If he stops making ludicrous accusations, everything will be fine. I am perfectly entitled to my opinions about Michael Jackson or anyone else.

 

 

 

oh so you know the word?

 

and now you are playing a VICTIM! (scared of being banned,huh?) hahahaha...man you are beyond sad. peace out. by-bye!

 

p.s. Long live the King! :D

as i had already said in the other thread, i really don't want this discussion to go any further. have a nice day.

 

 

I'm not surprised, because you aren't prepared to accept the sad the truth about MJ.

It's known as "being in denial".

 

 

 

it's not like you want to stop it

so that the ass can prove he is right. he thinks his opinion is fact.

 

No more or less than you.

No more or less than you.

 

nag nag nag nag nag. quit whining! :laugh3:

Grace Rwaramba: Mallika Chopra tells her side of the story

 

 

 

Bloodsuckers and The World of Michael Jackson

 

Posted Thu, 06/25/2009 - 22:19

 

 

In the aftermath of Michael Jackson’s death, I found myself in a surreal situation that gave me a glimpse into the dark side of bloodsuckers, media and celebrity.

 

In those few hours, I saw a side of humanity that saddens me – where people try to take advantage of vulnerability, confusion, and grief for their own advantage. I realized that much of media has so much more to gain when they report salacious gossip, even in the aftermath of a tragic death like Michael’s. I also realized that all of us, myself included, who participate in the engagement of that media feed so-called journalists to do anything to get their information. In the end, personalities like Michael are portrayed as freaks and dysfunctional, people who love them are taken advantage of, and those seedy, washed out journalists profit.

 

I share my experience because it involves Grace Rwaramba, who served as the nanny to Michael’s three kids. Grace is more than my best friend – I refer to her as my sister, and she thinks of my parents as her own (she actually calls my father papa).

 

In the last day in the aftermath of Michaels death, recent quotes have surfaced about her life with Michael, as well as speculation about her role in potential custody battles for the three children.

 

Grace has read this article before I published it.

 

Michael had a pattern of letting those close to him in and out of his life, and Grace was no exception. Lisa Marie Presley’s reflection on her emotional relationship with Michael expressed beautifully the power Michael had with those he loved. Over the years, Grace faced a similar cycle of wanting to save him and being hurt by him. It was an endless cycle that seemed similar to those faced by friends and families of other addicts. Michael had a knack of surrounding himself with enablers, and avoiding people who wanted to help him like his family, real friends who cared deeply about him, Grace and my father, Deepak Chopra.

 

Daphne Barak, a so-called journalist who claims to be a friend of the Jackson family and who got to know Grace through them, has been cultivating a friendship with Grace over several years. Unfortunately, the story with Daphne and Grace seems to be one that echoes the vultures that took advantage of Michael throughout his life.

 

Daphne reached out to Grace a few weeks ago, when she knew she was in a vulnerable place, having recently been let go by Michael yet again (this was a regular pattern). In the 17 years that Grace has worked with Michael, she has never spoken to the press. She loves Michael and his children at her core.

 

Grace genuinely believed Daphne was her friend who was trying to help her. Daphne had offered to help Grace launch a foundation she was creating to monitor non profit work in Africa. (Grace was originally from Rwanda.) She told Grace that they should record her speaking about the work. However, every time they began to record, her questions would center on Michael. Grace would say she was uncomfortable speaking about him.

 

On the morning of June 26th, after finding out that Grace was also in London, I rushed to her hotel. She was staying in a suite with Daphne. Daphne told tell me she had invited Grace to stay with her in Switzerland as her guest, and how she had helped Grace with the immediate aftermath of shock hearing about Michael’s death. She said that she had spent several thousand dollars to buy a business class ticket for Grace to fly to LA. She boasted about how close she was to the Jackson family, world leaders, etc.

 

I witnessed Daphne act as a friend while trying to bait information from Grace on her conversations with Jackson family members and friends about his death. She warned Grace that the family was going to try to set her up for Michaels downfall, and that it was critical that Grace speak with a lawyer before leaving. As a friend, she had organized a “lawyer” to get Grace’s story before she left for the airport.

 

In essence, Daphne was setting up a scenario to garner more information from Grace before she left for LA. I discovered that one of her friends who happened to be there had made a documentary on Princess Diana.

 

When we tried to leave, Daphne screamed at Grace – in front of my young children who began to cry -- that she was an ingrate. She had spent thousands of dollars hosting her, she was her guest, and she wanted to spend the time to say goodbye. (Daphne obviously could not believe her luck that she had baited Grace as a sympathetic friend for stories before he died, and had Grace with her on that sad day.)

 

Ultimately, Daphne, having obviously drunk a bit much, threatened to release the recordings she had made of their private conversations. Grace was petrified. I held her by the shoulders, looked in her eyes, and said lets just go. So what, let her put it out there. She is a washed up journalist trying to mine a tragic situation. Michael was gone now, and the future is the wellbeing of the children. Grace agreed.

 

Ultimately, I had to get the hotel manager involved to escort Grace out of the hotel. I also bought Grace’s ticket home myself, discovering that Daphne had misled us about the time and the price. It was a 650 Pound economy ticket, not several thousand dollars.

 

Twenty four hours later, I found that Daphne indeed had written an article full of quotes by Grace for a tabloid magazine. (A quick search of her other work not surprisingly shows she did a recent feature on Amy Winehouse.) Grace’s quotes are now being picked up by other tabloids and will find their way into more magazines and articles. (People Magazine is also featuring some today, including the inaccurate claim the Grace pumped Michael's stomach several times. For the record, Grace never pumped Michael's stomach. She has no idea how she would even do such a thing.) Which quotes are true, which are in context, (many are not) to me frankly doesn’t matter. I will not be surprised if Daphne releases audios or videos soon.

 

Grace feels used, insecure and shaken that she could have been so naïve, particularly having witnessed so many vultures in Michael’s world over the years. She made a mistake. The sad truth is that when you are a celebrity, or a close friend or family of one, in a world of tabloids, you must be impeccable in what you say and to whom. Michael probably faced the epitome of vultures, bloodsuckers and hanger-ons displayed in his endless cycle of managers, enabling doctors, and new business partners. How could anyone blame him for becoming so paranoid in his life?

 

In the article, Daphne tries to portray a rift between Katherine Jackson and Grace. This is not true.

 

I would like to go on record, with Grace’s permission, to say that Grace firmly hopes that the Jackson family gets custody of Prince, Paris and Michael. It would be detrimental to the children to be separated, and they should be with Michael’s family. They should know their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and they should learn about who he was as a person, not just as an icon. She has no interest in custody, and just wants the children to be happy and secure. She will be there for them whenever they need or want her.

 

As for the appetite for the salacious details of Michael’s life, my hope is that we let him go in peace. We already know he led a tortured life. He also led a great one in which he loved, and was loved, by many.

 

Let his family heal, and let his fans celebrate his music and his giving heart.

 

 

Source: http://www.intent.com/mallikachopra/blog/bloodsuckers-and-world-michael-jackson

nice post. go Grace!!!!

That's fine, but it only goes to show there are two sides to every story. Still doesn't mean that EVERY negative story is wrong, though.;)

'I saw in his eyes he was dying': Michael Jackson's life-long confidante J. Randy Taraborrelli tells the real story of star's fall

 

By J Randy Taraborrelli

Last updated at 11:32 AM on 29th June 2009

 

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They first met as children — and for 40 years, he was Jackson’s confidant. In this intimate series, J. Randy Taraborrelli tells the REAL story of the tortured star’s fall . . .as he witnessed it first-hand

 

Michael Jackson dead? Impossible. It’s just inconceivable to me. Even though he was obviously frail and not in the best of health in recent years, there seemed always to be some hope that he would rebound and find a way to reclaim his throne as the King of Pop.

 

However, with his sudden death last week, his amazing story — which I, as his biographer, have chronicled over the past four decades — has come to a tragic and grossly unfair end.

 

J.Randy Taraborrelli and Michael Jackson at Jackson's Californian home in 1978

 

How well I remember the first time we met. He was 11 — I was 13.

 

The year was 1970 and Diana Ross had just introduced the Jackson 5 to the public.

 

The boys had been discovered in Gary, Indiana and, with their signing to Motown Records in Detroit, had issued their first single release, I Want You Back.

 

Their first performance was at the Philadelphia Convention Centre. I had got to know Miss Ross because I was an ardent child fan of hers — two years previously I had started the Diana Ross International Fan Club — and she had invited me to the concert.

 

 

More...

 

 

• 'I often pumped his stomach to get rid of dangerous drugs': Jackson's ex-nanny reveals his tragic secret life
  
• Riddle of the 50 lost minutes: Michael Jackson aides delayed 911 call as doctor pumped singer's chest
  
• The 'deadbeat' doctor who quit his job to be with Jackson
  
• Michael Jackson's funeral could be bigger than Elvis's and Princess Diana's, as up to a million mourners pour into LA
  
• Michael Jackson's death: The questions still to be answered
  

 

Afterwards, she invited me backstage, where I met Michael and his rambunctious brothers — Jackie, Tito, Marlon and Jermaine — for the first time.

 

What I remember most was Michael’s laugh, his charisma — his charm. He seemed like an old soul. As he performed, he executed the kinds of moves only a seasoned veteran like James Brown could master.

 

There was a lot of Diana Ross in him, too. It was clear that he idolised her. Just a few years later I started my writing career, for a newspaper in New York called The Black American.

 

I wrote celebrity profiles for them, and throughout the intervening years, I interviewed Michael for stories to celebrate his birthday milestones.

 

For instance, I sat down with him for ‘Michael Turns 16’.

 

He said: ‘I’m a man now, huh?’

 

I laughed.

 

‘Well, maybe not yet,’ I said.

 

‘Yeah, but soon,’ he shot back with an impish grin, ‘and then, watch out world!’

 

Taraborrelli met Jackson as a young boy in the Seventies, above

 

He was so excited about the future. It was as if he couldn’t go wrong. He had it all — he was good looking, successful, popular. He was a star.

 

Throughout the Seventies, whenever I was in his company, he seemed happy, excited and not at all the sad, troubled youngster he would later become as a teenager growing up in Encino, California.

 

I do recall, though, that he was troubled — at about the age of 18 — by stories that he was about to have a sex change operation.

 

It was the first time, to my memory, that rumours of his sexuality began to run rampant.

Suddenly, everyone wanted to know if he was gay. So, one day at his Encino home, as the brothers played basketball and Michael and I stood on the sidelines and watched — since neither of us was very athletic — I casually asked him if he was gay.

 

He looked embarrassed. ‘No,’ was his response. ‘I think it’s a shame that people have to jump to conclusions about me. I wonder if there will always be rumours like that about me? I hope not.’

 

That was back in 1976. He certainly had no idea what was in store for him. Throughout his childhood, he worked harder than anyone I ever knew at Motown, with the possible exception of Diana Ross, the company’s other workhorse.

 

Recording, performing, photo sessions, television appearances — he was constantly on the go. Without him, the Jackson 5 would have been a very different — and probably not as successful —group.

 

By the time I wrote ‘Michael Turns 21’ in 1979, he was already beginning to look exhausted to me. ‘I just want to have a simple life,’ he told me. ‘But this work all the time, it’s so hard. When do I get a break? When does Michael Jackson get a break?’

 

I remember when I knew things were changing for Michael.

 

Michael Jackson leaves Santa Barbara County Court after being found not guilty of child molestation charges in 2005

 

It was in 1979 when I went to the family home for another interview and he showed up wearing bandages on his nose. I was certain he’d been assaulted by his father, Joseph — because we all knew in the press corps that Michael had privately accused Joseph of doing just that in the past.

 

However, that wasn’t the case. He’d tripped on stage, fallen and broken his nose. And that’s how he ended up having his first nose job. But then there was a problem with the procedure and he had to have a second one to correct it. I remember that he seemed dazed and disoriented, not able to focus on my questions.

 

My heart went out to him. He was such a nice young man, so eager to please, to give a good interview, but on that day he just couldn’t pull it off. I wondered if he was on pain medication. In fact, Jermaine told me he had an incredibly low tolerance for pain.

 

I have so many astonishing memories of Michael, it’s hard to bring them all into focus. I was at some of the recording sessions for the Thriller album in Los Angeles, for instance.

 

I remember how happy he was and how confident he was that the album would go on to become the biggest of all time — which, of course, it did.

 

But by 1984, a few months after its release in December 1983, he was deeply unhappy.

 

‘I hate the attention,’ he told me after the record was a hit. ‘I’m not the kind of person who likes all of this scrutiny. You know me,’ he said. ‘That’s not me at all.’

 

I wondered if he would ever be able to adapt.

 

‘No,’ he said sadly. ‘And I have a bad feeling that it’s only going to get worse.’

 

Well, of course it did get worse. Much worse.

 

Michael Jackson with Gavin Arvizo during the Martin Bashir interview in 2003

 

In January 1994, he was charged for the first time with child molestation.

 

His friendship with 12-year-old Jordie Chandler had troubled Jordie’s father, a dentist, for some time: while extracting his son’s tooth he administered the drug sodium amytal, popularly known as ‘truth serum’ and asked if Jackson had sexually molested him.

 

Jordie said he had.

 

Michael was on tour in Bangkok while, in America, all hell was breaking loose. The story was the only topic of discussion on television and radio — it was just that shocking.

 

At this time, people assumed that Michael was asexual, that he didn’t prefer men or women as sexual partners.

 

His sexuality was perplexing and the subject of great interest. Now, suddenly, it was as if people had the answer — and it wasn’t a good one.

 

My telephone conversation with Michael at the time affected me deeply.

 

Michael said that he was calling to set the record straight. ‘I’m innocent of these accusations,’ he told me. His voice sounded shaky. He was obviously not well. It seemed as if the pressure was more than he could bear.

 

In the weeks and months to come, Michael would be strip-searched by the cops and would pay more than $25 million to Jordie.

 

I was the first reporter to interview Michael after he made that very controversial settlement. To be candid, I was angry that he settled.

 

Frankly, I didn’t know if he had molested Jordie, or not —all I knew was that he had insisted to me that he was innocent and I had published it.

 

‘So, why did you pay that kid off if you were so innocent?’ I asked him.

 

‘Because I needed to get on with my life,’ he told me, very matter-of-factly. ‘It was killing me, the whole thing. I didn’t do it. I swear to you, I did not do it. But I needed to just put it behind me.’

 

Friends and fellow performers Jackson and Diana Ross hold their American Music Awards in 1981

 

I argued that, since he’d settled, people would always assume he had been guilty. Had he considered as much? ‘You know what? I don’t care what people think,’ he said, raising his voice.

 

‘For the first time in my life, I don’t give a f***.’

 

His use of an expletive shocked me. I’d never heard him swear in the past, it was so out of character.

 

‘I’m a man of honour,’ he told me. ‘If you believe anything about me, believe that.’

Michael had always cared about his public image. However, the settlement with Jordie Chandler redefined him in many ways, not the least of which was that from that time onward he wasn’t concerned with what people thought of him.

 

This was good, in some respects. Certainly, it freed him to live a more authentic life, to not be as concerned about public opinion.

 

For a person who had been building an image for himself at an age when most kids were building tree houses, it was a giant leap forward in his evolution as a man.

However, there was a downside too.

 

Without the censoring mechanism in place that once monitored his behaviour, he became a person who would do the most illogical things in a way that suggested a sense of entitlement.

 

It was as if he thought he was above normal and decent behaviour.

 

How else to explain his flaunting of his relationship with young Gavin Arvizo while being interviewed by Martin Bashir for a TV documentary in 2003?

 

‘It’s okay to share your bed,’ Michael proclaimed on the broadcast as he and the young boy, then 13, cosied up to each other on camera for all the world to see — and to judge.

 

Michael, left, appears on stage with President-elect Bill Clinton, his daughter Chelsea and Ross during the celebrations for the inauguration in January 1993

 

I was sick to my stomach when I saw it.

 

I knew instantly that his career was over — and, also, I was worried about his life.

Soon after, the investigations by child welfare departments began, and then came his arrest on multiple counts of child molestation.

 

When I saw his mug shot on TV for the first time — Michael looking so ghastly, his garish make-up a twisted mask — I looked in vain for the young man I once knew.

 

But I couldn’t find him.

 

Four years ago, I sat in a courtroom in Santa Maria, California every day for months, directly behind Michael. I was the only person present — other than his lawyers and his family members — who had ever even met the defendant or, really, any of the Jacksons.

 

I remember the first day Tito walked into the court room to support his brother.

Everyone in the press box turned and looked at me with raised eyebrows. I mouthed the word ‘Tito’ and they all quickly jotted his name in their notes. They didn’t know who he was.

 

At the beginning of the trial, Michael seemed to be in good shape. He would walk briskly into court and, as we in the press watched, limber up by stretching.

 

It was as if he was getting ready for a performance or an athletic event. It was fascinating to watch his dancer’s body in motion and I remember thinking that he looked as skillful as he did in videos for Thriller, Billie Jean, and Beat It.

 

The magic was still there, somewhere. He was still Michael Jackson.

 

During his 2005 trial for child molestation, Jackson was so late for court one morning that he arrived in his pajamas

 

But then the testimony began.

 

Day after day, as the prosecution stated its case and paraded one witness after another who spoke of inappropriate behaviour between Michael and young boys, the pop star seemed to fold inside himself.

 

Of course, there was the infamous day when he showed up in pyjamas after being so late the judge had threatened to throw him in jail.

 

But that was the least of the drama inside the courtroom.

 

The real story as I saw it —besides the shocking testimony — was that he seemed to be dying in front of my very eyes. He was clearly in terrible pain, both physical and emotional.

 

Anyone who cared about him would have been mortified by the sight, and since I was the only one of the media who actually knew him, maybe I took it more to heart that I should have.

 

It was horrible to watch as he slowly deteriorated to the point where he could barely walk into the courtroom.

 

One day, Michael hobbled by me, smiled and nodded his recognition of me. I smiled back and gave him a thumbs up. And as he passed, I remember that he smelled like old, musty clothing. It was as if he was a wax figure in a museum, one that had been there too long and was in need of care and attention.

 

The worst week was the one we members of the press privately called ‘Porn Week’.

Day after day, the prosecution showed, on an enormous screen, graphic pornographic images from stacks of magazines found at Neverland. It was awful.

 

I remember sitting watching Michael’s poor mother Katherine as she was forced to look at those photos. None of it was gay porn. None of it was kiddie porn. So why show it? The prosecution suggested that it was straight porn used by Michael to turn on straight kids and encourage them to then have sex with him.

 

It didn’t make sense to me. One magazine, maybe. Two? Maybe. But stacks and stacks? I didn’t think so. In fact, I wasn’t even sure it was Michael’s pornography, to tell you the truth. It all just seemed like a manoeuvre to destroy him and his family.

 

‘You have the best seat in the house,’ one of the Santa Barbara sheriffs told me the night before the verdict was to come down in June 2005.

 

‘Because when Jackson is found guilty — and he will be found guilty, I assure you — we are going to grab him and take him out of there so fast, your head will spin.’

 

I wondered why.

 

‘Because we’re afraid they’ll be such an uproar, his brothers will jump the bar [which separates the spectators from the judge, defendant and lawyer] and cause a riot.’

 

I was taken aback by the imagery. I had assumed Michael would be found not guilty. The prosecution’s case was weak. The kid was not believable and neither were his mother and a lot of other witnesses.

 

But what if I was wrong? Michael Jackson in prison?

 

‘He’ll never survive it,’ his brother Randy had told me. ‘It will be the end for him.’

 

I was scheduled to be in the court room for the verdict and was then supposed to immediately race outside and report the results for TV.

 

The reporters sitting next to me in court that fateful day also felt Michael was not guilty and wondered how they would keep their objectivity if the verdict came in otherwise.

‘It’s Michael Jackson, we’ve loved him since he was ten,’ a female television anchor told me. ‘I have this awful feeling I’ll break down in tears. How will that look on TV?’

 

Jackson had two children with his nurse Debbie Rowe, above

Of course, the verdict was that Michael Jackson was found not guilty of all counts.

 

I sat and watched Michael listen to the verdicts as they were read one by one and — as the moment unfolded — it hit me like a thunderbolt: the man is on so many different drugs, he doesn’t even know what’s going on.

 

He doesn’t even realise that he’s been found not guilty!

 

Later in the hallway, there was absolute chaos as the media tried to race out of the court house to report the news.

 

Fans were going crazy outside, the media was scurrying about — it was total pandemonium. For a moment, I found myself shoulder to shoulder with Michael. I looked at him, this guy I had known since the age of ten.

 

I smiled at him. He smiled back, but his eyes were empty. It should have been the happiest day of his life, but it was as if he wasn’t even present to enjoy it.

 

Michael Jackson was gone.

 

That was the last time I saw Michael.

 

I spoke to him on the phone only twice in the last four years, both very brief conversations about his life and how well he said he was feeling.

 

He seemed much better to me. When I sent him a copy of my Elizabeth Taylor biography, he called to tell me he enjoyed it. He sounded good, but I was angry with him and, I have to admit, I never really got over it. Why was I angry?

 

Ironically, not because of all the molestation accusations. It was because I couldn’t reconcile the fact that he never paid his bills.

 

How many lawsuits had been filed from people who weren’t properly compensated? I had lost count. I also didn’t understand how, after the trial was over, he let go of all of the employees at Neverland who had been so loyal to him — and without severance pay.

 

I also couldn’t fathom how he could abandon his family and fall out of touch with so many of them when they had been so present and supportive during the terrible proceedings.

 

It was as if he didn’t care about anyone but himself. It annoyed me that he seemed to have no sense of personal responsibility and, as a result, I didn’t even want to write about him any more.

 

He had told me he was a man of honour.

 

Looking back on it now, I felt let down by Michael. So, for years I stayed away from writing or talking about him. I feel badly about that now.

 

That said, I truly believe the last four years, since his acquittal, were the best years of Michael’s life.

 

He was a good and loving father. The children — Prince Michael I, Paris and Prince Michael II (Blanket) are breathtakingly beautiful. They are also unbelievably polite.

 

They used to hang on their father’s every word. In their eyes, Michael wasn’t strange, he wasn’t Wacko Jacko, he was just ‘Dad’.

 

And because he took issue with the way he was raised by his own father, Michael wanted to be sure that his children would never have the kinds of stories about him that he had about his own upbringing.

 

Therefore, he was very patient and kind, always available to them. Michael’s children are, as I write, with his mother, Katherine, as well as with other members of the Jackson family.

 

The two eldest —Prince Michael I and Paris — were born to Debbie Rowe, a nurse Michael had first met when he was a patient at a dermatologist clinic in the early Eighties. They became friends, and when his relationship with Lisa Marie Presley began to cool, partly over her refusal to give him the child he longed for, Jackson informed her: ‘If you won’t have my baby, then Debbie will.’

 

Rowe had two children with Jackson - Prince Michael and Paris, above

 

He and Lisa divorced, and in November 1996 he married the six-months pregnant Debbie. Prince was born in February 1997 and Debbie bore him a second child, Paris just over a year later, in April 1998.

 

In October the following year they divorced, apparently amicably, with Jackson paying her a $10 million settlement.

 

If she now decides that, as their mother, she wants custody of them, she may have to go up against the Jacksons.

 

The family definitely does not want Debbie to have the kids. In their view, the children don’t know her and think of her as a stranger.

As for the third child, Blanket, his mother is still unknown at this time. But don’t be surprised if she suddenly surfaces, too. The fact is that whoever gets custody of these children will see his or her life’s circumstances change greatly: one can only imagine the money that will be allocated to care for Michael Jackson’s children. Whoever ends up with them could be wealthy beyond all reason.

 

However, one thing is certain: his mother Katherine does not care about money, she just cares about her beloved Michael’s children, her grandchildren. She’s had all the money in the world, lost it and regained it many times over. But she’s an elderly woman. How can she care for three spirited children? What would Michael want?

 

That will be the question raised many times in the weeks and months to come — pertaining not only to his children but to his amazing catalogue of music, his shaky finances, and everything else that will probably be found in disarray once the shock of his death subsides and the reality of what is left behind surfaces.

 

I think I know what Michael would want. Michael would have wanted to see his children grow up and have kids of their own. Michael would have wanted to perform for them in London this summer. Michael would have wanted to reclaim his throne as The King of Pop. Indeed, Michael would have wanted to live. He would not have wanted this.

 

He couldn't live without his drugs

 

Dominating the headlines following Michael’s death last week are stories about his drug abuse. It seems to me that not many people understand just why he took so many prescription drugs.

 

I wish they would try to find some sympathy for a man who lived his life in chronic pain, 24 hours of the day, seven days of the week. Yes, he was addicted to all sorts of painkillers. That’s not news.

 

The question is: why? He wasn’t on the streets buying drugs from pushers. And he wasn’t getting high just for kicks. He was under medical supervision for all sorts of problems, from his back to his knees. Even the burn on the back of his head that he suffered in the mid-Eighties during the filming of a soft drink commercial had never healed properly.

 

Moreover, all of the plastic surgery he had over the years was causing problems for him as he aged.

 

He had more ailments than I can list here. He was in excruciating pain all the time.

 

‘I’m suffering,’ he told a mutual friend. ‘My family wants me off the drugs. If I do, I’ll die. I won’t survive a day without them. No one understands that. I need to be here for my kids. There’s no other way. There’s just no other way.'

How dare you make fun of my marriage?

 

In May 1994, I was the first to report that Michael had married Lisa Marie Presley. It seemed a far-fetched union, he from Neverland, she from Graceland. Not a lot of people took it seriously.

 

Even I was guilty of being sarcastic about it. ‘They’ve registered their wedding list at Toys R Us,’ I quipped — a joke about Michael’s penchant for childhood things.

 

Michael Jackson and his then wife Lisa Marie Presley in 1995

 

I thought it was pretty funny. Michael was not amused. He called me immediately after the broadcast. ‘How dare you make fun of my marriage?’ he said, angrily.

 

He didn’t really sound at all like the whispery character of his public persona.

 

In real life, his voice was stronger, more bold. ‘Maybe you have never been in love,’ he lectured me. ‘Because if you had, you wouldn’t ridicule another person’s relationship.’

I apologised and told him that it was just a joke.

 

‘But it was cruel, and I’ve never known you to be cruel,’ he said. Of course, I felt terrible. He knew it, too.

 

‘OK, don’t feel so bad,’ he said, now much softer. ‘We all make mistakes.’

 

Then he laughed and I knew we were OK. We spoke for about half an hour about his new marriage and, I have to admit, I left the conversation totally convinced that it was not a sham.

 

‘I don’t care what you say about me, not really,’ he finally allowed. ‘It’s just that I hope you can keep an open mind about me and Lisa.’

 

When I later interviewed Lisa Marie, she was just as adamant that the marriage was a real one, not a publicity gimmick.

Michael Jackson's mother wins temporary custody of his three children

 

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 8:38 PM on 29th June 2009

 

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Michael Jackson's mother has been given custody of the singer's children - for the time being.

A judge made the order in favour of Katherine Jackson today at Los Angeles Superior Court but said there would be a further hearing to determine the children's future on August 3.

 

The development came as pictures emerged of Michael two days before he died rehearsing for his London concerts at the the O2 Arena. In them the performer can be seen in full flow surrounded by dancers.

 

Jackson, who died on Thursday, left behind three children: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, 12; Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11; and Prince Michael II, 7, who was also known by the star as 'Blanket'.

 

Enlarge In this rehearsal last Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Michael Jackson goes through his moves for the planned London tour. A mere 48 hours later he was dead

 

 

 

Enlarge The singer wearing a purple plastic mac seems at ease with himself up on stage, microphone in hand

 

 

Court documents show that Mrs Jackson also intends to get legal control over the children's estate the value of which is listed as 'unknown'.

 

The papers state that the children are currently staying at the Jacksons' family compound in the San Fernando Valley, north-west of Los Angeles.

 

'Minor children are currently residing with paternal grandmother,' the document states.

 

'They have a long established relationship with paternal grandmother and are comfortable in her care.'

At a press conference held this afternoon Joe Jackson, Michael's father, said of the child care arrangements 'this is where they belong'. 'We are going to take care of them and give them the education they are supposed to have.'

As regards Deborah Rowe, the mother Michael's two eldest children, he said: 'Deborah Rowe has nothing to do with what we are doing.'

He added that the last time he'd seen his son was 'about a week'.

 

The papers filed at Los Angeles court today provide no other declarations by Mrs Jackson, nor do they state whether her son left a will.

Proud father: Michael Jackson holds 'Blanket' and Paris while Prince, right, looks into the camera

 

Court documents reveal Katherine Jackson, seen here with her son, has filed for guardianship of his children

However they do note that Deborah Rowe is the mother of the Jackson's two eldest children, but list her whereabouts as 'unknown.'

 

For Michael's third child, nicknamed 'Blanket', the filing states 'None' for the mother.

 

 

More...

 

 

• Janet Jackson and Jamie Foxx pay tribute to Michael at emotional awards ceremony
  
• Michael Jackson's death: The questions still to be answered
  
• 'Bald and emaciated' Jackson died weighing 8st with only pills in his stomach, autopsy results reveal
  
• Michael Jackson death was 'foul play', claims his father
  
• Michael Jackson's funeral could be bigger than Elvis's and Princess Diana's, as up to a million mourners pour into LA
  

 

Londell McMillan, the Jacksons' attorney, said the family hasn't heard from Ms Rowe about her plans for custody.

 

'I don't think there will be anybody who thinks that there is someone better than Katherine Jackson to have custody', Mr McMillan said today on NBC television.

 

'She is a very loving host of other grandchildren.'

 

Mr McMillan also said that the family was 'quite clearly troubled' about the circumstances surrounding the death.

Asked whether the family suspected foul play, he said those words were 'too strong an indictment.'

 

Edward Chernoff, a lawyer for Jackson's doctor, Dr Conrad Murray, said in an interview yesterday that Jackson still had a faint pulse and a warm body when Murray found him in bed and not breathing on Thursday afternoon.

 

Mr Chernoff said Dr Murray was at the pop icon's rented mansion when he discovered Jackson. The doctor immediately began administering CPR, he said.

 

'He just happened to find him in his bed, and he wasn't breathing,' the lawyer said. 'Mr Jackson was still warm and had a pulse.'

 

Divorced: Jackson and Deborah Rowe separated in 1999 after three years of marriage. Rowe gave birth to the singer's eldest two children

 

 

 

Mr Chernoff said his client never gave or prescribed Jackson the painkillers Demerol or OxyContin, and denied reports suggesting that the doctor gave the pop star drugs that contributed to his death.

 

Mr Chernoff said any drugs that Dr Murray gave the singer were prescribed in response to a specific complaint from Jackson.

 

Los Angeles County coroner's officials said their autopsy found no indication of trauma or foul play. But because of additional tests, an official cause of death could take weeks to determine. Jackson's family are waiting for the results of a private autopsy.

 

Mr Chernoff said today on NBC that once the full investigation is complete, he expected Dr Murray would be cleared.

 

As regards the performer's funeral there was still no word from the family as what they had planned. Since his death was announced on Thursday many of Jackson's relatives have gathered at the family's California compound.

 

Tribute: Funeral plans for the star have not been revealed. Jackson was raised as a Jehovah's Witness

 

Where his children will finally end up living is up to the courts.

 

Experts say the person who has the strongest legal claim to Jackson's two oldest children is Rowe. As for the youngest child, Jackson's wishes will be more influential.

 

Rowe's attorney, Marta Almli, wrote in a statement on Saturday that 'Ms Rowe's only thoughts at this time have been regarding the devastating loss Michael's family has suffered. Ms Rowe requests that Michael's family, and particularly the children, be spared such harmful, sensationalist speculation and that they be able to say goodbye to their loved one in peace.'

It remains unclear who Jackson designated as potential guardians for his children.

Furthermore Jackson never told his family who he had in place to handle his business affairs, a person close to the family said last week.

 

The person, who requested anonymity, said the singer is likely to have left a will, but it may be many years old.

 

Prince Michael II's mother has never been identified, and while she may surface, it is likely that she signed away her rights, said Stacy Phillips, a Los Angeles divorce attorney who has represented numerous high-profile clients.

 

Rowe, a former nurse for Jackson's dermatologist, married the singer in 1996 but filed for divorce in 1999. She later gave up her custody rights to the children, but petitioned to have those rights restored in 2003 after Jackson was arrested on child molestation charges, and an appeals court sided with her.

The terms of what were finally agreed have never been made public. Furthermore the details of the couple's divorce case that was heard in Los Angeles Superior Court also remain secret.

 

Ms Phillips said if Rowe's parental rights remain intact, she's presumed to be first in line to receive custody of her two children. However she added: 'That could still be contested.'

 

She said Ms Rowe would have to undergo an evaluation by the court to determine if she's the best person to care for Jackson's children. But this would also apply to anyone else who applies to become the children's guardian regardless of whether they have Jackson's blessing.

 

'If he did indicate a preference, that will be given great weight, but that will not be determinative,' said Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred. 'Children are not property, they cannot be willed to another person.'

 

Ms Allred agreed that Ms Rowe has better legal standing than others who apply for custody of Jackson's eldest children. 'She's definitely going to have an advantage.'

 

But judges in California often take into account who is left in the children's lives with a strong bond, said Charlotte Goldberg, a family law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

 

'It's really a balance between continuity and stability and a biological relationship,' Goldberg said.

 

But a court will also take into account with whom the children have a relationship bond, and that may not work in Rowe's favor. She wrote in a 2001 petition to cut her parental rights that she thought Jackson was doing a good parenting job.

 

'Michael has been a wonderful father to the children, and I do not wish to share any parenting responsibilities with Michael because he is doing so well without me,' she wrote.

 

Whoever wins custody of Jackson's children won't automatically gain control of their inheritance, Phillips said.

 

'For many people, the person or persons who are taking care of their kids are not necessarily taking care of their money,' she said.

 

Rowe, or whoever is designated the children's guardian, will receive payments based on Jackson's estate, she said.

Autopsy results leaked

 

http://johnnyandjayde.com/pages/jj_celebritytrash.html?feed=229621&article=5671764

^That was already mentioned in one of my articles - but of course all the deluded "superfans" are saying it's bogus, like every other negative story about him.:rolleyes:

mc2 you are so cool!!!

and sick as well for being HAPPY literally HAPPY for the man being dead. apparently you have not experienced the death of a loved one , so you can be happy about somebody's death. sick freak.

 

 

you call me a "deluded fan" - well you are a deluded hater, believing in EVERY FUCKING THING you read and hear, without giving the slightest chance of reading the other side. ban this idiot, mods, he is so fucking irritating.

 

and yeah, mc2, go find perez hilton and lick his ass, he might need a faithful hound, so you qualify well.

 

 

in case you, however, wanna step back from being a deluded moron, here's a read:

 

 

http://www.tmz.com/2009/06/29/jackson-autopsy-report-a-fake/

I think that's the big difference. I am prepared to accept some of the stuff might not be true, whereas the deluded superfans won't accept that any of the negative stuff is true, and then make ludicrous attacks on anybody who dares to say any of its true.

And if you can't disagree with someone or discuss something without getting unnecessarily personal, you shouldn't be debating it at all IMO.

Anyway, there are going to be lots of stories like this appearing over the coming weeks, so if you can't take them, I suggest you don't read them in the first place.:smug:

 

And for the record, I don't believe anyone has said they're happy MJ has passed away. That's clearly just another delusion.;)

Plus there's always the "thread ignore" function if you hate it so much.;)

I think that's the big difference. I am prepared to accept some of the stuff might not be true, whereas the deluded superfans won't accept that any of the negative stuff is true, and then make ludicrous attacks on anybody who dares to say any of its true.

And if you can't disagree with someone or discuss something without getting unnecessarily personal, you shouldn't be debating it at all IMO.

Anyway, there are going to be lots of stories like this appearing over the coming weeks, so if you can't take them, I suggest you don't read them in the first place.:smug:

 

And for the record, I don't believe anyone has said they're happy MJ has passed away. That's clearly just another delusion.;)

 

 

 

you think very highly of yourself whereas you are actually a very poor person.

I'm going to ignore any further unnecessary personal attacks in the hope that someone will eventually do the decent thing and put a stop to it.;)

I'm going to ignore any further unnecessary personal attacks in the hope that someone will eventually do the decent thing and put a stop to it.;)

 

which can only be done by banning you. how many people here are constantly offended by you and your cynicism?

 

i am going to stop here as well.

 

it might be ridiculous to you , but what Michael and his music has taught me is that there are many beautiful things in life, and that is not always the most important thing to prove something to someone,but rather how you feel deep inside, what makes you feel good...and if you don't get that and would rather spend your time constantly proving yourself the smartest person in the world,you can go on your own... if people don't mind you bashing this forum all the time, so be it.

 

you might also find something that will interest you and inspire you the way Michael Jackson has inspired me, and then maybe you will see that that is the most important thing in the world - holding on to what you love rather than proving others with what you hate, and judge on something you don't know.

Nobody here knew what MJ was really like, so that makes all the negative stories every bit as valid as the obsequious ones.;)

you always act like you knew him. is there such a thing in you called "faith" ? not "blind faith" and "being deluded" ...? or do you always believe what people say?

 

and why do you constantly keep avoiding some of the things directed at you? answer me, don't you have anything smarter than spreading news and rumors around here? don't you find it a bit sad?

Anyone who just blindly disagrees with all the negative stuff is obviously acting like they "knew" him too. That's the point.

Oh Mark.. what's up with everyone attacking you lately? :rolleyes:

Anyone who just blindly disagrees with all the negative stuff is obviously acting like they "knew" him too. That's the point.

 

 

 

how are you better and different than that?

 

you keep imposing the negative stuff on and on and on.

Oh Mark.. what's up with everyone attacking you lately? :rolleyes:

 

Some people are just incapable of debating an issue or disagreeing with something without getting unnecessarily personal, that's why.;)

Plus there are those few who have an "agenda".