Part 29 (1/2)
I had a discussion with Michael along those same lines in 1991, after the original publication of my biography of him. I saw him and LaToya at a Record Collectors' Convention in the parking lot of Capitol Records in Hollywood. He was wearing a bright red s.h.i.+rt, black satin pants... and a black surgical mask. When LaToya went off in search of records by The Partridge Family, Michael and I began talking about the music of our youth and, somehow, we began talking about his childhood. 'I missed my childhood,' he said, sadly.
Having personally witnessed just a bit of Michael's childhood in Encino, I offered the opinion that perhaps his childhood wasn't as bad as he remembered it. The biggest misconception about him is that he has lived his life sheltered from 'the real world', and that this is why he has practically withdrawn from society. In fact, Michael has had more life encounters than most people. An immensely gifted performer, he has travelled the world many times over, entertaining people of all colours, races and religions. He is intimate with the exhilaration of a thunderous ovation, of a standing-room-only crowd. He knows what it is to be 'special', to be able to make demands and expect them to be met because of who he is. He knows what it's like to have great wealth, to be able to give his mother a million dollars so she won't have to work. He has experienced the pleasure of giving, of being charitable, of seeing the faces of deathly ill children light up just because he is who he is.
'A lot of kids starve, Michael,' I reminded him. 'A lot of kids are poor, they become addicted to drugs. A lot of kids don't live in mansions with servants. A lot of kids have it a lot worse that you did. In fact,' I said, maybe feeling a little too self-confident, 'I think you had a pretty good childhood. You travelled. You had friends. You did what you wanted to do, didn't you? You performed. You entertained. It was fun. I think you miss your childhood, yes. But I don't think you missed out on it.'
Michael stared at me, angrily. 'No, it was horrible,' he countered. 'I had a terrible childhood. All of that performing. All that recording. The fans took over my life,' he said, pointing at me. 'I never got to play,' he complained. 'It was awful.'
'See you 'round,' he said, turning his back on me. 'I'm going to find 'Toya.'
The memory of that brief exchange has stayed with me over the years, especially when the common explanation to Michael's increasingly unusual behaviour became that he had 'missed out' on his youth.
'A place where boys have rights'
A week after meeting him, Michael Jackson telephoned Jordie Chandler. As the two discussed their lives and hobbies, Jordie expressed an interest in playing video games. Michael then invited the boy to his 'hide-out', an apartment he maintained in Century City, California, which most of Michael's family and staff members had only heard about, but had never actually seen. Michael explained that he had an arcade at the apartment and felt sure that Jordie would have fun there. Of course, Jordie wanted to go. However when he asked his mother for permission, she denied it citing upcoming school tests for which the youngster needed to study. But in the weeks to come, Michael continued telephoning Jordie; the two became fast friends.
On 27 June 1992, Michael embarked on his Dangerous concert extravaganza, the first of thirty-nine performances on the first leg of the tour taking place in Munich, Germany, at the Olympic Stadium. It was a complex production with the expected bombastic special effects and lighting, dancers, musicians and others involved in the fantastic multimillion-dollar presentation. In all, Michael would perform eighteen numbers including hits such as 'Wanna Be Startin' Something', 'Thriller', 'Billie Jean' and 'Beat it' and four from the current Dangerous Dangerous alb.u.m. At the end of the show, in front of nearly 75,000 people, Michael appeared to strap on a jet and rocket right out of the stadium. (Actually, a stunt double did the trick, which was orchestrated by illusionist, David Copperfield.) Even without John Branca at the helm, Michael was making winning decisions; he sold the rights of his Dangerous tour to HBO for twenty million dollars, the highest sum ever paid for a live concert. When the network broadcast the final show of the first leg of Michael's tour, HBO gained its highest rating up until that time. alb.u.m. At the end of the show, in front of nearly 75,000 people, Michael appeared to strap on a jet and rocket right out of the stadium. (Actually, a stunt double did the trick, which was orchestrated by illusionist, David Copperfield.) Even without John Branca at the helm, Michael was making winning decisions; he sold the rights of his Dangerous tour to HBO for twenty million dollars, the highest sum ever paid for a live concert. When the network broadcast the final show of the first leg of Michael's tour, HBO gained its highest rating up until that time.
Because Michael was involved in every aspect of the show, from sound to lighting to costumes all the way down to ticket sales, it demanded all of his focus. How he managed to even give Jordie Chandler a second thought during this time is remarkable, yet he did just that. For the next nine months while on the road, Michael telephoned his new friend on a weekly basis. For Michael, it was as if Jordie had become his lifeline to the real world, to his home, as he performed in front of hundreds of thousands of adoring strangers. In fact, Michael also had eleven-year-old Brett Barnes with him from Australia, as well as nine-year-old Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis, son of Gloria von Thurn und Taxis of Bavaria and already one of the richest kids in the world. His staff was used to having to accommodate children while on the road with Michael, no one ever questioned it. However, even though he had other youngsters with him, Michael's thoughts were of Jordie. According to what Jordie later recalled of his late-night, long-distance conversations with him, Michael told him about Neverland. 'It's a place where boys have rights,' Michael said, promising to take Jordie there as soon as the Dangerous tour was completed.
Michael also told Jordie about his charity work, how he had raised funds for needy children's organizations round the world with his Heal the World Foundation, and his plans for a World Congress of Children to bring together youngsters from one hundred nations. 'Children,' Michael explained, 'are the hope of the world.' Sometimes, Michael said, he sent his staff members to a toy store in one of his pick-up trucks. The employees fill the truck with toys until 'there's not a single inch left' in the pick-up bed, and bring them to Neverland. Then, 'as they gather all around me, smiling and laughing,' Michael distributed the toys to all the needy children. He promised to introduce Jordie to Elizabeth Taylor one day, telling him, 'she's really old, but she's still cool. She's won, like, fifteen Oscars!' (Taylor has actually won two.) When Michael returned home from the final stop on the tour's first leg, j.a.pan, on 31 December, he found that Elizabeth Taylor had decked out Neverland for the Christmas holidays, with hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of elaborate decorations. Though Michael, raised a Jehovah's Witness, never celebrated Christmas, he was still overwhelmed by Elizabeth's kind gesture. He called Jordie to tell him about it. 'You should see it,' he said, the youngster later recalled. 'It's like a Winter Wonderland. The only thing that would make it better would be having you here. Then, it would be absolutely perfect.'
Michael was too busy in January, however, to entertain any guests at Neverland. On his agenda was the NAACP [National a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Colored People] Image Awards on 16 January, President Clinton's Inaugural Ball on the 19th and then the American Music Awards on the 25th each performance requiring days of rehearsal time. Then, he had the Superbowl on the 31st, where he performed with a 750-member choir and a 98,000-person flashcard stunt to promote the Heal the World Foundation. At the end of the show, 3,500 children joined Michael on stage for 'Heal the World'. 120 million people watched Michael's performance.
On 10 February 1993, Michael gave an internationally televised interview to Oprah Winfrey. During it, Michael and Oprah gave the world a nighttime tour of Neverland and Michael then revealed, for the first time, he suffers from Vitiligo. He also spoke of his 'girlfriend' Brooke s.h.i.+elds. When Oprah pushed to learn if Michael was still a virgin, he clarified that he was 'a gentleman. You can call me old-fas.h.i.+oned, if you want.' When asked about plastic surgery, he said he had 'very little. You can count it on two fingers.' Elizabeth Taylor made a surprise appearance, as if just pa.s.sing through, to declare that Michael 'is the least weird man I have ever known.' (Michael later presented her with a $250,000 diamond necklace to thank her for the compliment.) It was a terrific, ratings-winning broadcast, drawing an audience of more than ninety million; the fourth most-watched entertainment show in US TV history.
The next day, Michael called June Chandler to invite her, Jordie and his half-sister Lily, to his estate for the weekend. With Michael so much in the headlines as a result of the interview with Oprah, it must have seemed surreal to June that he had invited her and her family to the same place she had just seen displayed on television, even offering to put them up for the night. June accepted Michael's invitation.
June and the children arrived at Neverland Ranch early on Friday afternoon. The servant who greeted them suggested that they be seated in the parlour and wait for 'Mr Jackson' as he scurried off to fetch soft drinks. June, Jordie and Lily sat side by side on one of the couches and looked at their surroundings, their mouths agape. Simply put, they could not believe their eyes. Was it possible that they knew a person who lived here? here?
Though the twenty-five-room, mock-Tudor mansion's living room was large-scale and packed with opulent furnis.h.i.+ngs, there was also a sense of warmth and elegance about it, with pine-panelled walls, fine Italian antiques (a little over-done but, of course, for Michael excess is never enough), and big, over-stuffed furniture, the kind into which one would sink six inches upon being seated. Here and there, were eccentric treasures: life-size mannequins of senior citizens and youngsters having tea; giant oil paintings of Elizabeth Taylor hanging in elaborate, carved and gilded frames; the white, bugle-beaded gown Diana Ross wore in the final scene of Lady Sings the Blues Lady Sings the Blues encased in a large gla.s.s box with pink lights glowing around it. There were pictures of children, everywhere, both boys and girls. The house was perfectly still; nothing stirred. It was quiet as a tomb, no music, not a sound. encased in a large gla.s.s box with pink lights glowing around it. There were pictures of children, everywhere, both boys and girls. The house was perfectly still; nothing stirred. It was quiet as a tomb, no music, not a sound.
Outside, as far as the eye could see, were more than 2,000 verdant acres of bucolic landscape, reminiscent of the English countryside. It was impossible to imagine that anyone owned owned this place, it was so expansive, with its deep blue four-acre lake way off in the distance. Statues paid homage to Scottish author J. M. Barrie and his creation Peter Pan. From more than a hundred speakers, disguised as rocks in the flowerbeds, emanated Disney music (never Michael's own music, to which he rarely listens). There was a zoo with a menagerie of alligators, giraffes, lions, a twelve-foot albino python and a seventy-thousand-pound elephant named Gypsy (a present from Elizabeth Taylor). There was also 'Cricket', the thirty-four-inch-tall stallion and Petunia, the potbellied pig, and Linus, the two-foot-tall sheep. Of course, Bubbles the chimpanzee also lived on the property, often sitting in the cinema with Michael, eating free candy from the sweets counter. 'Sometimes he takes off his diaper and goes on the floor, but mostly he's very clean,' Michael had told Jordie. Then, of course, there were the many rides: the Ferris wheel, b.u.mper cars, steam trains... and, for the little ones, a carousel, fire trucks and frog hoppers. Some might have found it disturbing that hundreds of security cameras were positioned all over the estate, hidden inside little bird-houses. However, Michael viewed it as a necessary precaution. If any one of the thirty full-time gardeners or ten ranch hands didn't smile enough, or seemed otherwise unhappy, he would be dismissed another necessity. After all, this was supposed to be a happy place. this place, it was so expansive, with its deep blue four-acre lake way off in the distance. Statues paid homage to Scottish author J. M. Barrie and his creation Peter Pan. From more than a hundred speakers, disguised as rocks in the flowerbeds, emanated Disney music (never Michael's own music, to which he rarely listens). There was a zoo with a menagerie of alligators, giraffes, lions, a twelve-foot albino python and a seventy-thousand-pound elephant named Gypsy (a present from Elizabeth Taylor). There was also 'Cricket', the thirty-four-inch-tall stallion and Petunia, the potbellied pig, and Linus, the two-foot-tall sheep. Of course, Bubbles the chimpanzee also lived on the property, often sitting in the cinema with Michael, eating free candy from the sweets counter. 'Sometimes he takes off his diaper and goes on the floor, but mostly he's very clean,' Michael had told Jordie. Then, of course, there were the many rides: the Ferris wheel, b.u.mper cars, steam trains... and, for the little ones, a carousel, fire trucks and frog hoppers. Some might have found it disturbing that hundreds of security cameras were positioned all over the estate, hidden inside little bird-houses. However, Michael viewed it as a necessary precaution. If any one of the thirty full-time gardeners or ten ranch hands didn't smile enough, or seemed otherwise unhappy, he would be dismissed another necessity. After all, this was supposed to be a happy place.
'So, how do you like my home?' It was Michael, walking into the room, flas.h.i.+ng a smile of genuine pride and satisfaction, and holding a tray with four soft-drink bottles. 'I was going to put them in gla.s.ses,' he said of the refreshments. 'But I couldn't find any in the kitchen,' he joked. 'I've been gone so long, I was lucky to even find the kitchen.' He was funny, June later recalled, funnier than she imagined he would be.
For the rest of the day, June, Jordie and Lily played games, swam, zipped about in the master's $7,000 black-and-lavender golf cart, and then watched first-run films (loaned to Michael by major Hollywood studios) late into the evening in his private screening room. The next day, Michael took them all to a toy store an hour away, which had been closed by the managers for a few hours to allow the Jackson party private shopping time. 'You can have anything you want,' Michael told Jordie and Lily. As June watched, the two children ran through the store, pulling more than ten thousand dollars' worth of toys from the shelves and piling them into three shopping carts.
Sat.u.r.day night was spent enjoying Michael's amus.e.m.e.nt park under a full and magical moon, first on the rollercoaster and then the Ferris wheel. When the cart carrying Michael, Jordie, June and Lily got to the top of the Ferris wheel, the operator stopped the rotation, just as Michael had earlier instructed. The four of them then sat high above the ground June, Michael and Jordie shoulder-to-shoulder, and Lily on her mother's lap surveying all that was Michael's pride-and-joy. A slight breeze rustled the leaves of old trees. There seemed to be twinkling lights as far as the eye could see. 'I don't know where there are more lights,' June said, breathlessly, 'in the sky or on the ground.' All four were lost in their own thoughts as they sat in silence, the moon bathing them with silvery radiance. However, Michael looked glum in the dim light.
'Do you know how much time I spend up here alone,' Michael said, softly, 'just sitting up here by myself? I have all of this,' he declared, motioning to the acres below, 'yet I have... nothing. The things I really want in my life are the things I don't have.'
'You have us, now,' Jordie said, putting his arm around Michael's shoulder.
Michael smiled. 'My new little family,' he concluded. 'The only thing that matters in life is having someone who understands you, who trusts you and who will be with you when you grow old, no matter what.'
On Sunday morning, June, Jordie and Lily departed for Los Angeles after their unforgettable weekend. Another visit was planned.
The following Sat.u.r.day night, Michael showed up at June's home in a limousine ready to whisk them back to Neverland. However, when June, Jordie and Lily got into the stretch automobile and greeted Michael, they discovered another boy sitting on the singer's lap, eleven-year-old Brett Barnes, who Michael introduced as his 'cousin'. (They're not related even though the youngster did introduce himself as 'Brett Jackson'.) Apparently, Jordie would not be the sole focus of Michael's attention during the weekend ahead.
As June tried to keep the conversation going, Brett and Michael appeared to be in their own world with an easy rapport between them, one that made what Michael had with Jordie seem, perhaps, not so unique. It was a tense drive to Santa Barbara.
When Michael and his guests finally arrived at Neverland, they were immediately surrounded by uniformed guards, maids, butlers and other functionaries, all gathering and grinning to one another excitedly. Michael nodded and smiled and shook hands. He then instructed two of the guards to take June's suitcases to one of the guest cottages. 'Oh, and Brett's belongings go in my room,' he added nonchalantly as Brett ran off with one of the maids. Michael then embraced and kissed his remaining guests. 'You have Neverland at your disposal,' he told June, 'so have a ball. I love you all,' he said with genuine warmth. 'And just wait,' he added, 'tomorrow will be another great day.'
'Never do that again, Jordie'
Like many celebrated people, at his core, Michael Jackson was conscious of a certain emptiness. He admitted it, and often; it didn't take much prodding for him to describe himself as 'the loneliest person on the planet'. Over the years, especially as he got older, bleakness crept into his soul. When he was on stage, he came to life and was without peer; offstage, he felt... joyless. However, when he met Jordie Chandler, all of that seemed to change.
'Michael is a sad person,' confirmed someone who has been a.s.sociated with him for twenty years. 'He has had a difficult life, always been a loner, a misfit. If he hadn't become a star, he would be the guy living in Gary, Indiana, alone in a one-bedroom apartment with no friends and a job developing film at a photolab. What really attracted Michael to Jordie, was the youngster's humour. Whenever a person can make him laugh, that's someone he will want in his life. Jordie made him laugh. He would make fun of Michael, of the way he dressed, of his clumsiness, his driving. Michael was amused by Jordie's irreverent manner. He felt he could be himself around him.
'They used to dance together, Michael showing Jordie ch.o.r.eography steps and Jordie catching on remarkably fast. Jordie was intelligent; Michael loves smart kids and Jordie was tremendously creative. Michael said that Jordie could one day be an amazing film director. ”He has a vision,” he told me. ”I think he could do wonderful things.”'
They probably would have been a perfect couple of buddies if not for the fact that Jordie was thirteen and Michael was thirty-four.
'I truly don't think there's a devious bone in his body,' June said of Michael. If she thought anything was unusual about Michael and Brett at Neverland, she didn't indicate as much after she and her family returned to Los Angeles.
It wasn't long before Michael invited them all to his 'hide-out' on Wils.h.i.+re Boulevard in Westwood, about ten minutes from June and Dave Schwartz's home. 'Do you have an amus.e.m.e.nt park there, too?' Jordie asked him. Michael laughed, 'No, silly. It's just my place to go where no one can find me.' Then, lowering his voice as if to share an important confidence, he added, 'As soon as someone finds out about it whoos.h.!.+ I move to another hide-out. Once,' he continued, 'a person knocked on my door that I didn't know and whoos.h.!.+ I moved to another hide-out, the next day.'
Why?'
'Because if one stranger knows where I live,' Michael answered, 'then millions more will follow.'
'So how many hide-outs have you had?' Jordie asked.
'Hundreds,' Michael said, grinning. 'Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds.'
Jordie, Lily and June had fun at Michael's hide-out, as expected, and, as the days pa.s.sed, became privy to more of his secrets. For instance, on 9 March, Michael was honoured with a Soul Train Soul Train award for Best Alb.u.m ( award for Best Alb.u.m (Dangerous) and Best Song ('Remember the Time'). At the show, he sat in a wheelchair on the stage and performed 'Remember the Time' while surrounded by a host of dancers. He explained that he had hurt himself during rehearsals.
However, the next day at Neverland, he threw the crutches aside. 'It's a miracle! I can walk! I can walk!' Michael exclaimed, the jokester in him coming forth. Michael had never been injured; it appeared he had used the wheelchair and crutches as a publicity gimmick.
A couple of days later, Michael took Jordie, Lily and their mother to Las Vegas where they all stayed at Jackson's private, $3,000-a-night suite in the Mirage Hotel. Michael and Jordie stayed in separate rooms, while June and Lily shared another suite.
The night after their arrival, June and Lily turned in early, exhausted by their fun time in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Michael and Jordie watched The Exorcist The Exorcist. Jordie was so frightened by the film, he asked or Michael suggested, depending on which of them tells the story that he be allowed to stay with Michael in his room. In whatever manner the circ.u.mstances evolved, the two ended up sleeping together, Michael in silk pyjamas, Jordie in a T-s.h.i.+rt and sweat pants.
The next morning, when June went to Jordie's bedroom she found that he had not slept in his bed. As she stood in the doorway trying to figure out what had happened, she caught Jordie slipping out of Michael's room. 'What is going on?' she asked. 'Where were you?'
'Oh, I slept with Michael,' answered the boy, casually, according to a later recollection.
'What?' June exclaimed. 'What are you talking about? You don't do that,' she said, now scolding him. 'Never do that again, Jordie.'
'Why?'
'Because it's not right,' June said, upset. 'Promise me you will never do that again, ever, Jordie.'