Michael’s World Caves In… Again
He thought being ten was hard, being famous before he knew what it was to be a human being. He thought being eighteen was hard, going through adolescence with the eyes of the world upon him. Twenty-one was hard, too, feeling like a phoney, not fitting in… choosing plastic surgery, hoping it would be the solution to all his problems. He came to thirty with a desire to do good, but it was hard. While his career was history-making, his life remained… hard. Forty. Then forty-five… harder than he ever dreamed possible.
The end of 2003 and beginning of 2004 has been the worst period of time in Michael Jackson’s life. Making it even more unfortunate for him is that he had, at the time that the last edition of this book was published, been working, even if tentatively, on repairing his personal life as well as his career, trying to come to terms with the past, with his father and other family members, and making important choices about how to handle other problems in his life. Yet he still had not made the most important decision of all, the one having to do with the on-going habit of entertaining other people’s children at Neverland. Such continual lapses in judgement and caution has caused another massive personal upheaval for him, a true crisis in his life.
What a shame. There are no other words to describe the sight of Michael Jackson being led away in handcuffs… then, the mug shot… then, the arraignment on child-molestation charges.
Michael was at the Mirage Hotel suite in Las Vegas on 18 November 2003 when a police raid of Neverland, the second one in ten years, occurred. He was shooting a video for a new song, ‘One More Chance’, written and produced by R. Kelly (who has also been arrested on child-molestation accusations, in a case that is still pending). However, there was no way for him to continue with the project. Seventy officers had descended upon the Jackson ranch and spent fourteen hours searching for evidence that might connect him to the latest charges. ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to get through it,’ he said, according to an aide who was present. Michael looked desperate and alone, said the aide, ‘the very foundation of his soul, shaken. But, still, there was a strong sense among people present that he had somehow brought it onto himself.’
It’s true that after the first allegations of molestation were made against him ten years ago, Michael Jackson had every opportunity to change his behaviour. He would have been smart to stop himself, not just from making obsequious comments about young people (‘I would die if there were no children in the world’) but from seeking out the company of other people’s offspring. At the very least, it seemed unwise and even foolhardy for a man once accused of molestation to continue having sleepovers with the children of strangers.
After the Chandler case was resolved, many on Jackson’s team hoped he would never again mention the subject of children – and certainly not be seen on television cuddling them, as he was on the controversial Martin Bashir documentary. As we have seen earlier, during his interview with Bashir, Michael admitted sleeping in a bed with many children. ‘When you say bed you’re thinking sexual,’ Michael said. ‘It’s not sexual, we’re going to sleep. I tuck them in. It’s very charming, it’s very sweet.’ While watching Michael holding hands with the wide-eyed and star-struck youngster in the documentary, who was described as a cancer-survivor, anyone who had been following Jackson’s chequered story over the years and knew his troubled history with the parents of young boys could sense trouble ahead. Indeed, a year later, that same boy is Michael’s accuser.
What was Michael Jackson thinking? Had he been so emboldened by the solution to the Jordie Chandler problem that he was now arrogant about the way he lived his life? Did he not recognize the need to protect himself from the possibility of similar events? Was he so naive that he simply didn’t understand the danger in which he continued to place himself by entertaining hundreds upon hundreds of children at his Neverland ranch? Or, one at least has to wonder, did he just have the misfortune to cross paths with a family that is now out to get him, and ruin him?
Of course, there is another possibility: Maybe Michael Jackson is a paedophile – a remote prospect as plain and simple as it is sick and twisted – and he got caught… again. The question remains unanswered at this stage, at least from a legal standpoint. There are many who believe in his innocence, and probably just as many who believe in his guilt.
Ten years earlier, even at the height of the Jordie Chandler scandal, matters hadn’t escalated to the point where an arrest warrant was filed against Michael. During the latest raid in 2003, if Michael had been home, he would probably have been taken to jail and booked, immediately. The authorities had an arrest warrant with his name on it, and an ambulance present in case he fainted.
There was good reason for such concern about Michael’s state of mind, though it seems unlikely that Santa Barbara District Attorney, Tom Sneddon, was genuinely worried about him. Michael is so fragile a person, the Chandler case almost sent him over the brink; he became addicted to drugs and, if not for the positive influence Elizabeth Taylor and Lisa Marie Presley, he might never have been able to recover. However, he did recover – and, then, paid Jordie millions of dollars to settle the matter in order that he be able to move forward with his life.
Though Michael was able to put the other case behind him without admitting guilt – in fact, with many declarations of innocence – his career never recovered; his record sales were never the same. There was hope that a 2003 CD, a greatest hits compilation called
Number Ones
, would help matters when issued in November. A single from it, ‘One More Chance’, a melodic tune with multi-layered and lush harmonies, in the vein of some of his best 1980s work, seemed poised for success. In the UK, the compilation found quick acceptance:
Number Ones
debuted at the top of the charts. ‘One More Chance’ was also a hit. It’s clear that Michael’s British fans remain supportive. He also has the support of legions of fans in most other countries, but not in America. In the USA, he may never be able to rebound, especially now that he has been arrested. Indeed, in America,
Number Ones
was a huge commercial disappointment, nowhere close to being considered a hit record.
‘You have to stay strong,’ Michael’s aide told him on the day of the Neverland raid. ‘For your children, you have to be strong.’
Michael crumpled into a chair. ‘I’ll do the best I can,’ he said. ‘But…’ His voice trailed off as he buried his face into his hands. ‘Oh, my God. What a shock. I can’t believe this is happening to me… again.’