‘You’ll all be fired’
By the time Michael Jackson’s tour took him to Mexico City, on 24 October 1993, there was talk of a pending warrant for a police strip search of his body. This seemed odd, almost unthinkable. Making matters worse, the Los Angeles Police Department had seized medical records from the offices of two of Jackson’s physicians, Beverly Hills dermatologist, Arnie Kleins and Santa Monica plastic surgeon, Stephen Hoefflin. ‘What do they want my medical records for?’ a bewildered Michael asked one of his team members in a longdistance telephone call. ‘They can’t do that, can they?’
‘Hell, yeah, man, they can do that,’ confirmed the associate. ‘They think they can do anything they want to do. When the rest of the troops get down there, you’d better whip them into shape. Things are bad here, Mike.’
The records were needed to verify aspects of Jordie’s testimony. Did the authorities really think such documents would still be in place? All of Michael’s medical records from both doctors were long gone by the time the police arrived to take them.
*
Still, one can only imagine the stress for a person as pathologically private as Michael Jackson, to know that the police were trying to locate his confidential medical records.
The heat was on. The investigation would not let up, that much was clear.
At this same time, the police raided Michael’s Hayvenhurst estate in Encino. When the Jacksons went to Phoenix for the funeral of Joseph’s father, the police used the opportunity to inspect the estate and look for evidence there. A locksmith helped them gain entrance.
The officers seized books, magazines, photos, tapes and anything else they thought might be interesting – including Katherine’s high blood pressure pills. They also found a videotape called
Chicks
, which promised to be valuable evidence since the slang word ‘chicks’ is sometimes used by paedophiles when referring to young boys. When the cops got back to the police station, the first thing they did was review the tape. Much to their frustration, what they saw was a video about… chicks, as in birds.
The ‘troops’ to which Michael’s adviser had referred were those Jackson team members on their way to Mexico City: attorneys John Branca, Howard Weitzman, Bert Fields, as well as Dr Arnold Klein (to deal with a skin condition brought on by Jackson’s anxiety) and Elizabeth Taylor. They hoped to convince Michael to return to the States. The longer he stayed away the guiltier he looked to his fans. Lisa Marie Presley also hoped to go on the trip.
For the last few years, Elizabeth had been trying to convince Michael to open himself up to a romantic relationship. However, when it began to happen with Lisa, she suddenly felt left out. ‘She has a deep insecurity about other women, especially younger women,’ says a friend of Michael’s. ‘I spent a great deal of time in her company and saw for myself the competitive way she dealt with Lisa.’
One of Jackson’s associates was with Elizabeth and Lisa during a meeting. Both were sitting in the adviser’s office, discussing their concern about Michael. Elizabeth looked grand in a black, turtleneck sweater and matching skirt, her hair in a bouffant style. Her eyes, the world’s most famous violet pair, were concealed by large sunglasses, which she even wore indoors. By contrast, Lisa looked like a punk rocker in torn denim slacks, a whiteT-shirt and a black leather jacket. (‘I can understand if she doesn’t want to be a star like her father,’ Elizabeth said of Lisa, later. ‘However, one would think she would at least want to
dress
like one.’)
‘I think we should get him into rehab,’ Lisa said, speaking of the beleaguered Michael. ‘Fly to be at his side. Do whatever it takes.’
Liz gave Lisa an icy stare. ‘It’s taken care of, dear,’ she said. ‘I’ve been rescuing Michael for years.’
‘Well, maybe that’s the problem,’ Lisa countered. ‘Maybe he needs to grow up, do things on his own – ’
Elizabeth cut her off. ‘Or maybe
not
, dear,’ she said. With her tone sickeningly sweet, she made her point: Lisa was an interloper. Perhaps she realized she’d acted rudely, because Elizabeth then apologized and blamed her attitude on the stress of the times.
Still, Lisa was chagrined and felt that Elizabeth had treated her as if she was one of Michael’s groupies, rather than a trusted friend. She decided not to go to Mexico City because, as she later explained, she didn’t want to make things worse for Michael. However, from that point onward, Lisa considered Elizabeth to be, as she put it, ‘opposing counsel’.
Shortly after the arrival of the Jackson contingent, a shouting match erupted between Bert Fields and Michael’s loyal head of security, Bill Bray (who had known and worked for Michael since the star was about twelve years old). The protective Bray accused Fields of mishandling the case. In front of witnesses, he screamed at the attorney, ‘You’re blowing the whole damn thing! Mike is gonna end up in jail. What is going on?’
One witness said, ‘Elizabeth agreed with Bill that the attorneys weren’t being aggressive enough. It was as if they were waiting for time to pass to see what would happen next. ‘You need to get out there and start deposing these people,’ she said. ‘There are liars all over the place, and they need to be revealed for who they are… all these housekeepers and maids and butlers. I know good help is hard to find, Michael,’ she said turning to him, ‘but where did you find
these
people? Look at how they turned on you.’ Michael sat staring at her with his mouth open. ‘My maid turned on me?’ he said. ‘Not my sweet Blanca?’ he asked, sounding pretty dumb. [He was referring to his maid, Blanca Francia.]
‘Where she once felt that Michael was capable of taking charge, she could see that he was now in bad shape. He was so drugged out, he couldn’t handle anything. “I think now that he can’t make important decisions,” she said. “Look at him! What do you expect of him? I’ve been there,” she said, referring to her own drug use, “and I know he can’t make any decisions right now. We have to help this boy. Enough is enough.”
‘She was angry at just about everyone in Michael’s camp. Michael was so affected by Elizabeth’s outburst, he collapsed into racking sobs. “What am I going do?” he asked. “If you people can’t figure this goddamn thing out, how can I?” Elizabeth went over and embraced him. “We’re fighting, Michael, but it’s because we love you,” she said, almost as if she was talking to a child whose parents were divorcing. It was touching. “And I’ll be goddamned if you have to suffer another second over this bullshit. We will work it out. I promise you.’”
Michael pulled away from Elizabeth. ‘I want you people to fix this thing, now,’ he said, addressing everyone in the room. ‘I’m serious,’ he added. ‘My life will not end this way. You’ll all be out –
fired
before that happens.’
‘Hear, hear,’ said Elizabeth, clapping her hands. ‘That’s telling ’em, Michael. Right out on their asses!’ Then, after a beat, she added, ‘Just to be clear, you don’t mean me too, now do you, dear?’
He couldn’t help himself; Michael burst into laughter, as did everyone on his team.
After that day’s discussions, it was decided that attorney Johnnie Cochran, well respected in Los Angeles’ black and legal communities, would be added to the legal team. Elizabeth had said that she wanted her own attorney, Neal Papiano, to join the team. However, she eventually agreed with Branca and Weitzman that Cochran (who would later successfully defend O. J. Simpson of charges that he had murdered his wife and a friend of hers) was the man for the job. Johnnie would have one job and only one job: to settle ‘this goddamn thing’ with money. There would be no trial, it was agreed. Michael would not,
could
not survive it. He was now too emotionally devastated to present a strong image for himself on the witness stand. Whatever it would cost, it was decided, he would have to pay it. If the public construed any financial settlement as an indication of guilt, it was decided, there was nothing anyone could do about it. ‘He will just have to say he didn’t do it, as he has been saying, and that’s going to have to be the denial that lasts through the ages,’ said one of the attorneys. ‘The thing for us to do now is to save the man’s life, not worry about the superstar’s image.’