Mon, January 31, 2005
Jacko faces the music Whispers finally air in court By MICHELE MANDEL
Michael Jackson was the King of Pop, the most dazzling entertainer anyone had seen for decades, a megastar who had shattered racial barriers on radio and MTV. The year was 1982, Jackson was still a black man with a modest nose job, and he had just released Thriller, which would become the best-selling album of all time with sales of more than 26 million copies.
Just over two decades later, the Man in the Mirror must wonder where it all went wrong. Now 46, Jackson has become the punch line of a sick joke -- "Only in America can a black boy grow up to be a white woman" -- a faded pop star badly in debt, disfigured by countless plastic surgeries and shadowed by stubborn allegations he befriends and molests young boys, plying them with wine he calls "Jesus juice."
From moonwalk to perp walk, Jackson goes on trial tomorrow in Santa Maria, Calif., on 10 felony counts, including molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor, serving alcohol to a minor and conspiracy and kidnapping at his Neverland ranch in Santa Barbara County.
CAMERAS NOT ALLOWED
Jackson, who has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. It has all the makings of another O.J. Simpson circus, with observers dubbing it the trial of the decade.
"The world is watching justice in the United States here -- the world," Judge Rodney Melville said last week.
Cameras, however, will not be allowed inside the courtroom, which has inspired one cable channel to consider re-enacting each day's testimony with look-alike actors. And there will be no lack of antics to portray.
No doubt Jackson, who has been free on $3 million bail, will show up in court in his bizarre black pageboy wig, his skin as white as a ghost, his chiselled nose hanging on by a thread.
He will wave at his legion of fans -- fewer, but vociferous as ever -- and insist once again this is all a conspiracy against him. But this day has been set in motion for a long time.
At first, he was just considered harmlessly eccentric, a pop icon who was at once shy and hungry for attention.
There was speculation he leaked a photo to the National Enquirer that showed him in what was supposed to be a hyperbaric chamber in a bid to keep himself young. There were the weird stories that he had purchased the remains of the Elephant Man or that he had told a group of Jehovah's Witnesses that he was the Messiah.
For the supermarket tabloids, "Wacko Jacko" was a dream. And for the King of Pop, any publicity was good publicity.
Instead of pretty dates on his arm, he attended award shows with the diminutive Emmanuel Lewis or Bubbles, his pet chimp rescued from a cancer research lab, which he liked to dress in matching outfits to his own.
And then there was his ever-changing appearance. When Jackson released Bad in 1987, he suddenly had whiter, more feminine features: his wide nose had been reshaped, his cheekbones were more defined, his Afro was now straightened while his complexion was noticeably paler. Over the years, his nose got thinner, his eyes rounder and his cheekbones more chiselled. By some estimates, he has had as many as eight surgeries on his nose alone. When he was called to testify in a civil suit brought against him in 2001, spectators gasped in horror when he removed his surgical mask and revealed that the tip of his nose seemed to be missing.
Yet he consistently denied having extensive plastic surgery and told Oprah Winfrey in 1993 his complexion was paler because he suffers from a skin disorder that destroys the pigmentation in his skin.
"I'm never pleased with myself," he told her. "No, I try not to look in the mirror."
Meanwhile, his love life, or lack thereof, became increasingly controversial. The self-proclaimed heir to Elvis Presley wed the King's daughter in May 1994 but none could believe it was anything more than a publicity stunt, especially when they divorced a short time later. His second quickie marriage to Debbie Rowe, his dermatologist's assistant, raised still more eyebrows. She delivered two children for him, Prince Michael I in 1997 and Paris Katherine in 1998 and then promptly left the scene with divorce papers and millions of dollars in hand a year later.
A third child mysteriously appeared in 2002 in the now-infamous episode that had child welfare experts questioning his fitness to be a father. Responding to adoring fans shouting outside his hotel in Germany, Jackson dangled the squirming nine-month-old baby over the balcony railing. After the frenzy of international condemnation, the singer apologized and took his two older children to the zoo to demonstrate what a normal dad he really was. Unfortunately, for Jackson "normal" meant inviting dozens of photographers along and covering his kids' bewildered faces with bright gauze scarves.
Jackson has always cast himself as a misunderstood Peter Pan, naming his extravagant 920-hectare ranch Neverland, surrounding himself with animals, toys and children. Always children.
Most assumed it was because he had been denied a childhood himself. Forced into show business at an early age by a violent, dictatorial father, no one saw the abuse that went on behind the scenes as the superstar grew up on the world stage. Jackson has said he was whipped when he didn't perform to Joe Jackson's exacting standards and called "ugly" and "big nose" by his father as well.
When Jackson created a mini Disneyland at his ranch, with a zoo, Ferris wheel, roller-coaster and video arcade, most assumed he was finally getting a chance to be the kid he was never allowed to be.
"People say I'm not OK," Jackson sang in Childhood off his 1995 HIStory CD. " 'Cause I love such elementary things. It's been my fate to compensate for the childhood I've never known."
Now prosecutors allege Neverland had a far more nefarious purpose. In a court filing Jan. 18, deputy prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss claimed Neverland was "designed to entice and attract children."
It worked with Jordie Chandler more than a decade ago. Then 13, Chandler met Jackson after the superstar, whose car had broken down, stopped at the Rent-a-Wreck run by the boy's stepfather. Soon he and his mother were invited to sleep at Jackson's Neverland ranch and jet with him to Las Vegas and Europe.
In a later deposition, Chandler would describe how Jackson slowly began to seduce him, even crying when the teen protested, insisting all his other young friends allowed him to touch them sexually.
Their sexual relationship broke off in July 1993 when the boy's father regained custody from his mother. Soon after, the dad was accusing Jackson of sexually abusing his son.
California investigators quickly discovered that Jackson always surrounded himself with boys between eight and 12 who were swiftly dispatched as soon as they started puberty. Called Michael's "special friends," they managed to identify one every year for 10 to 12 years. Among them was the son of a former Jackson maid, who discovered her child in a sleeping bag with her boss.
But none of the children would testify against Jackson. Some were reportedly bought off with large sums of money. Other families were threatened to keep silent.
As for Chandler, Jackson settled with his father to the tune of more than $20 million US after the boy accurately described the mottled marks on Jackson's testicles. Following the payout, Chandler refused to testify against Jackson and under California law at the time, he could not be compelled to do so.
No charges were laid. Jackson was off the hook, at least for awhile but his career would never recover. The accusations continued to haunt him, his extravagant spending became even more outrageous while lawsuits against him continued to pile up for cancelled shows and unpaid loans.
A 2003 documentary proved to be his final undoing. Filmed at Neverland by British journalist Martin Bashir, of Princess Diana fame, Living with Michael Jackson was supposed to improve the pop star's tarnished image. Instead, it was breathtaking footage of Jackson self-imploding.
In one scene, the singer is holding the hand of a 13-year-old boy as he tells Bashir that he sleeps with children. "Why can't you share your bed? That's the most loving thing to do, is share your bed with someone."
The boy, who was resting his head on Jackson's shoulder, would turn out to be the cancer survivor who would later accuse Jackson of molesting him.
When Jackson's admission of sleeping with boys created a new storm of controversy, prosecutors allege the singer and his entourage tried to detain the boy and his family against their will. They also claim Jackson plied the boy with "Jesus juice" served out of pop cans and molested him on several occasions.
After they finally broke free, the mother told police they were continually harassed by Jackson's camp banging on her door, throwing rocks at the grandparents' home and even videotaping the boy's new school.
The boy told a grand jury Jackson masturbated him and gave him alcohol. He testified he told Jackson he was not allowed to drink because he had only one kidney. "But he would just say: 'It's OK.' And he would just keep on telling me to drink."
Jackson was charged with child molestation Nov. 20, 2003. This time, no amount of money would spare him a trial date. Under a change in California law inspired by the Chandler case, alleged victims can now be compelled to testify.
Jackson calls it all a "big lie" and his entourage has painted the alleged victim's family as greedy opportunists with a history of questionable lawsuits. His father insists it is all a racist vendetta against his son.
But the pop icon may have to face the accusations of seven other alleged victims -- including Chandler -- if the judge allows the prosecution's request. And among the many items of pornography seized from Neverland, the district attorney plans to introduce a magazine with the fingerprints of the singer and his alleged victim, which they will argue is proof that Jackson used porn as "grooming material" to make children more receptive to his sexual advances.
Jackson will become the world's most famous celebrity to go on trial when jury selection begins tomorrow. Those 12 men and women will be asked to answer the question that has perplexed so many for so long -- is Jackson an eccentric but harmless Peter Pan who loves children or a seductive pedophile who lures his young victims with the riches of Neverland?
They will examine every intimate episode of his life to reach their decision. For the star who always craved attention, the coming scrutiny may be more than even he can bear.