The Last Word on the Matter
When I conducted a telephone interview with Michael in August 1994, after the allegations were settled, he told me, ‘Too much damage had already been done to everyone involved. I don’t care what people think. I know the truth. If anyone has ever gone through something like this, they’d know you’ll do anything to end it.’
Of the case, Michael suggested extortion, but without actually saying as much since he was not supposed to speak about the case by legal agreement (which didn’t stop him, though, in other instances). ‘Lots of people are always trying stuff like this, trying to hurt me, embarrass me. I thought this was just another one of those things. I never dreamed it would blow up to be the mess it became. I’d never hurt a child, and any child who has ever been my friend knows that. I’d never, ever, ever hurt any child on this planet.
‘I want to go on with my life,’ he said, passionately. ‘I want to make records. I want to sing. I want to perform again. Tell my fans I have supreme confidence that they’ll judge me on stage and in the recording studio, just as they always have. I don’t believe this nightmare will interfere with my career,’ he added, ‘because I’ve spent too many years developing my relationship with the fans. They should just know that, yes, I paid some money. So what? But no, I’m not guilty. I did nothing wrong.’
I asked him if he was concerned that, his fans aside, he would be thought of by much of the general public as having been guilty because of the way he settled the case. His answer was direct: ‘It’s my talent. My hard work. My life. My decision.’
Today, Jordie Chandler is twenty-three years old and living on eastern Long Island near the beach in a $2.35 million home, under an assumed name. He and his family also own a high-rise apartment in Manhattan and a condominium in Santa Barbara.
Evan Chandler also lives in Long Island – under an assumed name.
June Chandler and David Schwartz are divorced.
Jordie hasn’t seen Michael Jackson since that day in Anthony Pellicano’s office a decade ago when Evan and Michael had their final show-down. The last instalment of Michael’s payments to Jordie was paid in June 1999.