Blogs and Stories
My Surreal Night With Michael Jackson
Then we started talking about Africa. He said he had just returned.
“Were you on safari?” I asked.
He shook his head. No, he was in Johannesburg with friends.
“I’ve been to Johannesburg,” I said. “It scared me.
“It did? Why?”
I told him I didn’t feel safe walking down the street, it seemed very violent. “Did you?”
He chuckled, with more than a touch of sadness. “I can’t walk down the street anywhere,” he said.
Good point.
We bantered a bit more—I asked him why he was wearing his shades inside, and he said his eyes were bloodshot from traveling so much, and I asked him why his kids’ hair was so light. “Their mother’s a platinum blonde,” he explained.
Just then there was a rustling under the table and Jackson lifted the tablecloth and peered underneath. "Oh, look!" he squealed. "A doggie!"
And then I found myself uttering six words I never imagined would burst from my lips: “Do you have animals at Neverland?”
“Oh, yes," he said. “Lions and elephants and chimps and giraffes! All kinds.”
"Animals are the best," I said.
"No,” he corrected me, and I swear, his voice lowered a few octaves. "Kids are the best."
Boteach motioned for me to return to my seat. My time was up, but the evening wasn’t. A late thirty-ish woman stood and introduced herself as a single mother of four children, one of whom had a rare form of cancer. The woman talked of her hardships, of the traumas her daughter experienced, of chemo and radiation. As she spoke, small yelps filled the room: It was Jackson, bawling—howling—into his linen napkin. The longer the woman talked, the louder Jackson’s sobs grew, like a 6-year-old who had just been banned from his Wii. Apparently this woman’s pain was just too much for him to bear. Naturally, everyone ignored him: So a grown man’s wailing into his napkin. Big deal! Happens every day.
After that, we trudged into the living room, and Jackson sat on the couch with Boteach’s kids. (His own kids were with the nanny.) Someone hauled in a large cardboard box, a gift from Jackson: A new TV! Then everyone—Jackson included—sang “Happy Birthday,” and someone else put “Billie Jean” on the stereo and it was festive and happy and totally surreal.
Jackson and Boteach launched Heal the Kids a few months later, in February 2001; the initiative lasted a year. In 2003, Jackson admitted in a documentary that he shared beds with young boys, but he seemed surprised that anyone would find this odd. He was later accused of sexually molesting a 13-year-old. He pleaded “not guilty,” of course, and in June 2005, the court agreed.
By this time, Boteach’s relationship with Jackson had deteriorated; according to Boteach, Jackson and his handlers resented his attempts to help him. “Let's face it, Michael may have —I don't know—but may have been guilty of very serious, serious crimes,” Boteach recently told CNN’s Campbell Brown. “I want people to understand that even if it were true—and I have no idea if it is or it isn't—that this was a tortured, tortured soul, who from the earliest age did not know love because he felt that he had to perform to earn love.”
Clearly, I didn’t know Jackson the way Boteach did, or Elizabeth Taylor, or Brooke Shields; I spent three hours in his presence. I’m not a therapist. But based on my very limited time with him, I don’t believe he was a pedophile—he was a giant, oversized pedo. He was stunted, stuck, at about age 8. (“Oh, look, it’s a doggie!”) It’s just my own little theory.
I never did write about him or Heal the Kids; magazines were interested, but Jackson wanted advance approval on anything I wrote, which was not an option. He may have been a kid—but he was savvy one.
Abby Ellin regularly writes the Vows column for the New York Times, and previously wrote the Preludes column for that newspaper about young people and money. She is the author of Teenage Waistland, but her greatest claim to fame is naming “Karamel Sutra” ice cream for Ben and Jerry's.
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Abby Ellin regularly writes the "Vows" column for the New York Times, and previously wrote the "Preludes" column for that newspaper about young people and money. Her work has appeared in a range of publications, including Time, Marie Claire, More, Self and Glamour. She is the author of Teenage Waistland, but her greatest claim to fame is naming “Karamel Sutra” ice cream for Ben and Jerry's.
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Abby Ellin regularly writes the "Vows" column for the New York Times, and previously wrote the "Preludes" column for that newspaper about young people and money. Her work has appeared in a range of publications, including Time, Marie Claire, More, Self and Glamour. She is the author of Teenage Waistland, but her greatest claim to fame is naming “Karamel Sutra” ice cream for Ben and Jerry's.
Your comments about vitiligo are extremely ignorant; the onset typically starts around 20 and is caused by a combination of factors, including genetics. The available treatments for it are pretty abysmal. It is an autoimmune disease, and recent discoveries show that it shares the same gene as other autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto's (the primary cause of hypothyroidism in the U.S.), rheumatoid arthritis, etc. You know, things you typically don't laugh at.
I'm glad you had fun meeting Jackson and love to tell the tale, but could you be a responsible journalist and refrain from that type of mush? Or find another way to be funny? Thanks.
Wow, lighten up (no pun intended -- sorry, couldn't resist). It was an obvious joke, since no one ever credibility believed that his condition was 100% the result of vitiligo (he may have had it, but that's not why his entire face turned white all at once) and the recent autopsy confirmed skin bleaching. She wasn't disparaging people with vitiligo and clearly was not making any serious suggestion about the little kids looking Caucasian because of it. She was obviously making a veiled reference to the controversy over whether he was their biological father.
(BTW, my wife has a pretty bad case of it so I'm not speaking from ignorance or indifference to the difficulties of the condition.)
The skin bleaching was do to necessities caused by having a career as a performer. He was going for an even tone of skin color, not attempting to be Caucasian.
I'm sure vitiligo is an interesting affliction, but perhaps Ellin meant to illuminate another one even more frightening -- the rash of freak shows in modern America. While perhaps not with the clumsiness of Peter King, the Jackson edition of this freak show (like the OJ, the Palin, the Sanford, ad infinitum) bears musing upon.
This was a story about the author's impression at a dinner party not an investigative report. Lighten up. If you want serious, go to Vanity Fair on-line and read Maureen Orth's in depth and lengthy articles about MJ she has written over the last sixteen years.
Wow EastVillageGal! A little sensitive today, yes?
Seemed to me that the author exposed her ignorance in many ways ("Why are your kids hair so light??"), but I didn't find this nearly as offensive as some of the other muck that's been written about this sorry man. In fact, I thought it was an interesting snapshot.
And I don't know why you think she has an obligation to be a responsible journalist. She writes for Time, Marie Claire, More, Self and Glamour, and named an ice cream. Give a girl a break.
Ha! Funny. And thanks for giving me a break. I also write for the NY Times and I wrote a 'serious' book about fat kids, if that counts for anything...!
My armchair diagnosis is he had a psychotic break long ago. Prior to that he may have been a kid at heart who yearned for the childhood he never had. But he was still basically a thinking, functioning adult who helped manage his own career, displayed occasional genius and could give coherent interviews that came across as moderately normal. It's possible he always had a multiple personality disorder and occasional lapsed into 8-year-old Michael. But something happened along the way and he became permanently trapped in 8-year-old Michael. The problem was he was like the boy king by then, an 8-year-old boy in an adult body surrounded by sycophants who enabled his bad behavior and helped him lose touch with reality and he didn't have anyone influential enough to bring him back or ground him.
citivas, You nailed it perfectly. I have been reading a lot about MJ lately and read that the psychologist appointed by the court in California to examine him came to the conclusion that he did not fit the profile of a pedophile, but was basically a 12 year old boy. I don't think we will ever know the exact truth about The Man in the Mirror, too many lies and rumors sold to the tabloids are paraded as facts. And of course he added a lot of fuel to the fire, but if he was innocent of pedophilia I hope the truth comes out in my lifetime. Nothing would make me happier.
@citivas ~ for some reason since MJ passed away I've been *obsessive* about him (do not have an explanation - I never followed him when he was alive sadly) but I've been looking through raw video of his interviews and such and he did seem to have some sort of break down around 1990 or 1991 which I can't figure out - could be drugs, perhaps that first accusation, not sure. His facial expressions changed, his smile changed a bit, his aura was just different from the decade before. I know he split from Quincy Jones and Frank DiLeo about that time and he was tape recorded talking about the fact that he was literally desperate to find love (very sad).
Whatever the deal with his skin - whether it had to happen or not - it's a big bummer b/c he looked amazing with dark skin (ie - those Fran Leibovitz photos in Vanity Fair are breathtaking I think) while the lighter shade didn't compliment his features as well.
Regarding the lyric Jackson told you was Swahili? Guess he lied. He stole it from a Cameroonian saxophonist, Manu Dibango, who had a hit record in the early 70s. Makossa is a Cameroonian dance. Lots of sources on line deal with the copyright issues that ensued. I heard Dibango interviewed about it, and since he'd created the actual chant, it was original work, not folk material available for the grasping.
I know, I know. I didn't include that story since it wasn't part of my actual conversation with MJ, but I do remember when all the copyright issues went down.
Vitiligo is splotchy. No one in the history of the disease had perfectly even skin tone. That is the weird-looking part of the desease -- the skin's melanin does wacky things.
That's point one. Point two is that Janet Jackson refuted the claim outright. She said what her brother was claiming wasn't so. Period. He didn't have it, never had it and no family member EVER had it.
Jacko took drugs to lighten his skin. You can't get THAT light just with bleaching creams. You'd take your skin off with that much bleach -- which sadly happens in Africa at this point in time. Women are sold harsh bleaches and won't stop until their skin breaks up -- resulting in skin cancer and other issues.
Jacko did not always tell the truth about himself. He didn't feel he needed to or that the media deserved it necessarily.
It's time for the AfAm community to stop this weird defense of a brotha who didn't make a lot of sense. If they insist on it, then they will also not make a lot of sense. Perhaps idolizing someone does that anyway.
Regardless of what you think, you weren't there and I doubt that you know of anyone personally who has even a comparible childhood experience as Michael Jackson. If he had vitiligo, bleaching he skin was or wearing concealing make-up were the options he had available if he wanted to maintain a career. As far as the Black (no one says Caucasian-American) community is concerned, it isn't monolithic as far as Michael Jackson is concerned. The opinions about him range from empathy to condemnation...just like any other demographic.
What about mutilating his nose? What condition was that? This was just about a dinner party and the author's impression. It is not an investigative report. Lighten up. Or, if you want serious, take some time to read Maureen Orth's lengthy in depth articles about Michael that were published in Vanity Fair over the last sixteen years:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2009/06/michael-jackson-is-gon e-but-the-sad-facts-remain.html
maddymappo--great link to the Vanity Fair articles--thanks!
Abby: love your bio. Saw Karamel Sutra at the supermarket last night and laughed my head off.
I'm biracial (black and white) and I think Michael Jackson was one crazy mother$%#@%$.
There is so much written about MJ that no one knows what is true and what isn't. All we have are these testimonials from people who actually were in the same room with him and got the chance to actually talk to him. These are the stories we need, not the tabloid garbage that people believe without a blink of the eye!
Very interesting. Jackson was kid like and smart. Talented and sad. Have yourself a free copy of "New World Hors D'oeuvres," compliments of the author:
michaelslevinson.com/newworld.pdf
Another writer described him as a "hybrid" - and he also got lambasted. Whatever, MJ was definitely unusual and anyone who tries to describe him is describing *their experience* so of course everyone has a different take. He was kind of a chameleon and if that's a "New World Hors D'oeuvres", well that's your take.
Abby, thank you very much. I haven't laughed so hard in quite awhile.
I'm not sure what pissed me off the most: that you punked a dead man with the same tired and tawdry accusations about his children that dogged him when he was alive OR that you used one of my dearest friends (the "late thirty-ish woman") and her daughter's illness (leukemia, not a "rare form of cancer" and she was NEVER treated with radiation---her mother NEVER said that) to underscore Jackson's "howling."
Funny thing is that little girl is now a young girl and read your article and broke down crying over your misrepresentation of Jackson (with whom her family remained in contact with over the years until his untimely death). By the way, Jackson was not the only person visibly moved in the room. But she was very touched that a grown man was not afraid to empathize with her plight. Big deal? Perhaps not to a jaded reporter but it certainly mattered to her. Irresponsible journalism and sensationalism never take a day off.
The ignorant comments you make in your article (asking him about his children's features in the face of what he knew was tabloid fodder was pure tacky) is surpassed only by the nonsensical assertions of some comment makers here (bleaching skin foolishness--please).
Now that Jackson has passed away, his dermatologist confirmed what I and those close to him knew for years: that he DID have vitiligo. In addition, the disease is hereditary in the Jackson family so he was not the only member who suffered from it. Then again, had you researched that enough, then you would have known that. Whatever Jackson's foibles were, lying about his health and (as you correctly surmised, much to your credit) covering up a predilection for young boys were not among them.
Hope you can sleep better knowing that a young cancer patient who is STILL recovering went to bed in tears.
Ohplease7 - thanks for the human perspective . This article is tacky, mean and totally unecessary. I don't know much about Michael Jackson, but it sounds like he liked dogs, was moved to tears by a young girls battle with cancer, and responded incredibly politely to the writer's rude, insensitive questioning of his childrens' hair color (and by extension their paternity - good grief). Nice way to repay his kindness.
Thank you.
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