by Joe Bensam
‘I was in on the beginning of the molestation stuff,’ she said later. ‘I was
getting the phone calls, and he was telling me that it was extortion,’ she recalled. ‘I believed him at the time. I mean, I was convinced. He was freaking out. I believed that he didn’t do anything wrong, and that he was being wrongly accused and, yes, I started falling for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it.’
Their relationship developed rapidly, and they became closer and closer. One night they stayed at Donald Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida. At the end of a romantic evening, Michael dropped to one knee and presented her with pearls. She had a present for him, too...they went back to their suite and made love all night.
Of all the unlikely things that Michael did in his life, achieving a genuine and active romantic life in his relationship with Michael is perhaps the most surprising of all. Yet Lisa Marie maintained that their sex life was not just good, it was fantastic. Maybe all those years learning dance movements finally paid off. However, their romantic moments were not without their peculiarities...or at least Michael’s peculiarities. Before going to bed, Michael would spend twenty minutes in the bathroom putting on full makeup ready for their romantic encounter. When they awoke in the morning, he was aghast if she saw his smudged makeup, and would rush to the bathroom to give himself a makeover before returning to bed.
On 26 May 1994, Michael married Lisa Marie at a low-key event in the Dominican Republic. It was not quite the wedding that Michael had always planned for himself. He had dreamed that one day, he would enjoy a spectacular wedding on a grand scale with hundreds of guests. Instead, they had a short ceremony with not even immediate family invited. At first, they kept news of their wedding quiet, but soon the news slipped out, and finally the announced that they were indeed married. In September, they appeared as man and wife at the MTV awards. Michael was determined to show they were a genuine couple, and told Lisa Marie that he was going to kiss her during the ceremony. She flatly refused, but when they walked onto stage later, she was resigned to the fact that the kiss would happen.
‘By this time I realized that he does whatever he wants to do.’
Michael smiled at the audience. ‘Just think, nobody thought this would last,’ he said before grabbing her and kissing her.
When the show was over, a furious fight broke out between them. Lisa Marie was upset because he had ignored her wishes. But all Michael could see was that this had been a great TV moment, and that made it all worthwhile. Things were going downhill fast, and slid even faster when Michael seriously suggested a seance to contact Elvis Presley. Lisa Marie thought the idea was twisted. In June 1995, the couple appeared on the TV programme Dateline. As the interview progressed, Lisa Marie found herself having to defend her husband against the child molestation accusations, and explaining why it was OK for young white boys to sleep in his bed. Perhaps not the kind of relationship Elvis might have imagined for his rich and famous daughter.
The interviewer asked if he was likely to do this kind of thing again.
‘Do what again?’ Michael asked.
‘Have a child sleeping over.’
‘Of course, if they want’ he answered.
After the interview, Lisa Marie was livid. ‘Jesus, that was terrible. Oh my God. I can’t believe it!’
‘I don’t know, I thought it was pretty cool,’ Michael replied. ‘We made some good points about the allegations. We made a good-looking couple, too. People loved it, Lisa.’
Michael it seemed, had learned nothing from his experiences, but Lisa was learning fast. She had learned that Michael would compromise for no-one, wife or not. He did things his way, and everyone had to fit in with his plans or get out of the kitchen. Lisa Marie found this infuriating. She had entered the marriage with great plans to save him from himself, and to turn him into the fantastic person she believed he could be. But Michael was not interested in changing. In particular, she tried to wean him off the habit of having young boys over. After the Jordie Chandler affair, she - like everyone else on the planet except Michael - could see that this was asking for trouble, big time. In conservative California, a middle-aged black guy sleeping with young white boys was nothing less than a red rag to a bull. The fact that the man was practically a transvestite made things ten times worse. But the more she insisted, the more he dug his heels in. The relationship deteriorated fast.
Michael and Lisa Marie finally divorced in August 1996.
***
While his personal life became more complex than ever, Michael’s professional life continued to bring him success. He negotiated a new deal with Sony (who now owned CBS), which was worth $65 million - the biggest record deal in history at the time. His 1991 album, Dangerous, shipped over 32 million copies worldwide - not up to Thriller standards, but huge compared to just about every other artist in the world.
Michael was more than bad...he was ‘Dangerous’
In 1995, he merged his ATV publishing business with Sony, retaining half-ownership of the joint company, plus a $95 million bonus up front. Then he released a new album, HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. Sales were initially very promising, but the album fell off the charts very quickly, and Michael began to realize that he was now struggling to get an audience. Even so, it went on to sell 20 million copies worldwide, and picked up a Grammy for Album of the Year.
In September 1996, the HIStory world tour kicked off in Prague, the first of 82 concerts in 58 cities. Just a few weeks after the tour began - and after his divorce had been finalized - another extraordinary Michael story hit the headlines. It was rumored that a woman was carrying Michael’s baby. The rumors turned out to be true, and the mother of the baby, Debbie Rowe was soon to become his second wife.
For a man who had shown so little romantic interest in women throughout his life, one marriage was a surprise. But when Michael followed this up with a second marriage so soon after his divorce, it was a real shock. This relationship, however, was very different from the last. Whilst Michael and Lisa Marie had genuinely been in love for at least a while, there was no pretence in his marriage to Debbie. This was business. plain and simple. When Michael first married Lisa Marie, he desperately hoped she would fall pregnant straight away. What he wanted more than anything else in the world was children. As the marriage fell apart and Michael realized they would not have children together, he was deeply disappointed, to say the least. But he had a backup plan...
Some years before, Michael had met Debbie Rowe when he was having treatment for a skin condition. Debbie was the doctor’s assistant, and Michael was given her number so that he could call her if any problems arose. The two of them struck up a friendship, and soon he was talking to everybody about his new friend, Debbie. They remained friends on an off throughout the years that followed, often calling each other to discuss the various problems in their lives. As his divorce from Lisa Marie loomed, Michael told her how sad he was that no children resulted from the marriage, and how desperate he was to become a father.
Michael with his second wife, Debbie Rowe
Debbie had a solution in mind. She offered to have a baby for him as a surrogate mother. Michael was surprised at the idea, but didn’t hesitate - ‘yes, let’s do it.’ he said. It is not entirely clear how Debbie became pregnant, although Michael insisted it was by natural means, but before long she was carrying his child. The plan was to keep the matter quiet, at least for a while. But a ‘friend’ of Debbie’s tricked her into talking about the baby whilst secretly recording the conversation. A sum of money changed hands, and soon the story ‘I’m Having Jacko’s Baby’ was plastered all over the News of the World in the UK.
Debbie was afraid that Michael would be really angry that she had been duped in this way, making their private arrangement public. But when he called her from Australia, where he was on tour, he was very sweet and understanding. He said that he always knew the media would find out sooner or later, and invited to meet him in Sydney. When
she arrived, she was amazed to find that he had a big surprise for her - he wanted them to get married the next day. The two married in his suite at the Sheraton on the Park hotel in Sydney, with Michael himself playing the wedding march on the piano. The next evening, Michael went out to watch the premier of his new short film Ghosts, with a beaming and happy companion at his side. But the companion was not Debbie...it was Anthony, the latest of Michael’s young male friends.
Debbie had little to complain about, though. The arrangement had never been about love, and although Michael denied paying her to have the baby, there is no doubt that Debbie had little to worry about financially. He had already given her gifts worth millions of dollars over the years, and there was more to come.
From Michael’s point of view, there were two pressing reasons why the marriage was necessary. Firstly, his deeply-religious mother hated the thought of her son having a son out of wedlock, and was keen to legitimize the union through marriage. More importantly, perhaps, Michael had just begun doing business with Sheikh Abdulla Bin Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, the very wealthy Prince of Bahrain. Under the surface, Michael’s financial troubles were becoming a serious issue, and he needed the influx of cash that the Prince could provide. But as a devout Moslem, the Prince could not condone working with a man who fathered an illegitimate child. Michael was quite prepared to get married in order to secure their deal.
Michael adored his three children
Prince Michael Jackson, named after his grandfather, arrived into the world in February 1997. Debbie saw the baby briefly, and then Michael rushed him away to Neverland. Debbie rarely saw him after that, but she needn’t have worried about his care. A team of six nannies and six nurses looked after the baby in shifts, checking the air quality of his room every hour, and throwing away his toys at the end of each day - so that they could be replaced with fresh, germ-free ones the next day.
In November 1997, Debbie told the world that she was expecting Michael’s second child. The child had supposedly been conceived in Paris, and so when she was born, she was named Paris Katherine Michael Jackson. Later, Michael revealed that immediately after the birth, he had snatched the baby and taken it him, with the placenta still attached. Debbie later confirmed that he had arranged for the placenta to be frozen as a memento. Michael tried to arrange for the Pope to christen the new baby, but the Vatican politely declined the request. With her job as mother done, Debbie asked Michael for a divorce, and their marriage ended in October with a ten million dollar settlement to Debbie. In 2002, an unknown mother gave birth to Prince Michael II, nicknamed Blanket.
***
Now that he had his own children, Michael had a great source of contentment in his personal life. But in his professional life, he was facing some difficult challenges. HIStory had not lived up to his hopes in terms of sales - his secret ambition was always to release an album that outsold Thriller. To this end, he embarked on creating Invincible with the expenditure of a great deal of money. In fact, Invincible became the most expensive album ever made, with $40 million spent on the recording, and another $25 million spent on promotion.
Sales of ‘Invincible’ were disappointing
Over a period of 36 months, over 50 songs were recorded, mixed, and mostly discarded. Michael seemed to have lost his enthusiasm for writing his own songs, and so most of the material is from other writers. The album was released to mixed response, and despite the huge promotional budget, did not receive a great deal of publicity. Tension grew between Michael and Sony as he blamed them for poor promotion, while they blamed him for poor material. To make matters worse, Michael hired a former gay porn producer to direct the video for What More Can I Give? - something that did not go down too well with Sony. Michael could not understand what the problem was.
Invincible briefly topped the charts, but soon dropped out like a lead balloon. Overall, the album only sold ten million copies, a disaster for an artist who had been hoping for fifty million sales. More significantly, this was a disaster for an individual who was relying on huge sales to finance his incredibly expensive and extravagant lifestyle. At this stage, Michael had earned something like $60o million during his solo career. You might think it would be hard to burn through over half a billion dollars , even with the most outrageous pop-star lifestyle...but Michael was more than equal to the challenge. His staff bill alone came to $300,000 a month, while the the cost of running Neverland was over a million dollars a month.
To finance his extraordinary expenditure, Michael arranged to borrow $200 million from Sony against his ATV/Northen Songs catalog. In addition, he owed millions of dollars to ex employees, consultants, attorneys and various other companies. On top of that, Michael was constantly involved in a constant stream of lawsuits, partially because of his habit of reneging on agreements, and partially because many people saw a chance to carve their own slice out of the Michael Jackson financial pie.
So despite a personal income that exceeded the GDP of many countries, the King of Pop was in very serious financial straits. However, his money worries soon became the least of his problems...
Chapter 8 - Michael On Trial
If the day that Michael met Jordie Chandler was the first step in his downfall, then 3 February 2003 was the day when the noose of fate truly tightened around his neck. That evening, a documentary called Living with Michael Jackson was broadcast initially in the UK, with a US broadcast following three days later. Michael had hoped this documentary would show a positive side of his nature that would reassure his fans and restore his damaged public image. Instead, it accelerated the path towards the ruination of his career and his life.
The story began when British journalist Martin Bashir began badgering Michael for the opportunity to film a documentary about his life. This request would probably have been flatly refused if not for the fact that Bashir had also been responsible for the famous interview with Princess Diana a few years earlier. This extraordinary interview had the effect of winning Diana the sympathy of many millions of people worldwide, and turning them against the Royal family that she was at odds with.
Michael was certainly someone who could do with winning over a few million fans, and eventually he agreed to the documentary, even though he would have no control over the final editing. Bashir then followed Michael’s life for eight months, documenting everything from his home life at Neverland, to life on the road in Europe. When Michael sat down to watch the finished documentary, he was looking forward to seeing a positive representation of his life.
He was sorely disappointed.
Martin Bashir interviews Michael at Neverland
Instead, Bashir, aloof and parsimonious, used the documentary to highlight everything that was questionable about Michael’s world. We saw Michael acting strangely whilst feeding baby Blanket, who had a veil bizarrely covering his face. We saw him spending with wild extravagence in Las Vegas stores, and we witnessed the greedy opulence of his life at Neverland. But more importantly, the world got a sudden and shocking new insight into Michael’s relationships with children. Most disturbing of all was the sight of Michael holding hands with 13-year old Gavin Arvizo and discussing the unusual sleeping arrangements in the Jackson household. Gavin described how he reluctantly ended up sleeping in Michael’s bed:
‘I was, like, “Michael, you can sleep in the bed,” and he was, like, “No, no, you sleep in the bed,” and I was, like, “No, no, no, you sleep in the bed,” and then he said, “Look, if you love me, then you’ll sleep in the bed.” I was, like, “Oh, man...so, I finally slept in the bed.’
If this wasn’t bad enough, Michael dug himself into a deeper hole when Bashir later questioned him about this incident. Michael explained that the thought it was perfectly normal and acceptable for a 44-year old man to have children he was not relating to sleeping in his room, or in his bed. He said that sharing your bed is the most loving thing you can do....and that everyone should do it.
Michael was shocked by the documentary, and so were m
any people who saw it - although the reasons were different. Michael was amazed that Bashir would betray him with such a negative portrayal. His audience were amazed that he would flaunt his unusual relationships with children in this way. Soon the authorities were receiving complaints, and the government machine went into action again. This time, the police were taking no chances of missing vital evidence. No fewer than 70 police officers raided Neverland, taking the entire place apart in the process. Considering that even murder investigations rarely involve more than 5-10 officers, this seemed to be an over-the-top response. You might think that someone at the D.A.’s office had it in for Michael Jackson.
Michael’s team responded by making their own documentary as a rebuttal. Gavin Arvizo and his family were drafted in to tell their side of the story. The whole family enthused about what a wonderful person was, how much they loved being in his company, and how it was impossible to imagine Michael doing anyone any harm. Gavin’s mother, Janet, made a statement that said:
‘I’m appalled at the way my son has been exploited by Martin Bashir. The relationship that Michael has with my children is a beautiful, loving, father, sons and daughter one. To my children and me, Michael is a part of my family.’
Gavin’s father added: ‘There’s no reason to suspect any wrongdoing by Michael.’
The same story was repeated when the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department interviewed the Arvizos. Gavin told them:
