Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (74 page)

Blanca was not adverse to making money off what she'd witnessed.
Television's Hard Copy paid her $20,000 for an interview. But she won lotto
when Michael paid her $2.4 million when she threatened legal action against
him for fondling her handsome young son, Jason Francia.

At Michael's jury trial in 2005, Jason was the only witness who came forward and claimed that Michael had molested him, beginning when he was
only seven years old. After five years of therapy, he had become an evangelical Christian, devoting part of his life to working with troubled young people
when he wasn't selling auto parts.

Before the world, Jason testified that Michael had taken him twice to his
hideout condo. In his testimony, he claimed that Michael and he had played
"tickling games" in which the star would move his hands over Jason's genitalia on the outside of his shorts. "Pretty much at every tickle thing there was
money," he said. Allegedly, two of these molestations took place at the hideout and the third molestation occurred at Neverland when Jason had turned
ten.

This time, according to Jason, Michael's hands went inside his pants. But
when tears welled in the boy's eyes, Michael stopped.

During the investigation of Michael in 1993, Jason was questioned by the
police in the Jordie Chandler case. At the time, Jason was thirteen. He denied
that he'd been molested. Later, however, he changed his testimony and asserted that he had been molested after all.

Lawyers for Michael intensely grilled Jason over why he'd changed his
story when first interviewed by police investigators. "In the beginning, I
thought I could hold them off and make them go away. I didn't want to tell
anybody I had been molested." The implication was that he was ashamed and
embarrassed by the incidents.

When defense lawyer Tom Mesereau confronted Jason with his conflicting statements made during a series of interviews with police and prosecutors
over the years, Jason uttered a tearful response.

"In the fifth grade, I told my friends I knew Michael Jackson and it was
cool. They didn't believe me but it was cool. In junior high, it was no longer
cool to know somebody who had issues with kids."

Before the trial, Blanca had given interviews, shedding light on what was
going on behind the closed doors of Neverland. One of those interviews was
with Diane Dimond, an investigative reporter for TV's Hard Copy. In that ses sion, Blanca made it clear that she had not wanted her son to become another
one of Michael's "special friends."

The former maid also made the claim that she once entered a room and
caught her son on Michael's lap. She also claimed that she once found her son
"so close" to Michael in a sleeping bag at his hideout. Later, when she was
taking him home, Jason confessed that Michael had given him three hundred
dollars. "Three hundred dollars for a seven-year-old?" Dimond asked in astonishment.

Jason wasn't the only young boy Michael had tempted with money. A
maid at Neverland claimed that one twelve-year-old boy risked killing himself
when trying to retrieve an Easter egg hidden in a crystal chandelier by jumping off a balustrade. The eggs were filled with one-thousand dollar bills. "Why
would you do that?" the maid asked the boy. "I'd do anything for money," he
replied.

Blanca claimed that she was not fired, but that she quit her job. "I got tired
of what was going on-Michael sleeping with boys and taking showers
together. I think I saw too much."

In an interview with reporter Dimond, Blanca claimed that the string of
boys who visited Neverland were always prepubescent, ranging in age from
seven to twelve years old. Other witnesses' accounts differed with Blanca's
testimony, claiming that some of the boys were thirteen or fourteen. No one
stepped forward to claim that any boy was six years old or younger.

She also claimed that Michael preferred to pick boys who came from split
families . . . "a divorced mother or single mother." Apparently, such parents
were easier to manipulate than a mother and a father within a more traditional marriage.

Several witnesses, including Blanca, have suggested that Michael was
intrigued by the mouths of young boys, especially the lips of Macaulay
Culkin. Blanca once found Polaroid snapshots Michael had taken just of close-ups of
the lips of his "special friends."

All the boys were nicknamed "Rubba" by
Michael. Rubba may have meant that boys sat
on his lap and rubbed up against his privates-hence, the name.

Jason Francia

Blanca said she was never tempted to go
to the police, and that she was manipulated by
Michael with money and gifts. "I didn't want
to lose my job," she said.

Blanca was grilled as to why parentseven those who stayed in Michael's guest house while their sons slept in his bedroom in the main house-allowed such
activity. "I think they just looked the other way as long as they were getting
money or expensive gifts like jewelry."

A mystery still surrounds Blanca after she gave a sworn deposition in the
case of Jordie Chandler. Even though she had enough money to retire after her
settlement with Michael, she, for reasons of her own, continued to work at
menial jobs. She obtained a job working for a senior citizen.

Still living in Santa Barbara County, she bicycled to work every morning.
On the way to work, she was struck by a car. This caused rampant speculation
and a flurry of rumors that a hit man had been hired to kill her but had not succeeded. The police investigated but no charges were ever filed.

Throughout all of Michael's involvements with these young boys, and his
subsequent legal troubles, Elizabeth Taylor remained a steadfast friend.

Over the years, this friendship has caused much speculation in the press.
Elizabeth always had an answer to reporters who questioned her about her
involvement with Michael. "We love each other," said Elizabeth. "Michael
and I. If nobody understands that-or doesn't dig it-then tough shit!"

Gloria Berlin, the real estate agent who sold Michael Neverland, asked
him why he wanted a place so big for just one person. She quoted him as saying, "I plan to adopt twenty-nine children and marry Elizabeth Taylor."

"But she's old enough to be your grandmother," Berlin said.

"But I love her. I just love her. I love her. I love her."

Of course, these remarks reportedly were said before Elizabeth's marriage
to Larry Fortensky.

Michael's relationship with Elizabeth was viewed very differently by others, opinions often in total conflict. One of Michael's former publicists at Epic
completely dismissed the friendship. "The relationship is this," she said. "He
brought her just as much publicity as she brought to him. He also bought her
a lot of jewelry in appreciation for her `friendship.' They used each other."

The press often put yet another spin on the relationship. "They're just two
former child stars being kids again," wrote Cynthia Lambert. "Food fights.
Cotton candy. Taylor's a grandmother but she can still revert to being a kid
again."

One of the most far-fetched tabloid rumors was that Elizabeth visited
Neverland for "treatments in Michael Jackson's hyperbaric chamber." One
headline claimed: TAYLOR PLANS TO STAY FOREVER YOUNG.

It is true that this unlikely pair of Elizabeth and Michael has stood by each
other through "Thick and Thin," a song Michael attempted to write about their
friendship but which was never finished.

"Elizabeth was always there for Michael and Michael for Elizabeth,"
Frank DiLeo once said, forgetting that Michael had skipped out on her 60th birthday bash at Disneyland.

It is not known how many presents Michael gave Elizabeth over the years,
but it was rumored to have been more than $5 million worth of jewelry alone.
Michael generated millions more in publicity for her.

"Let's face it," said publicist Howard Brackett. "Taylor hadn't made a
movie since dinosaurs walked the Earth. By hanging onto the arm of Michael,
she generated untold press. All that notoriety helps her sell that Goddamn perfume and the jewelry she designs. Anyone would want to be a friend of
Michael if he gets all that publicity for her. What I don't understand is this:
exactly what does Michael Jackson get in hanging out with Elizabeth Taylor?"

Another publicist, who refused to be named, said "Michael basks in the
glow of having a fabulous friend like Elizabeth. I've heard that he even tells
tricks, `I'll introduce you to Elizabeth Taylor.' Even that story doesn't make
sense to me. Why would a nine-year-old boy want to meet Elizabeth Taylor?
Superman, maybe. Even Tom Cruise, though I doubt that. But Elizabeth
Taylor, who became a star back in the days of a kid's grandparents?"

To Michael's credit, he did respond to Elizabeth's call for help in the
plight of AIDS. He contributed freely of his time and money, as when he
showed up for a benefit she wanted him to attend in September of 1985.
Elizabeth had called major stars such as her former lover, Frank Sinatra. He
told her, "This is just another of your lame duck causes-back away from it!
It's going to hurt you."

Fortunately, along with Michael, Elizabeth got Betty Ford and Barry
Manilow to show up and lend their names to the cause.

Michael also generated a lot of good publicity for himself, portraying both
Elizabeth and himself as two crazy kids who didn't grow up. Reportedly, they
engaged in food fights and tried to "tickle each other to death" until one of
them cried uncle. At Neverland one staff member reported seeing Elizabeth
sneak up on Michael and burst a red water balloon over his unsuspecting head.

Blanca Francia, Michael's maid, painted a different portrait, suggesting
that this "odd couple" had more of a business relationship than a friendship.
At one point she referred to Elizabeth as "Poor Lady," because Michael neglected her for the most part when she came to visit Neverland.

"Michael was just playing with her," Francia charged. "Everyone knows
they're not close." She claimed that during one two-week visit, Michael saw
Elizabeth only once for dinner. Reportedly, when Elizabeth went looking for
Michael to talk to him, he made himself unavailable, instructing Francia to tell
the star that he was sleeping.

"I feel so bad for her," Blanca said. "She goes to Neverland and wants to
talk to someone. The staff is not allowed to talk to guests, so she's by herself.
Michael just wanted to stay away from her."

Mark Quindoy, the majordomo, more or less agreed with the maid's
assessment. "Michael's relationship with Ms. Taylor is pure farce. They just
use each other to promote their own images." He too agreed that during a twoweek visit to Neverland, Michael had dinner only once with Elizabeth. "In
contrast, he not only had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Macaulay Culkin,
he slept in the same bed with him."

It was February 4, 1992, and Michael had just put down the phone, after
receiving a "good luck" call from Elizabeth. Dressed in black leather with a
red armband, he went from his dressing room down the Art Deco staircase of
Radio City Music Hall in New York to appear at a press conference. In the
background, reporters heard the sound of "Black or White."

For some $20 million from Pepsi-maybe a lot more Michael
announced a worldwide Dangerous tour. It was to be publicized as "The
Greatest Show on Earth." He claimed that with the success of the tour, he
might raise as much as $100 million for children's charities. Since he didn't
need the money, Michael-falsely or otherwise-said that his aim was to
"spread global love" among the children of the world.

He had formed The Heal the World Foundation in 1992, hoping to bring
aid to underprivileged children. Even though he was doing it for charity, his
critics were unrelenting. On the Dangerous album, Michael had inserted his
version of the foundation's theme song. One music critic called it "a Hallmark
card knockoff of `We Are the World."'

With interruptions, cancellations, and much dreaded headlines, the
Dangerous world music tour would be launched by Michael on June 27, 1992,
grinding to a crashing end on November 11, 1993. Some 3.5 million fans
would hear him in 69 different concerts, the biggest tour any performer had
ever done until Michael broke his own record with his HIStory follow-up in
the years ahead.

Germany, Britain, France, even Romania, lay before him. However,
because of medical problems with his vocal cords, he had to cut short the tour,
resuming it in December of 1992 in Japan.

In another record-breaking deal, Michael sold the film rights to his
Dangerous tour for $21 million, the highest deal ever scored for a live concert. The footage was shot in Bucharest. When HBO aired the film in October
of 1992, it played to fans in 61 countries, receiving the highest TV ratings in
history.

Some of the countries Michael-accompanied by Brett Barnes visited
were on the continent of Africa, which he hadn't seen in nearly two decades.
Wherever his plane touched down, he drew bigger crowds than either Nelson
Mandela or the Pope.