

The two dissolved into laughter, probably realizing that there was no simple answer to that question.

After dinner, they strolled down Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills, window shopping under the watchful eye of paparazzi.
At one point, Michael kissed the top of her head and put two fingers under her chin, lifting it so her eyes would meet his.
His arms closed around her, enveloping her. They kissed through his silk mask, as if he was some kind of comic book super
hero and it made all the sense in the world. She then snuggled against him. A paparazzo memorialized the tender moment, the
photographs appearing five days later in a tabloid.

Later, they were driven to Santa Monica for a long walk on the beach, talking late into the night.

‘I love her,’ Michael told one of his associates the next day, ‘more than anything, more than anyone, I still love Lisa. We
have such a strong connection.’ His eyes filled with tears. ‘That was my one shot, man,’ he said. ‘I did a lot of foolish
things. I may never get another shot, you know?’

‘In another world, we would be together,’ Lisa would say, ‘just not in his world, I’m afraid.’

Two months later, Michael was the father of a new daughter.

Paris Katherine Michael Jackson was born on 3 April 1998 (named after the city in which her parents say the baby was conceived,
and also after her grandmother and her father). Michael’s associates contacted the Pope at the Vatican in Rome about the possibility
of his christening the baby. However, a Vatican official sent a letter to Michael through his representation in Los Angeles
explaining that The Pontiff would not want to be involved in ‘what may be perceived by some as a publicity stunt’. (The Vatican
had already been down this same road with Madonna a few years earlier when she attempted to have the Pope baptize her first
child, Lourdes, but was also turned away.)

When their ‘arrangement’ no longer felt right to Debbie, she asked for a divorce, and he gave her one on 8 October 1999, no
questions asked. He gave her about ten million dollars in a settlement, beginning with a first payment of $1.5 million in
October.

Michael continued with his life and career in 2000 and 2001 – as noted later in this text. Then, another baby was born to him
in 2002, a boy he named Prince Michael II. He has told confidants that he hopes to have more children in the future, and that
all of the boys will be named Prince Michael (III, IV, etc…).

Prince Michael II has the nickname ‘Blanket’. Michael has explained, ‘It’s an expression I use with my family and my employees.
I say, “You should blanket me or you should blanket her,” meaning like a blanket is a blessing. It’s a way of showing love
and caring.’ It was this particular child, nine months at the time, whom Michael dangled off a balcony in Germany in November
2002, causing a flood of editorials speculating about his emotional stability and suitability for fatherhood. Michael was
bewildered by his own actions and distraught by the media coverage. He was also embarrassed; what would his friends and family
think? He publicly apologized for his behaviour, saying that he became caught up ‘in the moment’.

Afterwards, Michael received a letter from Elizabeth Taylor, dated 19 December 2002, which lifted his spirits. ‘Don’t ever
let them [the public] get you down, Michael. You’re loved by too many, especially this kid. I love you just as much as I always
have and understand you just as much as I always have. Don’t hide. You haven’t done anything to be ashamed of. Be proud of
how you are bringing up your children. God knows I am. I love you with all my heart, and because I know you so well. I will
always understand where others may not. But, you know something: screw the others. All my love, Elizabeth.’

Michael has not revealed the identity of the mother of his third child. He would explain that the two older children were
‘a natural conception’ – meaning, he said, that he and Debbie had sex – and that the new baby was the result of artificial insemination.
‘I used a surrogate mother and my own sperm cells,’ he explained. ‘She doesn’t know me and I don’t know her. I didn’t care
what race she was as long as she was healthy and her vision was good. And her intellect – I wanted to know how intelligent she
is.’ He first noted that the mother was a black woman, then later changed the story and said he didn’t know her identity.
Prince Michael II is very blond. Debbie had confirmed that the child is not hers. If he knows who the mother is, he has decided
not to reveal her name.

In February 2003, another strange chapter in Michael’s life opened with the highly controversial documentary,
Living with Michael Jackson
, which first attracted fifteen million viewers in the United Kingdom and more than double that in the United States. The
programme made excitable headlines on both sides of the Atlantic for its subject, Michael, and interviewer/presenter, Martin
Bashir.