Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (52 page)

Before the child molestation
charges went public, Loren
was always there for Michael,
at least at public events. In
January of 1990 she attended a
star-studded event at the
Beverly Hilton in Beverly
Hills. Honorees included
Michael's friends, Elizabeth Taylor and Gregory Peck. But it was clearly Michael's night when he won The
American Cinema Award as "Entertainer of the Year." Michael showed up in
a midnight black military uniform. Parading to the podium with an army of six
bodyguards, he was presented the great honor by Loren herself. She had been
photographed accompanying Michael to the awards ceremony which was
hosted by Michael Douglas.

"The 90s had arrived," said Peck years later, "and Michael was king. But
his incredible world was about to end."

When Cary Grant learned that Michael wanted to meet him, he came to
call. At first the coming together of Michael with Grant appeared to be another one of the singer's many "odd couple" relationships. Yet the two superstars
had more in common than might be obvious at first.

Grant was witty, sophisticated and urbane, whereas Michael was inarticulate and lacking a social presence except when he was on stage. Grant was
seductive and could even be menacing on the screen. Michael was not. But
both could be mysterious, as each star led a closeted life. Both were born into
poverty.

Seated before Michael and fifteen minutes into the conversation (with
Grant doing most of the talking), he informed Michael that he used to perform
in musicals. "Never could carry a tune, though. I used to stand on stage and
mouth the words. A singer behind the curtain warbled for me. I was also an
acrobat and a juggler if you want me to teach you some lessons."

"I want to have a screen presence like you have," Michael said. "How did
you do it?"

"It was an accident," Grant confessed. "In my early pictures reviewers
found I had an amazing asexuality. Of course, I was cast with all the wrong
women. In Blonde Venus, there was no heat between Marlene Dietrich and me.
At that time I didn't know that I was supposed to actually act a love scene. She
had eyes only for her director, Josef von Sternberg, and certain ladies. She was
later asked what she felt about me. `I had no feelings,' Dietrich said. `He was
a homosexual.' Wasn't that a charming reply?"

"Other people have said the same thing about me," Michael confessed.

"I know that! They've spread fag rumors about me for years. If someone
wants to say I'm gay, what can I do?"

Grant was not being candid with Michael. He cared a lot about "fag
rumors," sometimes suing. Even at the end of his life, he sued comedian
Chevy Chase for saying, "I understand he was a homo," on Tom Snyder's
Tomorrow talk show. At one point, Chase, billed as "the next Cary Grant,"
referred to the actor as brilliant but added, "What a gal!" Grant sued Chase for
slander for $10 million, settling out of court for perhaps a million.

Michael complimented Grant on his movie appearances, including his favorite film, Bringing Up Baby. But he told him he also liked him in North
by Northwest, a film Grant had made for Alfred Hitchcock.

"I turned down Lolita to make that one," Grant said.

"What's Lolita about?" Michael asked.

Grant looked stunned that he hadn't heard of it. "It was a degenerate film
about child molestation. Do you think I could have played a child molester? It
was based on a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. About a man lusting after a young
nymphet. Sir Laurence Olivier also turned it down. James Mason took the role
and made it a classic. Even so, I'm glad I turned it down. Originally,
Nabokov's publisher wanted him to rewrite the book, having the older man
lust for a young boy. A sort of Tadzio. You know, Death in Venice and all that.
The first script I was shown had Lolita cast as a boy, a kind of Lolito. Like
bloody hell would I ever appear as a homosexual in film, much less as a childmolesting homo. A chicken hawk we'd call it. I did enough of that when I got
intimate with Katharine Hepburn in Sylvia Scarlet. Presumably in the film, I
thought Hepburn, with short hair and trousers, a boy. Yet George Cukor in one
scene had me undress for the bed I was supposed to share with her. I look her
over, thinking it's a boy, and say `It's nippy tonight. You'll make a proper hot
water bottle!' Personally, I think child molestation is repulsive."

It is not known if Grant at the time knew of Michael's interest in young
boys and was indirectly criticizing him.

As the evening progressed, Grant pointedly looked at Michael. La Toya
that night was in and out of the room; otherwise, we'd know nothing of this
encounter between Grant and Michael.

"I read the other day that you said you planned to get married and have a
family," Grant said.

"Yes, that is my dream," Michael said. "Many children to love."

"I don't advise it," Grant said. "I forget how many times I've been married. Every one of my wives left me. I don't know why. Maybe they got bored,
real tired of me. My first wife accused me of being a homosexual. All the
women, except Betsy, have accused me of being a homosexual. Virginia was
just the first."

He was referring, of course, to Virginia Cherill and Betsy Drake.

Although Michael's meeting with Gregory Peck developed into a longtime friendship, his association with Grant was relatively short. Neither performer seemed to have any desire to pursue the other after one evening.

The following morning, Michael called Katharine Hepburn to ask her
about her long-ago costar.

Tight-lipped and uncooperative with the press, Hepburn could be surprisingly outspoken in private. "Oh, yes, Cary Grant," she said. "If I recall, he was
a supporting player to me in a film or two. Cold as the Arctic night. Ego as large as Mount Rushmore. A tightwad, but so am I. A self-hating homosexual. Never told the truth in his life, a compulsive liar. Took LSD for psychiatric
reasons, or so he said. Married unhappily so many times you'd think he would
finally learn that he hates women. Such a charming presence on the screen.
Such a lonely heart off screen."

Michael, when not "hanging with the stars," was under great pressure to
come out with a follow-up album to Thriller.

With more than sixty songs written, he had ample material from which to
make the final selections. Driving himself to the verge of a nervous breakdown, he had an almost pathological desire to top Thriller. "I want to be the
only Jackson on the charts." He was referring, of course, to the runaway success of sister Janet's Control album. His resentment of Janet's success became
so strong that he began to ridicule her physicality. "You have the fattest thighs
in the family," he told her.

The Bad album would be long in the gestation period. Many of Michael's
hopes and dreams for the album never materialized. Originally, he'd wanted
to record a duet with Prince to determine which one was "really bad." Michael
told his producer, "that Prince could do all those James Brown imitations I
used to do, and I could do my famous Moonwalk." Quincy shipped Prince a
tape of the song. "It's shit!" Prince told his aides. "Send word to that gal I want
nothing to do with her album."

Michael was also rebuffed when he wanted to record a duet with Barbra
Streisand called "I Just Can't Stop Loving You." The diva sent back word:
"You've got to be kidding. Me in a love duet with Michael Jackson? Ronald
Reagan and I would be more convincing."

Michael was also rejected by Whitney Houston. "I don't understand," she
said. "Does Michael want me to sing the girl's part-or is he saving that for
himself?"

Quincy suggested that Diana Ross be asked. "Why should I revive her
career?" Michael said.

In lieu of Streisand or Houston, Michael chose the unknown Siedah
Garrett, a protegee of Quincy's, for the duet.

Eight of the ten songs on the LP were written by Michael, who also sang
both lead and background vocals. He also wrote "Leave Me Alone" on the CD
bonus track. In addition, he duetted with Stevie Wonder in "Just Good
Friends." An adaptation of a gospel song, "Man in the Mirror," was sung with
Andrae Crouch.

During their work together, there were false rumors circulating about a
romance between Michael and Siedah Garrett, perhaps spread by Michael
himself. She looked a lot like him. One headline claimed JACKSON AND
LOOKALIKE MULLING MARRIAGE.

A member of the Bad crew later sarcastically said, "About the only phallic image Siedah ever saw was an eighteen-foot python that Jackson had three
guys carry to the studio to frighten the shit out of her."

A California singer two years younger than Michael, Garrett was a talented artist who had previously performed in a duet with Dennis Edwards of The
Temptations. Released in 1984, "Don't Look Any Further" was a Top 5 R&B
hit.

Michael liked this African-American singer and songwriter as a friend,
never a lover, and even hired Garrett to tour with him from 1992 to 1993 in
his Dangerous trek around the globe.

But he never really forgave her when she supported Madonna as a backup singer and dancer on the "Re-Invention" Tour in 2004. Garrett's signing
with Michael's "nemesis," Madonna, should hardly have come as a surprise to
Michael, as Garrett had also sung backup vocals for Madonna in "True Blue"
in 1986 and "Who's That Girl?" in 1987.

The Jackson/Garrett duet, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," was the first
single release from the Bad album. Its release was a good omen for the success of the album itself. The song shot to Number One on Billboard's charts,
but, regrettably, fell fast. Within fourteen weeks, it was off the charts completely, a short run for such a big hit in the music industry.

Garrett is still known today for co-writing Michael's worldwide hit, "Man
in the Mirror," which was included in the Bad album. A lot of fans thought
Michael was the co-author of "Man in the Mirror," but it was really another
songwriter, Glen Ballard.

The second solo from the album, the namesake song, "Bad," sold nearly
11 million copies around the world, climbing to Number One on the charts in
twenty-three countries. It was released in October of 1987.

The Bad album would produce five Number One songs, including the
wonderfully melodramatic "Smooth Criminal." "Another Part of Me" was
also a hit, as was "The Way You Make Me Feel." Michael denied that his solo,
"Dirty Diana," was a dig at Diana Ross, with whom he was on the outs. Steve
Stevens, a former guitarist for Billy Idol, performed with Michael on "Dirty
Diana." But, in the words of one critic, "These two talents couldn't rescue this
song."

Evoking silent screen vamp Gloria Swanson, the original album cover
depicted Michael's face covered with a patterned lace net. Walter Yetnikoff at
CBS Records exploded when he saw this cover, "What in hell's going on
here? The cover says `Bad,' not 'faggot!"' A picture of Michael in street punk
black leather was submitted instead.

After endless delays, the Bad album was completed by June of 1987 and
released that September where it made its debut as Number One on the charts.

"What a way to celebrate your twenty-ninth birthday," Michael said. Now
that he'd cut himself off from the Jehovah's Witnesses, he could celebrate
birthdays, which he'd always adored anyway.

As one reviewer, in an attack on the album, put it: "Even when Michael's
`Bad,' he's good, at least in sales." The solo single, "Bad," shot to Number
One but collapsed within a five-week period. As Frank DiLeo knew from the
beginning, Bad was not going to be another Thriller.

Glowing reviews flooded the media, including Rolling Stone, its critic
claiming that Michael "can out funk anybody anytime."

But was Michael the funkiest? His "Bad" solo was attacked by many critics from black magazines. "If this is the blackest Jackson can get, better bring
out the tarbrush." That line for Ebony magazine was killed before printing.
Allegedly, it was written by "one seriously pissed-off black dude."

Even if Thriller could not be topped in sales, Bad would sell twenty-five
million copies worldwide, making it the second biggest selling album of all
time, an impressive achievement for any performer, but one viewed as a failure by Michael, who had so desperately wanted to beat his own record.

In spite of its success and all those hit singles, Bad, as an album, when
heard today, is rather disappointing. For example, one critic wrote that the
song, "Dirty Diana," a moody techno-metal excursion, "could have used a little less fake crowd noise and a little more Eddie Van Halen." Another critic
complained of the "programmed synthesizers and
cheesy backing chants that are everywhere."
Basically, Bad has emerged as a fine dance pop
album with some "catchy (albeit lightweight)
tracks," in the words of one reviewer. The sad
news is that Michael by the year 2006 never did
anything to top this minor effort. Not a good track
record for the so-called "King of Pop."

Siedah Garrett