Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (67 page)

McManus had replaced Blanca Francia as Jackson's personal chambermaid. A middle-aged Latina, McManus worked at Neverland from August
1990 to July of 1994 which was the "peak" of the bizarre friendship between
Michael and Macaulay.

On May 11, 2005, Macaulay took the stand in Michael's trial, calling
accusations that he was molested "absolutely ridiculous." Macaulay bridled at
prosecutor Ron Zonen's suggestion that Michael might have molested him
without his knowledge while he was sound asleep. "I find that unlikely,"
Macaulay told the court.

He was even questioned about the pornography police seized from
Michael's bedroom. "Overall, he's still a human being," Macaulay said. "I
don't find it inappropriate." He added that at the age of twelve he kept a copy
of Playboy under his bed.

Macaulay's 45-minute appearance on the witness stand was viewed by
legal analysts as a brilliant performance. Former prosecutor Ann Bremner,
said, "He's a great witness. Unflappable. Jurors are well aware that Culkin is
a trained actor."

Macaulay is so rich today he doesn't have to work unless he wants to. Just
how rich is he? He once said, "I could sit around with my thumb up my butt
watching TV and my kids would still go to college."

In the post millennium, the sweet-faced young boy, who became filmdom's most unexpected superstar, said, "I've had all the fame anyone could
want, and I ran away from it. Maybe Michael will do the same thing one day."

At the time Michael was involved with Macaulay, he launched a faux
affair with Madonna, each hoping for-and getting-maximum tabloid exposure.

Representatives of both Madonna and Michael each alerted the press and
the paparazzi that they'd be dining together at the chic Ivy Restaurant in Los
Angeles. Madonna arrived dressed in vampiric black, and Michael was attired
in angelic white satin. Although the meeting had been touted as a romantic
rendezvous, each of the two rivals left in separate limousines. It was almost
impossible for two such widely diverse personalities to overcome their jealousies and actually like each other, but once it was launched, the show had to
be played out.

"You might have been the hottest pop artist of the 80s," Madonna said to
Michael. "But Prince, George Michael,
and Whitney Houston-and moi-certainly gave you a run for your money in the
second half of that decade."

Material Girl

"All of you are very good," Michael
said in a voice so low it was almost a
whisper.

Not getting the response she obviously wanted, Madonna ribbed Michael.
"So you made one big album and a Pepsi
commercial where you caught your coiffure on fire."

Michael became defensive. "The
world has recognized me as its greatest
entertainer. I'm the biggest."

Madonna reminded him that newspapers and magazines polled in 1989
had named her "Artist of the Decade." Michael had nothing to say to that. Nor
did he need to be reminded. When that news had been announced, an enraged
Michael had called his manager at the time, Frank DiLeo. "Was it Madonna
who recorded Thriller?" Michael screamed into the telephone. "Madonna who
produced the best-selling album of all time? I think not!"

Madonna didn't stop there. "Honeychild, at the end of the 90s, I'll also be
voted Number One Artist of the Decade. Not Prince. Not Whitney Houston.
Not Bruce Springsteen. Not George Michael, and you can forget Phil Collins."
She deliberately left Michael off the list. "Madonna will be the Mamma Mia
of that decade too."

"How do I fit into this picture?" Michael asked, obviously peeved at her
provocation.

Madonna answered, but it wasn't what he expected. "When I'm tired of
one of my toy boys, I'll pass him on to you."

Michael requested carrot juice blended with spinach when the waiter
approached, Madonna preferring a stronger libation. After the waiter left, she
looked at Michael skeptically, as if annoyed. "The restaurant is candlelit," she
said. "You don't need sunglasses." She reached for his glasses, jerked them
off, and threw them to the floor, stomping them with her stiletto heel.

"Don't try to hide from the world behind sunglasses," Madonna warned
him. "Be comfortable with yourself whether it's with a boy-even a woman,
God forbid-or perhaps a menage a trois." Her outrageous talk shocked him.
"I lost my virginity to a woman," she claimed. "Moira McPharlin. She fingerfucked me."

At one point during dinner, she turned to him. "I don't like blow jobs. But
I do like getting head-but only nonstop for a day and a half. What about
you?"

"Oh, Madonna," Michael said, giggling into his napkin.

To blow Michael's mind, at least according to one of Madonna's gay
dancers, she told Michael, "Of all the people I've bedded, do you know who's
the best hung in Hollywood? Sandra Bernhard."

The staff at the Ivy did what it could to keep the paparazzi away from
Madonna and Michael, not knowing that the two mega-stars wanted to be photographed and have their pictures in the tabloids.

Later that night, Michael was heard saying, "Madonna sure knows how to
market herself. If only she could sing and dance." This was just one of many
digs at his rival-all in a similar vein-that he would make over the course of
her career.

When Cher heard about the outrageous publicity Madonna was getting by
exploiting Michael, she said, "Madonna could afford to be a little more mag nanimous and a little less of a cunt!"

Madonna agreed to be Michael's "date" for the 63rd annual Academy
Awards ceremony. As the paparazzi went wild, Madonna arrived in a white
sequined Bob Mackie gown wearing $20 million dollars worth of diamonds
on loan. Her dress was cut so low she almost had a wardrobe malfunction.

People Weekly wrote that "Michael Jackson looked positively legendary
in gold-tipped cowboy boots, a blinding diamond brooch and-in a dramatic
sartorial departure-two gloves."

Barbara Walters, speaking on TV, said, "They looked like caricatures, they
seemed untouched, larger than life." Privately, Walters (and this rumor cannot
be confirmed) claimed that she felt Madonna was exhibiting Michael "the way
a Bearded Lady might be put in a circus of long ago."

Before millions of fans around the world, Madonna sang Stephen
Sondheim's "Sooner or Later," which had been nominated for Best Song from
the film, Dick Tracy, in which she'd co-starred with her lover of the moment,
Warren Beatty. Much to Michael's obvious discomfort, the song won the
Oscar.

After the ceremony ended, Michael escorted Madonna to the uber-trendy
Spago's for an Oscar bash. Michael greeted many stars he knew casually,
including Anjelica Huston, with whom he'd appeared in Captain EO. After
their entrance, once Madonna and Michael had their pictures taken, they split
up. Michael was seen chatting with Diana Ross, with whom he still maintained an uneasy relationship.

He reacted in horror as Madonna spotted Beatty. "Hey, Warren," she
shouted. "Some guys in the press are asking me how big your dick is. I told
them I never measured it. I hope that was the right answer."

Actually, Madonna, or so it was reported, wanted to seduce Michael as
one of her rapidly growing corps of high-profile conquests. "I've had Prince,"
she told her bevy of gay dancers. "Why not Michael? Of course, there's a
downside. After the mighty sword of Sean Penn, I'm not used to pinpricks."
At Michael's expense, the dancers laughed.

A former friend claimed that Madonna was speaking the truth. "It's no
joke, size matters to her. She's not interested in somebody who's not above
average. That's why she sought out Mick Jagger, John F. Kennedy Jr., Jack
Nicholson, Bob Riley, and toy boy Tony Ward."

Author Andrew Morton, in his biography, Madonna, wrote that Madonna
"later told one of her lovers that she indeed tried to seduce Jackson shortly
after the Oscars-but confessed that her bedside manner failed to arouse his
interest. The same lover recalled her description of the scene: `They were on
the couch at his place and she would put the moves on him and he would stick
out his tongue for a second. When they touched he would start giggling like a little boy. Nothing happened because he was giggling too much. That was one
man she was not able to conquer."'

In spite of their lack of chemistry, some time later Michael and Madonna
were seen once again together at Spago's. As rumor had it, they were going to
perform a duet on Michael's upcoming album, Dangerous. But nothing came
of it. The two artists were simply incompatible.

At dinner, Michael preferred unseasoned boiled carrots, while Madonna
ordering more sophisticated fare. The meal lasted three hours, and the couple
was seen leaving the restaurant arm-in arm, then went their separate ways in
separate limousines.

The press continued with its media buzz about the two superstars. It must
be assumed that journalists who wrote these romantic fantasies didn't actually believe them, even for a moment. On April 15, 1991, Madonna and Michael
shared the cover of People magazine, but staff members hardly predicted the
sound of wedding bells in their future.

The press queried Madonna about those rumors of a romance. She didn't
really answer the question but proposed something else. "I have this whole
vision about Michael. We're considering working on a song together. I would
like to completely re-do his whole image. Give him a Caesar. You know, that
really short haircut, and I want to get him out of those buckly boots and all
that stuff. What I want him to do is to go to New
York and hang out for a week with the House of
Extravaganza, a group of vogue-ers. They could
give him a new style. I said, `Could you give this
guy a make-over for me?' because I think that's
really what he needs."

Madonna stealing
MJ's "crotch" move

Daringly, she made it clear to the press that
she felt Michael "was in the closet." As depicted in
her film, Truth or Dare, she was one of the most
gay-friendly artists in the business, surrounding herself with gay dancers. Jokingly, but with a dash of
conviction, she suggested that her dancing
entourage of boys could help Michael "come out."

She even described what an evening with
Michael was like. "First I beg him not to wear his
sunglasses and of course he complies, because I'm
stronger than he is. Then we exchange powder
puffs-we both powder our noses-and we compare bank accounts."

Reportedly, Michael raged for days when
Forbes magazine in September of 1991 published its list of the highest-paid entertainers. Madonna ranked number four with a
two-year earning streak of $63 million. Michael had fallen to number five
with a combined two-year gross of $60 million. Madonna sent him an autographed picture of herself. On it she scrawled: "Eat your heart out, Michael!
I've got bigger tits too."

Again, Michael went into a rage at Neverland, firing three employees that
day who got on his nerves. "That heifer! Damn her!"

When Madonna learned that Michael was referring to her as a heifer, she
shot back, "I'd rather be a cow than a drag queen from outer space."

Madonna wasn't the only one casting an envious eye toward Michael.
Sibling rivalry was rampant within his own family, as Janet competed furiously with Michael on the charts. June of 1991 found older brother Jermaine not
exactly concealing his jealousy of Michael from the tabloids. "I could have
been Michael," Jermaine claimed. "It's all a matter of timing, a matter of
luck."

That same month, Jermaine released "Word to the Badd" to the world at
large. The song was highly critical of Michael, attacking his bleaching creams
and his endless plastic surgery.

Reconstructed. Been abducted. Don't know who you are. Once you were
made. You changed your shade. Was your color wrong? Could not turn back.
It's a known fact. You were too far gone.

When he heard the recording, a furious Michael called his mother,
Katherine, ordering Jermaine to be evicted from Hayvenhurst, the Encino
compound. Michael owned most of the property.