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June 27, 2009
Michael Jackson: the truth and the lies
Jonathan Margolis

If there was one thing that Michael Jackson hated, despised and obsessed about, it was the soubriquet Wacko Jacko, invented, rather cleverly I always thought, by a Sun sub-editor after the performer was photographed lying down in a premature baby’s oxygen tent.

He insisted to me that he wasn’t remotely “wacko” again and again during a bizarre time a decade ago when I worked alongside him for almost a year, writing a doomed, subsequently unpublished, book on, er, the sanctity of childhood.

Michael’s explanation for the episode was compelling to anyone who knows the ways of the popular end of press photography. And it didn’t give me a lot of scope for defending the Sun headline writer.

The incident, in Michael’s view, stemmed from a joke that he cracked to a photographer. He had been opening a wing of a children’s hospital in LA and spotted the respirator.

“Gee, if I had one of those, I could live to be 150,” he claims that he said. The snapper then coaxed him into the machine on the pretext that it would be great publicity for the hospital, fired off a few frames and gave birth to a myth about Michael actually owning and sleeping in such an appliance.

Well, this could be true or it could be a desperate invention, and the person who would have known least what it was, in my view, was Michael himself.

Some of his associates and, more tellingly, former associates regarded Michael as an inveterate liar. He never told me anything I could precisely prove was a fib, but his relationship with what a normal person would call the truth was tenuous.

Take the facial plastic surgery thing. Despite it taking Michael an hour every morning to “fix himself up” as he put it, he coyly denied having had “work done”. I excused that as so much Hollywood shtick; what star ever does confess it? Yet Michael would then segue straight into talking about his appearance and what I am sure was the real, unaffected man was at last revealed.

In this mode, he morphed from being a charming, amusing and often enchanting flake into a serious, mature, tortured man, whom I believe was being wholly honest.

He told the late Jackie Onassis, who helped him with his autobiography, Moonwalker, that he used to wear masks to hide, and told me that his father, the famously harsh and demanding Joseph Jackson, bullied him as a child, repeatedly telling the little boy he was ugly, fat and spotty.

This must have been a pretty scarring inheritance. When I caught a surreptitious glimpse of Michael eyeing himself in a hotel bathroom mirror — his actual leveé, although as complicated seemingly as Louis XIV’s, was attended only by his childhood friend and manager Frank Tyson — I was minded of an anorexic teenager who is never quite satisfied with the image he sees in the mirror and has to keep changing it.

Establishing what was truly reliable was nonetheless difficult with Michael, like him hugely as I did during our acquaintance. Often, I think he was at a loss to remember stuff about his own life. Who can recall accurately anything before the teenage years? Almost nobody, yet a significant part of Michael’s career took place in the indistinct, muddled fog of childhood. Often, then, Michael’s memory of far-off times was either inaccurate or built up in retrospect.

When it came to Michael’s trial in the Santa Monica court house, of course, the dodgy memories (and, perhaps, financially motivated inventions) of children again became important — and might yet have ensured that Michael’s tragic death took place in a federal penitentiary.

I am confident he was truthful when he insisted he was no child molester. This is partly because Michael’s strict religious background — he was a Jehovah’s Witness although he flirted with Judaism and, latterly, Islam — ensured that even if his slightly ambiguous sexuality urged him to molest, his personal morality would have made such behaviour wholly impossible for him.

More to the point, no social worker or child protection expert I ever spoke to or heard believed that he fitted anything like the classic profile of an abuser.

Almost all paedophiles, as I understand it, are serial offenders with dozens or hundreds of victims. Michael, through his love of children and the small matter of having a free funfair in his back garden, was in contact with tens of thousands of children every year. Where was their testimony when the district attorney wanted it? Or will it all come out only now?

Another mystery. I remain swayed by the theory that Michael was a genuinely childlike individual, with an emotional age of about 14, this the result of having had one of the weirdest upbringings in history — a combination of being an international star from the age of 5, having a violent and abusive father, and being brought up in a sweet-natured but lunatic religious sect.

In other words, Michael’s sexual development may have progressed no farther than the childish and ultimately harmless “you show me yours and I’ll show you mine” stage.

Yet how, I can’t help wondering, did his childlike nature square with his considerable maturity in business? Sure, he spent his money like a 12-year-old with an Amex card in Hamleys, but in earning that cash mountain, generations of record company executives will attest that he was something of a boardroom shark, with a meticulous eye for balance-sheet detail and a merciless way of dealing with incompetence or fiscal treachery.

I suppose these two Michaels could have co-existed, but it is odd, isn’t it, suggesting that the childlikeness could be a pose, a manipulative front he put on to lure vulnerable children into his traps?

Everyone who knew him sometimes questioned Michael Jackson’s relationship with the truth; yet with, in effect, a cash prize on offer after the massive deal with Jordan Chandler for anyone able halfway convincingly to allege abuse, there were barely any applicants.

Surely one would have expected a queue of chancers all the way from Neverland to Los Angeles trying to ring up three cherries on the Jackson fruit machine? Yet the families who took their cases to court weren’t even convincing enough to sway a sceptical, verging on hostile, jury in a city and a country that had long since fallen badly out of love with Michael.

It must count as a tribute to Michael’s credibility that the case against him failed so unexpectedly.




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Jordy Chandler's secret diary of sex abuse

28/06/2009
ON STAGE he was a genius showman adored by millions - but when the spotlights went off, Jackson entered a secret dark world where he preyed on young boys. He truly was BAD.

Thanks to immense wealth he kept this chilling side of his life hushed-up and shrouded in mystery.

Then the scandal of 13-year-old Jordy Chandler broke.

Until today the full horrifying details of Jordy's abuse at the hands of Jackson have never been published in Britain.

Now for the first time the News of the World reveals the explosive story spelled out to author Victor M. Gutierrez in his shock book Michael Jackson Was My Lover: The Secret Diary of Jordy Chandler.

Jackson's cunning manipulation of youngsters is starkly unveiled in Jordy's version of events, telling how the pop king first lured him into his bed by scaring the life out of him with a screening of grisly horror movie The Exorcist.

Jackson had whisked his new young pal to Las Vegas on his private jet. The boy's trusting parents allowed their starstruck son to book into his own room and to spend the night watching a film with Jackson.

The calculating star knew Jordy would be frightened witless by the scenes on screen and would eagerly accept his invitation to stay in his luxury suite. Nothing untoward occurred that night, but Jackson had achieved his first objective - getting the innocent boy to sleep with him.

The child had been one of many special young friends to visit the singer's Neverland playground in Santa Barbara, California, and sample his lavish lifestyle.

But Jordy - who met Jacko in 1992 when the star rented a car from his stepdad's company - quickly became No 1 companion.

And Jordy's mother June was furious in Vegas when she found his bed untouched the following morning and realised what had happened.

"Never do it again!" she scolded Jordy. "Do you understand?" "Yes," said Jordy softly.

But when Jordy reported that to Jackson his response was brutal, telling the boy his mum was trying to come between them and if Jordy couldn't contribute to their friendship he'd find someone else who would. From that moment the pair slept together whenever they could.

Jordy told how just two months after their first meeting, on Sunday April 18, the abuse began in earnest.

"Michael began to kiss me on the lips," he said. But this wasn't enough to satisfy Jackson and he started to put his tongue in the boy's mouth.

When Jordy told him to stop because he didn't like it Jackson responded by saying he'd been conditioned to think that way and that there was nothing wrong with it. As their relationship grew Jackson began to confess his darkest secrets. One night, when the pair were in bed together in their pyjamas, Jordy couldn't beleve what he heard,

He recalled: "Michael said things like 'I've had several sexual encounters with another boy. I still do. We have a very good time.'

"Michael said if I wouldn't do those things with him he'd take it as 'perhaps Jordy doesn't love me as much as the other boy loves me'."

Soon Jackson was touching Jordy all over his body when they kissed. Jackson was becoming besotted and invited the boy to Monaco in May for the World Music Awards.

The moment they arrived in the hotel room Jackson locked the door and asked Jordy if he wanted to take a hot bath. Jordy said: "While I was taking off my shirt Michael took me in his arms and began to kiss me.

"Michael finished taking off my shirt. When I was left only in my underwear he pulled them down and took them off with his teeth." Jordy said the singer then took off his clothes and the boy noticed that he had very little pubic hair and had been circumcised.

The pair got in the tub and Jordy sat in Jackson's lap. He said: "Michael washed my hair and I could feel him close. He kissed my neck and gave me goose bumps."

Jordy said he was encouraged to wash the star's private parts and touch him.

He said Jackson then performed an even more intimate sexual act on the boy and Jordy said: "Finally, we kissed on the mouth.

"Michael looked at me and told me it had been fantastic." Shortly before the pair were due to leave for the presentation Jackson approached Jordy again in the hotel bedroom, kissed him and told him he wanted to make love.

The singer performed more sex acts on the boy before they both got dressed and left for the ceremony.

Jordy said Jackson told him: "We're destined to be a couple." The forbidden sex continued on a trip to the Disney theme park in Paris. Jordy revealed: "Michael loved to do it with me in the shower." But their closeness was beginning to raise suspicions.

One day Jordy's dad Evan confronted Jackson at Neverland and said: "Michael, are you f***ing Jordy?" Jackson giggled: "I never use that word."

Evan said: "Excuse me, but what is the exact nature of your relationship?" Jackson replied: "It's cosmic! I don't understand it myself."

But the singer denied any wrongdoing and the father allowed the pair to continue as friends. Nevertheless Jackson was about to make a fatal mistake. He was invited to stay at the family's house to celebrate the fifth birthday of Jordy's stepbrother Nikki.

With Nikki in a top bunk bed, Jordy and Jackson performed sex acts on each other in the bottom bunk - all witnessed by the youngster above.

And months months later Nikki was to explode Jacko's big secret.

Meanwhile Jordy and Jacko continued to meet to have sex, sometimes for days on end.

The singer began to stay at Evan's house with Jordy a lot. His behaviour, constantly following the boy around everywhere, even into the toilet, left Evan worried. He asked Jackson if he was gay. Jackson just laughed and said: "No!" But one night Evan went into the bedroom and found him and Jordy under the same blanket.

"Jordan was in the foetal position with Michael hugging him from behind with his hand in my son's crotch," said Evan.

"I was extremely confused. I thought that my son was a homosexual. I left them and decided to speak later when I'd calmed down." Next morning young Nikki came into Evan's bedroom and asked his mum Nathalie if it was all right for two boys to get married. Later he added: "Michael is bad because he was hugging Jordy in bed."

But Jackson was already warning Jordy: "If someone asks you if we've done something, just deny it."

With staff at Neverland also suspicious, eventually Jordy's dad could take it no longer. He broke down and told a lawyer friend he suspected the pair of having a sexual relationship. By this time Jackson was asking Jordy to engage in the most perverse acts, although the boy said he refused.

On July 7, 1993, Evan tried to get an order stopping Jackson from seeing Jordy, blaming his ex-wife for nurturing the relationship and accepting cash, lavish gifts and holidays from the star.

When Jordy finally told his dad that Jacko HAD touched him intimately Evan had the evidence he needed. He confronted Jackson and told him: "I'll see you in court!"

That was the last time Jordy and Jackson would see each other.

Evan's next move was to ask for a pay-off of $20 million - over £12 million at today's rates. At the time he explained: "Perhaps this amount will convince Michael not to abuse any more children."

Quickly the police got involved and, after hearing every intimate detail from Jordy, were horrified that Evan had tried to negotiate with Jackson.

Cops swooped on Neverland seizing videos, photos, diaries, and rolls of film. They also found a photo album of nude boys.

When the charges of sexual abuse broke, Jackson countered that it was a simple case of extortion.

Youngsters were paraded in front of the press - including Australian Brett Barnes - to say they had slept in the same bed as Jackson but it was perfectly innocent.

But by the turn of the year doubts on Jackson's innocence were growing. Negotiations began again to cut a deal. And on January 21, 1994, the news broke. Jackson had bought Jordy's testimony - and silence - for $22 million. Jordy got 20 million, his parents a million each.

Many saw it as an admission of guilt but it effectively killed off the police case.

Today Jordy is 29 and lives in a luxury apartment outside New York where he successfully manages his investments, increasing his fortune still further. He had years of counselling and now insists he will never speak of the past.

But the scandal left Jackson tarnished. And in 2003 he became so desperate to revive his career he invited in Panorama journalist Martin Bashir - of Princess Diana interview fame. But the show was a disaster.

The star admitted to sharing a bed with young boys, among them Gavin Arvizo, a 13-year-old cancer patient.

He told Bashir: "It's not sexual. I tuck them in, have hot milk, cookies. It's very charming, it's very sweet."

Jackson revealed "many children" had shared his room - including Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin.

Jackson denied any sexual contact but after the broadcast Arvizo came forward to claim he HAD been molested. In 2005, at a court in Santa Maria, California, jurors heard graphic testimony from Arvizo how he clearly remembered two occasions when the singer fondled him under his underpants.

But the case unravelled when several key witnesses admitted to previously lying under oath, and Jackson was acquitted.

Nevertheless fans deserted him in millions and deals foundered. And after all the cosmetic surgery no one could be sure which face was the REAL Michael Jackson. . .