Part 36 (2/2)

Later, when Michael recounted the incident to another a.s.sociate, he said of his wife, 'Man, she's so mean to me. I'm like, why are you being such a b.i.t.c.h to me? What'd I ever do to you?'

'It's too soon after your rehab, Mike,' said the adviser. 'This kind of conflict isn't good for you. You should be working on staying drug-free.'

'Eddie and Frank and I have been friends for years,' Michael said, not seeming to hear his friend's remarks. He shook his head in disbelief. 'We've been all over the world together. It's all innocent. Now, Lisa hates me because of it.' He stopped, as if hit by a bolt of lightning. 'Oh my G.o.d, she hates me. It's Katherine and Joseph all over again, isn't it?'

'Look, forget about those Cascio kids,' offered the adviser. 'Come on, Mike. You can see them, any time. Why mess things up any more with your wife?'

'Because I'm a grown man,' Michael said as he rose to leave the room. 'And I don't need anyone's permission to go on a vacation with my good friends. That's why.'

Michael did have his vacation in Paris with Eddie and Frank Cascio, in July 1995... and without Lisa.

Michael Goes on the Record.

In September 1995 rumours surfaced that Michael and Lisa Marie were ending their marriage, causing an international firestorm of headlines. I managed to get Michael on the telephone for an interview for the Australian magazine, Woman's Day Woman's Day, to check it out. 'Let me just say this,' he told me, impatiently: 'No. No. No. No No. These stories are d.a.m.n lies made up by people who hope they'll get lucky with one of them and hit it big.'

I asked if he wanted to further respond to reports that Lisa did not know about his vacation to Paris with the Cascio brothers. 'Like I wouldn't have told her?' Michael asked. He sounded tense, stressed out. 'Like she wouldn't read about it anyway, or see us photographed by every newspaper photographer in the world? Neither one of us could have a secret from the other, even if we wanted to,' he said. 'We're so happy,' he added of his marriage. 'We do it our way. I don't know if it's conventional. My parents have been married for forty years. Is their marriage conventional? Were Lisa's parents in a conventional marriage? I don't think so. I love being married, knowing that Lisa is there,' he continued.' She's strong. She's smart. She's on my side, listens to me, understands me, understands my world.'

The child molestation allegations came up, once again. There had been a report that the twenty-five-million-dollar settlement would be paid to Jordie Chandler in instalments of $466,000 a year over forty years. It wasn't accurate. However, the report further indicated that Michael spends more than that amount on toys. 'That's not true, either,' he confirmed. 'I probably don't spend more than,' he paused, as if calculating the figure in his head, 'about a hundred and fifty thousand a year on toys.'

Also at this time, Santa Barbara District Attorney, Tom Sneddon, was quoted in a Vanity Fair Vanity Fair article as saying that the criminal investigation against Michael was not over. 'It is in suspension,' he said, 'even if the civil case has been settled with cash.' article as saying that the criminal investigation against Michael was not over. 'It is in suspension,' he said, 'even if the civil case has been settled with cash.'

'What the heck does that mean?' Michael asked, heatedly. 'Either there is an investigation, or there isn't one. It's over. Let it rest.'

During the course of our conversation, the subject of the photo session with the police came up. 'Those photos did not match [Jordie's description],' he told me. 'How many times do I have to say this to you? They did not match They did not match. Now, I'm hanging up,' he told me, 'because you crossed the line with that question.'

'Wait,' I said. 'One more thing: do you know that a writer says he found a videotape of you with some kid. Do you want to respond to that, Michael?'

'It's not true,' he said, sounding dismayed. 'Even if I were the most deviant person in the world, why would I keep a tape like that?'

In fact, Michael Jackson sued Victor Guitterez (author of a book about Jordie and Michael for private publication, called Michael Jackson Was My Lover) Michael Jackson Was My Lover) for claiming that such a videotape existed, and challenged him to produce it. Apparently, no such tape existed. Victor lost the suit and ended up owing Michael almost three million dollars. He declared bankruptcy, moved to Chile, and hasn't been heard from since. for claiming that such a videotape existed, and challenged him to produce it. Apparently, no such tape existed. Victor lost the suit and ended up owing Michael almost three million dollars. He declared bankruptcy, moved to Chile, and hasn't been heard from since.

'People will believe anything about me. I don't care any more. Is that what you want to hear? Then, fine,' he concluded, las.h.i.+ng out at me. 'In fact, why not just tell people I'm an alien from Mars. Tell them I eat live chickens and that I do a voodoo dance at midnight. They'll believe anything you say, because you're a reporter,' he concluded, spitting our the word reporter reporter. 'But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, ”I'm an alien from Mars and eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance every night at midnight,” people would say, ”Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts nuts. He's cracked up. You can't believe a d.a.m.n word that comes out of his mouth.”'

Finally Michael said in a weary voice, 'People don't know what it's like for me. No one knows, really. No one should judge what I've done with my life,' he concluded, 'not unless they've been in my shoes every horrible day and every sleepless night.'

Enter: Debbie Rowe.

Michael first met Debbie Rowe in the early 1980s when he went to his dermatologist to complain of a skin condition. Panicked because of the emergence of mysterious blotches, he was certain he had a deadly skin cancer. Ace Johnson, who worked as an a.s.sistant for Joseph Jackson at the time, recalls, 'That was when Mike was told he had Vitiligo. ”Oh no,” he said, ”I am am a freak.” I distinctly remember him telling me that there was a white girl named Debbie in the doctor's office, a nurse and receptionist, who was helping him through the ordeal, always there for him.' a freak.” I distinctly remember him telling me that there was a white girl named Debbie in the doctor's office, a nurse and receptionist, who was helping him through the ordeal, always there for him.'

Dr Arnold Klein suggested to Michael that if he needed someone to talk to about his medical condition, he should call Debbie any time, day or night. For a short while, Michael did telephone her daily to ask her medical questions, and cry on her shoulder. They were soon good friends. 'At the time, his brothers thought maybe this would be the beginning of a romance for Michael, since all he talked about was Debbie,' recalled Ace. 'Jermaine said, ”I want to meet this Debbie chick. Mike's got it bad for her.” Michael giggled and laughed, like a kid with a crush.'

Whenever Michael came to the office for treatment, Debbie would fuss over him. In reciprocation, whenever Michael released a new CD he would send her an autographed copy. Debbie would hang his CD picture jackets on the walls of her office until, one day, Arnold Klein asked her to remove them, saying that such a display of affection for a patient could be misconstrued.

Tanya Boyd, who was a good friend of Debbie's, remembered, 'She would obsess about Michael saying, ”I'm going to talk to him about opening up more, he's too inhibited.” She cared about him, would be up all night long on the phone with him. She said he was best on the telephone. ”All of his defences break down when he doesn't have to look at you, face to face,” she said. She felt that he was sweet and misunderstood and also a rebel.' Echoing Lisa Marie's sentiment about him, Debbie told Tanya. 'If people knew him like I know him, they would not think he was so strange. He's unique, kinky, actually. I like that in a guy.'

'Some thought they'd end up together. When I asked Debbie if she was romantically interested in Michael, she became evasive. She ended up marrying someone else for a few years divorced him [in 1990] because she said she felt trapped but I believed she was interested in Michael.'

Over the years, Debbie and Michael continued their friends.h.i.+p, often confiding in one another about their unhappy marriages.

By 1995, Deborah Jean Rowe was thirty-six, about ten years older that Lisa Marie Presley. Born in 1958 in Spokane, Was.h.i.+ngton, to Gordon Rowe and Barbara Chilcutt, she had been relocated to Los Angeles by the time she was fifteen. At that time, her parents divorced, and her father left the United States for the Middle East. She graduated from Hollywood High School in 1977, and began working as an a.s.sistant to Arnold Klein. In 1982, she married Richard Edelman, then a thirty-year-old teacher at Hollywood High. They moved to a small apartment Van Nuys, California, where Edelman started a computer consulting business. Their marriage began to crumble in 1988; a year later they filed for bankruptcy with a.s.sets of forty thousand dollars and debt worth twice that much.

Debbie was truly an unusual character. When she was just a bit younger, she was a biker chick who enjoyed dressing up in black leather and roaring around Los Angeles at breakneck speeds. Mario Pikus, a friend of hers at the time and a fellow biker, recalled, 'She had so many crashes that her powerful 2000cc machine was covered in dents. And she swore like a sailor. Everything she said was peppered with four-letter words. She was like one of the guys. She used to drink beer and tequila, and she had this habit of punching you in what was supposed to be a friendly gesture. After she had a few drinks, her friendly jabs could knock the wind out of you.

'She never had any money, she was always broke. But one day, after a road trip, she said she had to stop by her parents' place. I was stunned. It's near Bruce Willis's home in Malibu, and it makes his house look like a shack. It's got to be worth four million dollars.' Inside the home, Pikus (who is a professional artist) estimated that there might have been ten million dollars in paintings and sculptures. Debbie explained that her step-father was a real estate magnate. 'They seemed to have a warm relations.h.i.+p, but it was clear that Debbie didn't take any money from him. Her apartment, which cost her about seven hundred dollars a month, was a dark little place, kind of cheap and depressing. But it was a shrine to Michael Jackson. Every inch of wall s.p.a.ce was taken up by posters and photographs of him. Lots of them were signed, 'To Debbie Love, Michael.'

It's fascinating that Michael was able to have someone in his life like Debbie, a person about whom the public was completely unaware. It had been presumed by his fans mosdy because of the way Michael complained about his lack of privacy that if ever a woman became a part of his life in any meaningful way, the world would know about it, instantly. It would make headlines. However, somehow, Debbie was kept a secret from Michael's fans and the press for more than a decade.

'When he went into the rehab for the drug problem, Debbie was relieved,' says Tanya Boyd. 'She'd been so worried about him, never out of touch with him during any of the Jordie Chandler business. He may have been talking to Lisa on the telephone a lot, but he was also speaking to Debbie though I suspect Lisa did not know about that. When he got out of the hospital [Charter], he started dating Lisa, but he never stopped seeing Debbie, either, even after he married Lisa.'

Lisa's friend, Monica Pastelle, recalled, 'Lisa once told me that she heard Michael was interested in a white nurse who worked for his dermatologist. She laughed it off. She thought he was probably trying to make her jealous, playing games. Still, she was interested enough to go to the doctor's office and sneak a look at this generously proportioned blonde, blue-eyed nurse named Debbie. After she saw her, she said, ”I'm not sure Michael would ever be interested in her. She's not his type. He likes glamour. However, I think she's she's into into him him. I think they're, I don't know, dating dating, or something. It's crazy.”'

It turned out to be true. While he was with Lisa, Michael was was seeing Debbie secretly, if only as a friend. When Lisa found out about it, she thought it odd that he would keep it from her. However, she suspected that he had many secrets and this one was probably the least noteworthy of them. She did some research and realized that Debbie was, as she put it in 2003, 'a nurse who had a crush on him.' seeing Debbie secretly, if only as a friend. When Lisa found out about it, she thought it odd that he would keep it from her. However, she suspected that he had many secrets and this one was probably the least noteworthy of them. She did some research and realized that Debbie was, as she put it in 2003, 'a nurse who had a crush on him.'

Lisa called her 'Nursey', she didn't seem concerned about her. One friend recalled, 'One afternoon, in pa.s.sing, she said, ”So, Nursey called about ten times today looking for Michael. I finally had to tell her, please please, he will call you back, okay? okay? Jesus Christ!” I said, ”Lisa, what is that about?” She said, ”Oh, I don't know. She's got it bad for him, I guess. I have no idea what her thing is. I have enough trouble trying to figure out Michael. I'm not about to start trying to figure out his friends, too.” That was her feeling about Debbie Rowe. She didn't think of her as a threat.' Jesus Christ!” I said, ”Lisa, what is that about?” She said, ”Oh, I don't know. She's got it bad for him, I guess. I have no idea what her thing is. I have enough trouble trying to figure out Michael. I'm not about to start trying to figure out his friends, too.” That was her feeling about Debbie Rowe. She didn't think of her as a threat.'

Lisa Marie Confronts Michael in Hospital.

When in September 1995 Michael and Lisa appeared together at the MTV Awards, she sat at his side looking p.i.s.sed off and miserable. She was tired of arguing, tired of trying to save him from himself. She had recently called Katherine Jackson to ask what she thought she should do about Michael's insistence that he continue to have young boys in his life. 'I want to save this marriage, but I also want to save Michael,' she said, according to what Katherine later recalled to a friend. 'He's just looking for trouble. What can I do? This whole thing is freaking me out.'

'I don't know what you can do, but I know what you can't do: you can't try to tell him what to do,' Katherine advised her daughter-in-law. She told her what many people already knew: 'Michael does what he wants to do.' She also suggested that Lisa call Johnnie Cochran, saying that the attorney might be the one to address the issue with Michael. Lisa called Johnnie. 'My G.o.d! It's all so innocent, this business with kids,' Johnnie told her. He suggested that if she wanted to save her marriage she would 'have to let Michael be who Michael is.'

'You think she could have hid it for just one night in front of the cameras,' Michael later complained to his mother about Lisa's glum appearance on the MTV Awards. 'But, no, not her. She puts her feelings right out there, doesn't she? She's so open.'

'But that's what you liked about her,' Katherine reminded him.

'Yeah, but now it's working against me,' Michael observed.

Despite the fact that their marriage seemed in trouble, Michael was still pus.h.i.+ng for Lisa to become pregnant. Whenever he brought up the subject of having children, though, Lisa acted as if it wasn't a serious issue for them. 'I mean it,' he told her, according to a later recollection. 'I'm very serious. I want us to have children. I don't think you're hearing me,' he said.

However, Lisa had heard him loud and clear. She had two children with Danny Keough. She knew how much she loved them, could never live a single day without them. Projecting ahead, she wondered what would happen to the child they would have if the marriage ended. 'When I imagined having a child with him,' she confirmed in 2003, 'all I could ever see was a custody battle nightmare.' Also, after getting to know him better and watching his day-to-day interactions with people, she became convinced that he was too emotionally immature to raise a child. 'I think he he needs a parent,' she told one confidante, 'and maybe shouldn't be one himself, yet.' However, she wouldn't tell him all of that, at the time. Instead, she just hoped he would give up on the idea, at least for the time being. needs a parent,' she told one confidante, 'and maybe shouldn't be one himself, yet.' However, she wouldn't tell him all of that, at the time. Instead, she just hoped he would give up on the idea, at least for the time being.

Also, by this time, the heated physical intimacy Lisa had enjoyed with Michael had cooled. It could have only lasted so long, without real communication between them. She decided to use their waning physical intimacy as an excuse. 'I think we have to have s.e.x in order for me to get pregnant,' she told him, according to what she later recalled. 'And you know what? I ain't doin' it.”

Michael wasn't convinced that he and Lisa had to engage in s.e.xual activity in order to have a family of their own. He wanted children; that was his chief goal and he had made it clear. The question, then, became how to achieve it. Finally, one day over breakfast he told her, 'Look, my friend Debbie said she will get pregnant and have my baby. If you won't do it, then she she will. How about that?' will. How about that?'

Lisa didn't know how to take Michael's statement. Was it a challenge? A threat? Or just a fact? It certainly wasn't the kind of news most wives would welcome hearing from their husbands: if you don't have my baby, my nurse will. She was amazed by the seriousness of his tone. Who would then raise this child? She and Michael? Debbie? Or, just Michael, alone? Life with Michael Jackson was getting a little weird for her, as if it hadn't been weird enough up until that time. She met his direct gaze calmly. 'No kidding?' she remarked. 'Well, cool, then. That's fine with me,' she said in a controlled tone. 'Tell her to go ahead and do it.'

The weeks slipped into months. By the winter of 1995, Lisa and Michael weren't even speaking, and not because Lisa didn't want to communicate with him, but because she simply could not find him. She didn't know his whereabouts, only that he was not at Neverland and no one in his camp would give her any information. After spending about a week trying to find him, there was a floral delivery from him at her home in Hidden Hills: dozens of red roses with a card that read, 'Love, Michael.' Under the circ.u.mstances, the gesture made no sense. Exasperated, she threw the flowers into the trash.

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