Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (98 page)

Invincible

One music executive said, "Our customers prefer the oldies-the darker
complexion and the big nose."

Increasing numbers of critics were reappraising Michael's phenomenal
music career. American writer and soul expert, Ben Edmonds, didn't see him
as a fallen genius. "Everything about Michael Jackson's career has been so
managed and produced that it's really hard to tell where his collaborators end
and where he begins. In Thriller and Off the Wall, you don't really know how
much of it is Michael and how much is Quincy Jones, the producer. We don't
see him as a human being, but he might not see himself that way either. He
may be like Andy Warhol: A completely empty vessel apart from his own
fame. We just don't know, because we're never allowed to see beyond the surgically altered face."

Despite his legal troubles and declining record sales, Michael's ego, from
all reports, had expanded greatly. Associates, even if speaking off the record,
began to weigh in with informed opinions. One executive claimed that
"Jackson wants to be in that pantheon that includes Mozart, Walt Disney, Elvis
Presley-and let's throw in Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly for good measure."

Michael was reported to have said, "The rules that apply to common folk
don't apply to me. I can get away with whatever I want because I'm Michael
Jackson. I not only walk forward, but I can walk backward as well."

In December, after the September 11 attacks, National Enquirer reported
that, "A bizarre-acting Michael Jackson is hooked on drugs and booze and his
frightened family flew across the country to save his life." It was then reported that Michael had rejected his family's plea for him to seek treatment in a
clinic such as Betty Ford that Elizabeth Taylor had previously recommended.
"Michael is succumbing to drugs and alcohol," one source reported. He was
hooked on Demerol and "drinking vast bottles of Jesus Juice," (i.e., wine).
Demerol was said to have made him so mentally sluggish that he was "walking around his hotel suite like a zombie."

When Bob Jones was told that one can't
believe what one reads in National Enquirer,
the publicist said, "Well, that is just not the
case. Over the years, so-called insiders and
Jackson family members themselves sold stories to the Enquirer. Michael Jackson even
sold pictures to the tabloid."

Marlon Brando,
three years before his death

As a good friend, Marlon Brando tried to
intervene to help Michael, asserting that
Michael's appearance as a high-profile film
actor could generate millions, thereby resolving many of his financial woes. As a means of
improving his acting technique, Brando invited Michael to attend an acting workshop that he was teaching.

Critics have chastised, or ridiculed, Michael for "cross dressing," but he
learned what cross dressing really was when he, along with Sean Penn, went
to an acting class in Los Angeles presided over by Brando, who was holding
private invitation-only acting workshops for special VIPs in Hollywood.

On the first day of class, the curtain opened to reveal the corpulent star
dressed as a woman. Under a long blonde wig with the kind of scarlet lipstick
Betty Grable and Lana Turner wore in World War II movies, Brando conducted the improvisation class. "I didn't want my acting classes to be a drag!"
Brando later quipped to Sean Penn.

Driving his teacher home in a limo, Michael confessed to what he called
"some astonishing news." He shared with Brando the fact that he was about
to become a father for the third time, and presumably told Brando how he'd
come to acquire a second son in his life.

Mysteriously Michael presented this other son to the world in February of
2002. The world learned that the child's name was Prince Michael II. Against
overwhelming evidence, Michael still insisted that his first two children had
been born "the natural way"-that is, his having had sex with Debbie Rowe.
But insofar as this new child was concerned, he confessed that Prince Michael
II was the result of artificial insemination, although in one interview he contradicted himself, stating that "I had a personal relationship with the mother."

Changing that testimony, a few weeks later he said that his own sperm
cells were used with a surrogate mother. At one
point he claimed that the mother was black, later
stating that he didn't know the identity of the
mother. It is highly unlikely that Prince Michael
II is black, as the child is very blond, like a possible clone of Macaulay Culkin. Debbie Rowe
testified that she didn't give birth to Michael's
second son and that she doesn't know who his
mother is.

MJ

The child became world famous in
November of 2002 when Michael suspended the
nine-month-old infant over the edge of a fiftyfoot balcony at the legendary (and massively
restored) Adlon Hotel in Berlin, where, during
the 1920s, Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich
had carried on a torrid affair.

Stunned fans watched in horror as Michael
precariously held the baby with only one hand
and lifted him over the railing. Clad only in a romper suit, "Blanket"-his nickname-struggled to break free. A white cloth
had been placed over his head to prevent the paparazzi and "crazed fans" from
photographing him. Fortunately, Michael pulled the infant back to safety
before he accidentally plunged to his death.

Responding to worldwide protests, Michael claimed that he'd held
Blanket very tightly and that the infant was never in any real danger. "I got
caught up in the excitement of the moment. I would never intentionally endanger the lives of my children."

Uri Geller, the psychic and Michael's friend, told the press that he suspected that Blanket wasn't really Blanket at all, but a fake child made of plastic. "Michael would never do such a thing like dangling a real child over that
railing."

Liza Minnelli also rushed to Michael's defense. "I don't see a picture
where he is dangling the child nervously. I see him holding him up above a
railing for the press to say hello to the kid."

In California, child protection officers held secret talks to decide whether
to inaugurate proceedings to determine if Michael were a fit father. They even
debated the launch of a formal investigation. "Why on earth," reporter Alison
Boshoff asked, "has this obviously disturbed man been allowed to father a
brood of three `motherless' children in the first place?"

At the time he was dangling "Blanket," over the edge of the balcony in
Berlin, The Independent Sunday in London concluded "The last decade of
Michael Jackson's life has hardly been the most glorious phase of his career,
but the events of the last six months have seen him slide downwards at
unprecedented speed. If Jackson was ever the `King of Pop,' there seems little doubt that his crown has now been broken into small pieces."

On March 16, 2002, Michael stashed Blanket, along with his other two
children, with nannies while he attended the most bizarre wedding of the year,
the nuptials of his faithful friend, Liza Minnelli, who at the age of 55 was marrying David Gest, 48, another close friend of Michael's. Michael shared best
man honors with his brother Tito. Elizabeth Taylor was matron of honor, sharing the position with Marisa Berenson.

The whole world knew who Minnelli was, of course, but Gest, the
American TV producer and concert promoter, was little known outside the
entertainment industry until his marriage to the great diva.

The couple met when Gest produced the 30th anniversary concert for
Michael in New York in September of 2001. Three months later, and despite
her track record in marriage, which had included an ill-fated union with the
brilliant homosexual entertainer, Peter Allen, Minnelli was talking marriage
once again.

Liza called Michael to tell him that, "I'm the happiest I've ever been. I nearly died, but I'm alive and dancing my buns off. Fuck encephalitis. Fuck
hip replacements. Everything I've been through was worth it to find David."

Gest had known Michael since he was a teenager, and had even picked up
memorabilia from the pop star, including a rhinestone-studded glove which
"Mr. Minnelli" two years later offered for sale on eBay for $250,000. In an
interview he gave Dateline NBC, Gest revealed that he grew up in Encino with
the Jackson family as his neighbors. He claimed that "we played together and
did everything normal kids do."

Not only was Gest a close friend of Michael's brother, Tito, he'd even
dated La Toya, or so he claimed. As teenagers, Gest, Michael, and some of the
Jacksons used to go to DuPars on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles to eat
pancakes. In the back seat, Michael would take a squirt gun and shoot at Gest.

Michael and Gest shared at least one love in common. It was reported that
one entire section of Gest's New York apartment was devoted to Shirley
Temple memorabilia, evoking Michael's special room for the moppet star at
Neverland.

Many friends intervened to try to prevent Minnelli from marrying Gest,
but Michael reportedly approved of the marriage of "my two best friends." A
close friend of Minnelli claimed, "Gest is forever courting old-time actresses
like Jane Russell and Janet Leigh. We hope that Liza won't be used to satisfy
David's desire for stardom."

At the time of his marriage to Minnelli, the press speculated about Gest's
sexual orientation, but he always maintained that he was straight, citing that
he had at one time been romantically linked to Ruth Warrick. Ms. Warrick, a
1940s film actress and soap opera diva, died in 2005 at the age of 89. An intimate friend of the author of this biography, she confided that there was and
had never been a romance between Gest and herself-and that privately, "I
knew he was gay."

The website, "NNDB-Tracking the Entire World," lists Gest's sexual
orientation as a "matter of dispute."

The timing of the Minnelli/Gest wedding at New
York's Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue was
held up by Elizabeth, who forgot her shoes. She arrived
at the wedding without makeup and wearing slippers.
The wedding ceremony was delayed because Elizabeth
had to send for her shoes back at her hotel, refusing to
take part in the ceremonies until she had the proper
footwear.

MJ dangling his
child over a balcony
in Berlin