Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (39 page)

Inside the hospital, Michael was well enough to take charge, refusing to
wear the standard open-at-the-back green gown. "He felt it would expose his
ass," a nurse said, "and he absolutely wouldn't put it on. We found another
gown for him without the opening. He also didn't like the color of the first
gown, calling it a `pissy green.' He told us he had to have a turquoise blue
gown instead. He also refused a doctor who wanted to examine his entire body
for any stray burns. Jackson was insistent that no one on the hospital staff be
allowed to see his penis or ass. I don't know anyone who wanted to see them-I sure didn't."

Michael's plastic surgeon, Dr. Steven Hoefflin, arrived at the hospital and
made a decision to transfer his client to the Burn Center of the Brotman
Medical Center at Culver City. During the preceding months, Hoefflin had
executed three separate nose job operations on Michael.

Later Hoefflin assured the press that his patient was doing fine and, except
for some pain, was in no danger at all.

Under Hoefflin's skilled hands, Michael would later undergo laser surgery
to burn off the scar tissue and presumably to allow his hair to grow back.

During his first night in the hospital, doctors tried to give him painkillers,
but he fought them off, claiming, "I'm opposed to drugs of any type." But as
the night lengthened, and his pain from the head burns grew more intense, he
called one of the doctors back to administer those painkillers. Regrettably,
Michael's decision to take the painkillers led to his becoming hooked on what
Jacqueline Susann called "dolls" in her best-selling novel, Valley of the Dolls.

As Michael's most loyal fans maintained an all-night vigil outside his hospital, thousands of calls came in from around the world. Liza Minnelli, Diana
Ross. Even Jackie Onassis, soon to be his editor, called to wish him well.

A special delivery arrived from President Ronald Reagan, dated February
1, 1984. "1 was pleased to learn that you were not seriously hurt in your recent
accident. I know from experience that these things can happen on the set-no
matter how much caution is exercised."

Following the accident, Michael threatened "to destroy Pepsi-Cola." A
colleague told attorney John Branca, "If you play this right, your client will
end up owning Pepsi."

When Michael first watched the tape of his hair catching on fire, he
claimed, "They wanted to turn me into a human torch. I could have been disfigured for life, my career ruined. Pepsi will pay for this! When my fans watch
this video, they'll never drink another bottle of Pepsi again!"

"But Michael you can't release that video of you on fire," Branca protested. "It's grotesque. Your fans would be horrified."

"I want revenge!" Michael shouted at his lawyer.

In the days ahead, Branca prevailed upon Michael to drop his plans to
release the video with "the halo of fire." The version that was eventually
released to the Associated Press was a short version that was greatly blurred.

Fearing Michael might sue, lawyers at Pepsi worked overtime to investigate the accident, They concluded that Michael might have caused the accident himself by dressing his hair with a very flammable oil. This line of reasoning, more than anything else, enraged Michael, who swore he wore only
natural products on his hair.

Michael threatened Pepsi with a lawsuit. When executives offered to set tle for half a million dollars, Michael sent word, "I don't come that cheap."

After many negotiations, Pepsi finally agreed to give Michael $1.5 million in damages. That money came in addition to the most expensive celebrity contract in the history of advertising. For making the two commercials,
Michael got $5 million. The commercials were so successful that they sent
shock waves through Coca-Cola, the market leader. Privately, an official at
Coca-Cola conceded that, "It was because of Michael Jackson that we agreed
to come up with a new formula after nearly a century of towering success."

Less than ten days after Michael's release from the Burn Center, as a
means of celebrating the ever-growing success of the album Thriller, CBS
sent out invitations printed on white gloves to a $300,000 bash at the Museum
of Natural History in New York The coveted ticket didn't quite equal the prestige of Truman Capote's black-and-white ball at the Plaza Hotel, but for tout
New York, the party was the talk of the town.

More than 1,600 guests arrived, the men looking smart in designer tuxedos and the women in the latest couture. Michael showed up, most of his face
concealed under a midnight black fedora, wearing a pair of jeans that contrasted with a commodore jacket that had more braid than that of the former dictator of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Trujillo.

Michael made a dazzling entrance, his recent burns concealed by a wigmaker's toupee which had cost $5,000 and was made with human hair that
matched Michael's own.

Walter Yetnikoff had begged Michael to sing for the occasion, but he arrogantly refused. Instead of a song, Yetnikoff read a congratulatory telegram
signed by both President Reagan and his wife Nancy. Michael did stand up to
accept the latest edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, listing him as
the hottest selling solo artist in the history of music.

Once again, Michael's "date" was Brooke Shields, all six feet one inch of
her.

The black-and-white duo met, among dozens of other luminaries, Donald
and Ivana Trump. "For more than five minutes, The Donald and Jacko stood
talking to each other," said Barry Evanston, who'd attended the party as a
security guard. "I think each of them was trying to figure out how they could
use the other one-in other words, The Donald was wondering how much
money he might one day make off Jacko, and The Gloved One was trying to
figure out how he could get The Donald to part with some of his dough. It was
a friendship made in a Heaven where The Jacko/Donald yellow brick road was
paved with gold bars."

Michael found Trump, one of the world's richest men, debonair, extravagant, and cocky. The billionaire real estate developer was also smart, funny,
and lived an extravagant lifestyle. Before Michael and Trump parted for the evening, he made a statement that startled Michael: "Let's face it, you and I
are media fodder. You know, it really doesn't matter what the press writes
about you as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass."

At the party, Michael approached Calvin Klein, whom he'd known from
his Studio 54 days, accompanied by Klein's favorite model, Brooke. "Calvin,"
Michael said, "I've got on a pair of your jeans. Unlike Brooke here, there is
something that comes between me and my Calvins."

Brooke appeared delighted that she didn't have to share the evening with
Emmanuel Lewis, who had stayed in Hollywood to film a segment of the
TV sitcom, Webster.

As the evening progressed, she moved, with Michael to a private party,
accessible only to the most important of the VIPs at the event, being held in
Michael's honor within an inner sanctum of the museum.

There, her hopes were dashed when Brooke encountered Michael's other
"date" for the night. Looking adorable in a custom-made tuxedo, an eightyear-old Sean Lennon rushed toward Michael for a big hug. Brooke looked
around but found no Yoko Ono. Instead, young Sean was being protected by
a bodyguard who looked like one of Al Capone's henchmen. Lewis would, in
time, fade into history as the son of the slain John Lennon evolved into the
role of Michael's new special friend.

"It's all too obvious," Brooke reportedly told Ivana Trump. "Michael
prefers the company of young boys to me."

Ivana looked the statuesque Brooke
up and down and suggested that, "You
should get a real man, honey. I know at
least eighteen at this party that would give
their right nut to date you."

Bombshell Brooke, circa 1998

"Thanks, but no thanks," Brooke
said.

Since the assassination of John
Lennon on December 8, 1980 at 10:50pm
in New York City, Michael had privately
expressed a secret wish. "Some day I
hope to become the second father to
Sean."

In the months ahead, Michael's wish
would come true.

A friendship would also emerge
between Trump and Michael after that
gala night. Associates of the highly articulate Trump often wondered what the two friends talked about, as they seemed to have so little in common. But Trump
often bragged about his close friendship with Michael, although intimates in
both camps wondered if that were really true.

As the 80s rolled on, Michael and Trump called each other occasionally.
Despite the fact that Trump was one of the richest and most publicized men
on the planet, Michael felt no embarrassment about breaking appointments
with him at the last minute. "Just call Donald and tell him I have a headache,"
Michael would order a staff member on more than one occasion.

"If Michael could stand up Jackie Onassis, why not Trump?" David
Gessler, who once worked for Trump, said. At first, Trump would respond
with fury, but always seemed to forgive Michael for his rudeness.

In 1990 Trump showed the world that he could get Michael to fly into
Atlantic City to open his new Taj Mahal Casino.

The paparazzi delighted in the photo ops at this lavish event. Michael
showed up with a "special friend" who was quickly hustled upstairs out of
camera view. After posing for pictures, Michael retreated to the lavish
$12,000-a-night Alexander the Great penthouse suite on the 50th floor. Of
course, the most expensive suite in Atlantic City came compliments of Trump
himself. He knew what a small price that was to pay for the publicity
Michael's appearance would generate for him.

Throughout their long relationship, Trump was always protective of
Michael, even granting him "a secure address," protected from the press and
paparazzi, when he housed him at New York's Plaza Hotel during the child
molestation scandal of 1993.

And when Michael went on trial in 2005 on child molestation charges,
Trump defended him during an interview with Larry King. "He's lived in
Trump Tower, and I know him very well. And I knew what was happening
with Michael Jackson. You know what was happening? Absolutely nothing. I
had many people that worked for me in the building, and believe me, they
would tell me if anything was wrong. I'm going to stick up for him, because
nobody else is. I don't believe the molestation charges filed against Michael."

As late as the summer of 2005, when news about Michael's scandals had
spread around the world, Trump realized that he'd be a sell-out in Las Vegas.
He offered Michael a long-term contract for a series of ongoing performances, and the establishment of a personal headquarters for him in Las Vegas,
evocative of deals made by Wayne Newton and Celine Dion.

Trump's Las Vegas partners, Phil Ruffin and Jack Wishna, courted
Michael aggressively, offering terms for performances at the New Frontier
Hotel and Casino. Wishna warned that if Michael signed on with them, "There
will be moral clauses in the contract." He predicted that Michael would draw
more than the $80 million Dion grossed in 2004.

On his next trip to New York after the CBS party, Michael checked into
the Helmsley Palace. He paid $2,000 a night for a triplex which only CEOs,
oil sheiks, and A-list movie starts rented. Efforts were made not to alert the
press that he was in New York.

Hoping not to be recognized on the street, he adopted various disguises.
At a Kool and the Gang concert at Radio City Music Hall, he was spotted
wearing a beard and a bushy Afro. His date was Tatum O'Neal, which came
as a surprise to his fans, since earlier, he had dropped her.

During that trip, a staff writer for The New York Daily News spotted
Michael shopping on Fifth Avenue dressed as a woman. Outfitted in a chic
woman's pants suit, he wore false eyelashes, heavy coatings of pancake makeup, scarlet red lipstick, and mascara.

Soon after, Michael arrived in a chauffered stretch limo at a Manhattan
recording studio. There, he offered Mick Jagger a limp handshake before their
rehearsal for a duet, "State of Shock," which had been selected as the first single within the Victory album.

When the idea of their duet had first been proposed to him, Jagger-envious of Michael's success-had refused the offer of recording with him.
"You've got your family-you don't need me. Ask Jermaine to record with
you." But eventually, Jagger succumbed to Michael's whiny pleas and agreed
to make the record at the A & R Studio.

"State of Shock" would go on to become a hit, the only really successful
song from the lackluster Victory album. But neither artist left the studio that
day with anything good to say about the other.

"Froth on the beer," Jagger told his friends. "The kid's a lightweight, as
limp as his handshake and as boring as a pussy that's already been worked
over ten times."

Two days later, when Michael heard the recording, he flew into a rage,
claiming that "it's so bad it's unreleasable. I'm good. Mick's awful. He can't
sing. I don't get it. How could someone with absolutely no talent become a
star? Look at his record sales and compare them with mine." Actually, upon
its release, "State of Shock" boosted Jagger's career, propelling him farther
along on his road to independence from his fellow stoned Stones.