The Way He Wants It
A compelling image and one his fans want to believe is the notion of Michael Jackson hunkering down with his staff in a boardroom, ordering people about, expressing his ‘outrage’ about whatever is going on that day, issuing edicts and pounding his fist on his desk as frightened minions scramble about him. Actually, there’s little evidence to suggest that Michael is, at least in the last few years, the calculated strategist his handlers describe as they spin his present situation in the press. In truth, he spends most of his time with his three children, ignoring as much as he can the frightening details of his dilemma.
‘When he is forced to become involved in meetings with lawyers and accountants, he is often in a tense, sullen and uncooperative mood,’ says another person who knows him well.
Perhaps it is understandable that Michael would just as soon not face his troubles, and maybe he’s lucky to be able to avoid most of the details. He has many people in his employ whose job it is to shield him from the reality of litigation, as well as the media coverage of the on-going molestation story. When he hears of a particularly controversial report – usually second-hand since he does not watch television or read the newspapers – he is ‘appalled’ by it. Someone then writes a statement expressing such empty emotion, and ‘exposing’ the untruth of the story. New people in his circle act as if we’re living in a parallel universe, and that everything ever published or said about Michael or his family – including that which they have said and written about each other in the past – occurred in some
other
reality, not our own. The only history the public is supposed to have with Michael is one that begins on the morning someone in his inner circle appears on television to proclaim that all is well… and that we’re wrong-minded for believing, or even suspecting, otherwise.
Unfortunately, coddling and indulging Michael serves to reinforce his own self-image of being a rich kid in a mean world of money-grubbing adults and, thus, unable – or unwilling – to deal with his responsibilities and obligations. When he does give a firsthand interview, he seems distracted, disconnected from reality. He expresses himself as if he’s never been around adults, as if he has no social skills. He looks troubled, scared, sick to his stomach. He truly
is
childlike. However, it remains disconcerting to hear family members and reasonable-thinking, educated people describe him that way as if it’s an admirable, even awe-inspiring, trait for a man in his mid-forties, instead of a troubling, worrisome one. What can be done to help Michael Jackson? Certainly more than just approve of him.
After his arrest, Michael came forth to say, once again, that he would never hurt a child and the public is ‘crazy’ to think that there is anything strange about his rapport with children. ‘I love children. I would slit my wrist before hurting a child,’ Michael told Ed Bradley in the televised
60 Minutes
interview. His eyes were wide and heavily lashed, the nose small and sharp. He seemed delicate, frail, almost like a geisha girl as he sat so primly in his turquoise-blue silk blouse. His hair fell to his shoulders, a jet-black swoop that contrasted with his whitish skin. Every now and again, someone would rush to his side, looking alarmed. He said he didn’t feel well, he clearly wanted to wrap the interview up. He looked as if he was about to wilt under the pressure.
Later, his family members, in support of Michael, confirmed that he ‘loves all children’ and as Jermaine put it, ‘he would never harm a child’.
Actually, the Jackson family’s defence of Michael’s obsessive love for children does little to help him. Rather, it tends to make them look out of touch with society and with what is considered appropriate behaviour in the real world. Simply put, loving children and not wanting to hurt them is no defence against child molestation. In fact, most child molesters express great affection for their victims and feel that they are not hurting them. Most would rather ‘slit’ their ‘wrists’ than hurt a child… and, horribly, they
all
end up hurting children.
‘People in the real world will always out-number them in their world where, it seems, anything goes,’ remarked one legal analyst. ‘They are not going to be able to beat us, or change our minds about what makes sense and what looks inappropriate when it comes to kids and adults. They may as well join us in the real world, and maybe sit down and have a very strong talk with their son and brother.’
‘After the
60 Minutes
interview, we looked at each other and said, “Holy Christ! That did not go well, did it?” says the former spokesman. “What happened there?”
‘Michael has been around for so many years, one expects him to shine on camera. But people who know him well know that he does not do that. Instead, he acts as if he’s never done an interview in his entire life.
‘He tries, God knows he does, and it’s hard for him. I saw it firsthand. He is sick before going on camera for an interview, throwing up, so nervous, so upset, so filled with anxiety. Your heart goes out to him. You wonder how he ever ended up in the public eye, and what an ordeal he has been through just to get this far in it.
‘After he’s on TV, his people have to do clean-up work to minimize all of the late-night talk-show criticism and joking, and explain that
he’s
fine, it’s the
public
that has a problem. “Focus on the message” was always my tactic. “Forget the messenger”. He’s innocent of any wrong-doing. I’m sure of it. Just stick to that truth and forget how much damage he’s done by trying to express such innocence on television. Get him help? It’s not an option. No one is close enough to him to even presume to suggest it.’
Some observers who are sceptical of Michael Jackson’s innocence speculate that people in his life – his attorneys, publicists, accountants and even family members – believe in their heart of hearts that the man is guilty as sin. It is thought that such allies of his are merely exhibiting blind loyalty to him by publicly, and so vociferously, declaring his innocence. After all, they have jobs to do, or family allegiances to protect, it’s thought. However, it’s not true. If a person is around Michael Jackson long enough, he begins to believe in him. Michael is such an unconventional, curious person, the only way to truly fathom him and his world is to actually be in his presence, experience it and take it all in. While he welcomes the support of his inner circle, he does not appreciate it when they try to explain to him why outsiders are suspect of him and his behaviour.
‘He doesn’t want to hear it,’ his former close friend Uri Geller has explained. ‘I tried to tell him, “Michael, I know you are innocent but you have to understand why there are others who do not believe that. You have to stop with the children in people’s faces. You have to try to understand the public. It’s not just you. You are in the world.” He becomes sad, and his eyes glaze over. Then he becomes angry. No one can talk to him these days, not really. SoI think that people in his life go about the business of defending him, and don’t bring up anything with him that really matters or addresses the problem.’
Ten years ago, Elizabeth Taylor and Lisa Marie Presley stepped into Michael Jackson’s world and attempted to bring some sense and wisdom to it. They were not paid to do so, they did it out of love. If not for them, who knows how the Jordie Chandler matter would have worked out for Michael.
Sadly, Michael no longer has allies such as Elizabeth and Lisa.
Elizabeth is too advanced in years and upset by the melodrama in her friend’s world to be recruited for such hard duty.
For her part, Lisa simply can’t become immersed in Michael’s problems again. It was tough on her, last time. When she ended it with Michael, she suffered physical problems, a myriad of ailments, because she had been so anxious for so long about him. In order to protect herself, she now keeps her distance. Some have indicated that she is more concerned about her new recording career with Capitol Records than she is about Michael, and won’t align herself with him because of her fear of bad public relations… as if Lisa Marie Presley has ever cared what the public thinks about her. Rather, she is taking care of herself, say her friends, the way she used to take care of Michael.
Today, Michael Jackson’s best and most reliable support comes from people who are compensated by tremendous amounts of money to shield him from the ugly truth of his world – and then explain away his deep sadness and pain by acting as if it doesn’t exist. It’s not as if they have any choice. It’s the way he wants it.