Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (86 page)

Promoters handed out WE LOVE MICHAEL signs to teenagers. There
was speculation that Michael would not even show up, but he did. Celine Dion
and Smokey Robinson performed, as did Michael's discoverer, Gladys
Knight, but the highlight of the evening was Janet Jackson singing "Alright."
But despite the presence of these other five-star entertainers, the audience was
eager to hear and see Michael on stage.

To hysterically cheering fans, the King of Pop suddenly appeared, looking incredibly thin in a black military jacket with a gold-leaf pattern. He'd
come out on the stage to present an award, one of the Jackson Family Honors,
to Motown's Berry Gordy Jr., with whom he'd had a troubled relationship,
one that had even involved lawsuits. Michael went into his usual kiss blowing
and "I love you!" pronouncements. For once, he took Katharine Hepburn's
advice and left the sunglasses in his dressing room. After a suck-up speech
praising Gordy, Michael welcomed the Motown mogul onstage to receive his
honor.

Later, Michael returned to the stage to present another Jackson honor to
Elizabeth Taylor, claiming that she was "one of the most celebrated women of
the 20th century." He thanked her for her "unwavering strength and support"
in the middle of all his "trials and tribulations."

Elizabeth came on, blasting the tabloids for their constant attacks on
Michael. She even asked the public to "stop buying the garbage." She called
Michael "the brightest star in the universe." Later, critics without evidence
claimed that Michael must have paid Elizabeth two-million dollars for her
glowing tribute.

Suddenly, things began going wrong at the lovefest. Elizabeth announced,
"I know you'd like to hear Michael sing, but he doesn't have any music prepared." Boos went up from the audience. "Don't boo," Elizabeth admonished
the audience, "it's an ugly sound."

Michael did, however, join family members and other guests onstage for
the song, "If Only You Believe." Janet was not to be seen. She'd left word
with the stage manager, "Tell them Janet Jackson has left the building."

The following morning, USA Today headlined the event: JACKSONS NO
THRILLER WITHOUT MICHAEL SOLO. Some fans had paid as much as
$1,000 per ticket hoping to see Michael sing. Many other headlines also
appeared expressing the disappointment of loyal fans, whose numbers would
fade year by year as their faith in Michael waned.

Instead of watching the lackluster Jackson Family Honors, most viewers
tuned in to the Olympics instead. Whitney Houston suggested that attacks on
Michael might be because he was black, although at this point he didn't look
black. Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, agreed with Houston. On
Arsenio Hall, he claimed that the King of Pop was being "treated like a slave
on a plantation because of a charge that has yet to lead to a criminal charge."
The controversial Muslim had attended the taping of the Jackson Family
Honors.

After the show, Katherine Jackson was subpoened to testify against her
son. Michael's attorney, Howard Weitzman, shot back in anger, denouncing
the DA's office for trying "to humiliate Michael Jackson and harass him. In all
the years of my experience, I've never before seen the mother of the target of
an investigation called before the grand jury. It's just done in real poor taste."

In the aftermath of the Jackson Family Honors, Gary Smith, its co-producer, sued the Jacksons for $2.2 million, alleging that cast and crew had not
been paid, including his own fee of $400,000. In a damaging report, it was
revealed that the show had taken in $4.5 million, only $100,000 of which went
to charity, although it had been billed as a charity event.

La Toya appeared in Las Vegas. But when Katherine told La Toya she
wouldn't be allowed onstage without signing a gag order, she slammed down
the phone on her mother and boarded a plane that night for Nashville with her
husband, Jack Gordon. Arriving in a pair of cowboy boots in Tennessee, La
Toya announced she was in Nashville to record an album of country songs.
Gordon predicted, "La Toya Jackson will be the next country/western heartthrob." A Nashville music critic had another prediction: "Dolly Parton and
Loretta Lynn can sleep peacefully with their boots on. They need not fear La
Toya Jackson."

The Jackson Family Honors was an attempt at image building and spin
control, but it failed to impress "Walt's Boys." Officials at Walt Disney World met in secret February 25, 1994, and decided to yank Captain EO from its
Orlando theme park. Although Michael had not even been charged with child
molestation, the suspicions and the publicity were just too much for Disney
officials. They pulled the plug. The film was replaced with a 3-D movie,
Honey, I Shrunk the Theater.

After the Jackson Family Honors, Michael met privately with Elizabeth
to share a secret with her. He told her that he was going to get married, only
the bride-to-be didn't know it yet. He declared-no doubt falsely that "I'm
in love with Lisa Marie Presley."

Although Elizabeth had spurned Michael's offer of marriage, sources
reported that she was clearly jealous of the much younger Lisa Marie. At one
point the superstar was heard contemptuously referring to Lisa Marie as "a
punk rocker." Elizabeth and Lisa Marie probably suspected that each of them
had shouldered the responsibility of rescuing Michael from himself. Elizabeth
was quoted as saying, "I've saved Michael countless times-and I can do it
again. I will do just that!"

Privately, Lisa Marie agreed with members of the family that Katherine
Jackson was mother enough for Michael. "He doesn't need another interfering mother image in his life," Lisa Marie is reported to have said, referring
pointedly to Ms. Taylor. "He needs me. Someone young and vibrant, like he
is. Someone who can cuss and get low. Like Michael, my future is ahead of
me. His future is ahead of him. It's been a long time since Elizabeth had a hit
with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. And who is this Tennessee Williams anyway? I
always thought his songs were pure cornpone. Elvis hated him."

No doubt Lisa Marie was confusing Tennessee Williams with the country singer, Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Separated from her
husband, Danny
Keough, whom she'd
married in 1988, Lisa
Marie was in Las Vegas
during the taping of the
Jackson Family Honors.
With her, she'd brought
her children, Danielle
Riley, born in 1989, and
Benjamin, born in 1992.

Prsicilla Presley, Lisa Marie (aged 3)
and Elvis, circa 1971

She got a call from
Michael inviting her for
a date on February 2,
1994 at the Sheraton Desert Inn where The Temptations were performing. Normally, Michael
would have slipped into the concert after the lights had been darkened. But he
wanted to parade one of America's most famous daughters through the front
door with the regular customers. Lisa Marie looked stunning in a low-cut
black gown. During the performance, they were seen holding hands in a section called "King's Row," appropriate seats for the King of Pop and the daughter of the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Many observers referred to it as "the romance
that never was," but at least the Jackson/Presley alliance had more of a reality bite than Michael's earlier "love affair" with Princess Di.

The outspoken La Toya, when she heard about the date, denounced it as a
sham, claiming that Michael was "just kidding the public. It's an obvious public relations exercise aimed at portraying Michael in a more manly, heterosexual light. But girls are not part of Michael's life. He's not interested in them."

Back in California, Michael entertained Lisa Marie and her children at
Neverland. He later told the press, "One of the things that most attracted me
to Lisa is that she gets along swell with the animals in my own zoo."

Reportedly, staff members at Neverland were surprised at Michael's interest in Lisa Marie. "In all the months I've worked here," said one member of
the staff, "I always saw him with young boys-never a gal, particularly one
who looked hot-to-trot like that Presley gal."

Regardless of what he might have thought personally, the very hip Donald
Trump invited the couple to visit his luxurious estate, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm
Beach. He later told the press, "They looked like any other lovey-dovey couple to me."

J. Randy Taraborrelli, in his The Magic & the Madness, reported that the
first time Michael made love to Lisa Marie was at Mar-a-Lago. Taraborrelli
quotes an unnamed source, identified only as "another one of Lisa's confidantes":

She [Lisa] said it was intense, it took her breath away. I have no idea what
they were doing, or what he was doing to her but since she gravitates to the
unconventional, she was out of her mind over this guy. Maybe its hard for
some to believe, but true, just the same.

The unnamed source was right on at least one point-"it's hard for some
to believe."

Taraborrelli later wrote that Lisa Marie's "sexual chemistry" was so
intense with Michael that she "wasn't about to give it up." The author, who
would later write a biography of Elizabeth Taylor, found himself standing virtually alone in the world with that point of view.

Years previously, close to Lake Tahoe, a seven-year-old Lisa Marie Presley had first laid eyes on Michael Jackson during one of his performances with The Jackson 5.

She came back into Michael's life through the intervention of a mutual
friend, an artist from Australia, Brett Livingston-Stone, who had painted a
portrait of Michael that had sold for $2 million. Strong called Michael to ask
him if he'd listen to a tape of Lisa Marie singing, hoping that he might produce an album for her. "Send it over," Michael said.

Lisa Marie did better than that. With her tape in hand, she showed up in
person to see Michael. Accompanying her was her husband, Danny Keough.

After listening to the tape, Michael told Lisa Marie that she had
"promise." During her meeting with Michael, the star is alleged to have told
both Lisa Marie and her husband, "Listen, I'm not gay! Don't let these false
eyelashes and red lipstick fool you."

Lisa Marie later admitted that she was impressed that "Michael could
curse just as good as the rest of us cotton pickers." It has been alleged that
Michael shared with her some indiscreet gossip he'd picked up when attending President Clinton's inaugural in Washington. They both acknowledged
that the new president was a rabid Elvis fan. Clinton, or so it was rumored,
once told some cronies that one of his greatest dreams in life "was to fuck
Elvis's daughter."

"A lot of people have that fantasy," Lisa Marie was alleged to have said.

"Let them dream on," Danny interjected.

When Lisa Marie later confessed to Michael that her marriage to Danny
was falling apart, Michael actively pursued her with flowers and presents.
Privately she told friends that "even though Michael is a little bit cute, he's
very immature compared to Danny. I still love Danny. I will always love
Danny even though we might divorce."

Divorce Danny she did, rushing into a secret marriage to Michael Jackson.
Far from the paparazzi and the ravenous tabloids, the wedding took place on
May 26, 1994 in La Vega, an obscure village in the Dominican Republic. Two
months would go by before the world learned of this bizarre marriage. None
of the Jacksons had been invited.

Lisa Marie's divorce papers had arrived only on May 6. Seemingly she
was rushing impulsively from one marriage into another.

Before flying to the Dominican Republic, Michael and Lisa Marie signed
a prenuptial agreement.

Civil Judge Hugo Francisco Alvarez conducted the wedding in Spanish
but with an interpreter.

Michael tried to use more flaming red lipstick than his bride, or so it was
reported. His face was partially hidden under a wide-brimmed black hat, the
type worn at ferias in Seville. His ponytail was slicked back, and his cowboy belt would have made John Wayne proud. Lisa Marie also wore a black hat
evocative of a flamenco dancer.

"Michael looked like a little boy lost," said Judge Alvarez. "He stared at
the floor throughout the ceremony."

Alvarez called the ceremony "surprisingly without any passion. When I
asked him if he'd take Lisa Marie for his lawfully wedded wife, he turned to
me and said, `Why not?' When I pronounced him and Lisa Marie man and
wife, he was reluctant to kiss her. She had to pull his face to hers to kiss him
on the lips. There were no tears of happiness-no joy, no laughter. I felt I was
presiding over a funeral-not a wedding."

The only enthusiasm Michael showed was for the judge's tie which
depicted Fred Flintstone. "It's a great tie," Michael told him. "I love Fred
Flintstone."

"Although he complimented my tie, I never heard him say he loved Lisa
Marie," the judge claimed. Judge Alvarez was "loose-lipped" and informed a
Dominican newspaper about details associated with the wedding. However,
his observations were dismissed by the press at the time as "some of the most
ridiculous rumors ever spread about Michael Jackson."