Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days by Tanner Colby, Bill Whitfield, Javon Beard Page A
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because people knew who was in control. Michael Jackson was in control. Those days were over.
It was that trial. That trial destroyed everything, destroyed him. You could see it. He became very vulnerable, exposed. He gota lot of death threats. Like, a lot. He was terrified. He trusted no one. The fear and the paranoia consumed him.
It started in the early 1990s, the first time he was accused of child molestation. Things started to unravel then. But the second time he got accused? He was here in Vegas when it happened, staying at the Mirage the day the sheriff’s department turned Neverland upside down looking for evidence. Grace told me, “Bill, they destroyed that house.” Mr. Jackson saw it, too. He went back after they raided it. He went back, once, saw what they’d done, and then he just turned around and left. After they destroyed Neverland, he was never the same person again.
Javon: I’d actually been to Neverland, as a kid. I went with my church when I was fourteen years old. We had a program called Teen Fellowship, and Mr. Jackson would invite groups like ours to come and ride the rides and play with the animals and such. He actually wasn’t there the time I visited, but one of his staff members gave us a tour of the house and the property.
I remember you had to get on a train to even get on the estate. You parked a few miles away and then you’d ride the train up. It was beautiful. We went to the zoo. He had monkeys. He had flamingos. He had a pond with all these exotic fish in it. I can remember riding the carousel and the mini roller coaster. He had the teacups where you spin and turn. There was unlimited ice cream and candy and popcorn, too. The vending machines didn’t take money. You just picked whatever you wanted. No charge. It was real nice. It was a blast. We loved it.
Bill: My only trip to Neverland was that March. There were some things Mr. Jackson wanted, some pictures, a few personal items, so he sent me to pick them up. The house had been abandoned for a while. The only person there was a security guard stationed at the entrance. I drove out and he let me in.
I got there at night, so I couldn’t see much, but you could tell that it was not being maintained. All the carnival rides just sitting there. Whole place dead quiet. Nothing lit up. No animals in the zoo. All the plants and trees overgrown. There was a lake near the house, a little pond, and it was dirty, real dirty, filled with algae.
The inside of the house looked ransacked. After the sheriffs went through there, nothing was ever put back into place. Drawers left open, boxes overturned, everything covered with dust. It was eerie.
I didn’t stay long. I didn’t want to be there. The whole time I kept thinking about what the guard told me at the gate on the way in. “Be careful,” he said. “There’s snakes.”
“Snakes?”
“Yeah. Rattlesnakes. Lots of ’em.”
7
In August 1968, the Jackson 5 made their industry debut at a private Beverly Hills party hosted by Diana Ross. Motown’s PR department issued a press release heralding the band’s arrival in L.A. In order to up the boys’ cuteness factor with teenage fans, the announcement deliberately shaved two years off the age of each member of the group. Michael was ten years old at the time, just three weeks shy of turning eleven. Motown’s press release said he was eight. The first thing America thought it knew about Michael Jackson was a lie.
From that very young age, Jackson learned how the public’s fascination with celebrity could be exploited to fuel commercial success. For a time, he embraced his fame and happily used it to reach the top. Starting with a single white glove, Michael Jackson the man carefully crafted the public spectacle known as the King of Pop. He studied magicians and the way they manipulated audiences, using the buildup of mystery to create big, jaw-dropping revelations. He studied the lives of iconoclasts like reclusive filmmaker Howard
It was that trial. That trial destroyed everything, destroyed him. You could see it. He became very vulnerable, exposed. He gota lot of death threats. Like, a lot. He was terrified. He trusted no one. The fear and the paranoia consumed him.
It started in the early 1990s, the first time he was accused of child molestation. Things started to unravel then. But the second time he got accused? He was here in Vegas when it happened, staying at the Mirage the day the sheriff’s department turned Neverland upside down looking for evidence. Grace told me, “Bill, they destroyed that house.” Mr. Jackson saw it, too. He went back after they raided it. He went back, once, saw what they’d done, and then he just turned around and left. After they destroyed Neverland, he was never the same person again.
Javon: I’d actually been to Neverland, as a kid. I went with my church when I was fourteen years old. We had a program called Teen Fellowship, and Mr. Jackson would invite groups like ours to come and ride the rides and play with the animals and such. He actually wasn’t there the time I visited, but one of his staff members gave us a tour of the house and the property.
I remember you had to get on a train to even get on the estate. You parked a few miles away and then you’d ride the train up. It was beautiful. We went to the zoo. He had monkeys. He had flamingos. He had a pond with all these exotic fish in it. I can remember riding the carousel and the mini roller coaster. He had the teacups where you spin and turn. There was unlimited ice cream and candy and popcorn, too. The vending machines didn’t take money. You just picked whatever you wanted. No charge. It was real nice. It was a blast. We loved it.
Bill: My only trip to Neverland was that March. There were some things Mr. Jackson wanted, some pictures, a few personal items, so he sent me to pick them up. The house had been abandoned for a while. The only person there was a security guard stationed at the entrance. I drove out and he let me in.
I got there at night, so I couldn’t see much, but you could tell that it was not being maintained. All the carnival rides just sitting there. Whole place dead quiet. Nothing lit up. No animals in the zoo. All the plants and trees overgrown. There was a lake near the house, a little pond, and it was dirty, real dirty, filled with algae.
The inside of the house looked ransacked. After the sheriffs went through there, nothing was ever put back into place. Drawers left open, boxes overturned, everything covered with dust. It was eerie.
I didn’t stay long. I didn’t want to be there. The whole time I kept thinking about what the guard told me at the gate on the way in. “Be careful,” he said. “There’s snakes.”
“Snakes?”
“Yeah. Rattlesnakes. Lots of ’em.”
7
In August 1968, the Jackson 5 made their industry debut at a private Beverly Hills party hosted by Diana Ross. Motown’s PR department issued a press release heralding the band’s arrival in L.A. In order to up the boys’ cuteness factor with teenage fans, the announcement deliberately shaved two years off the age of each member of the group. Michael was ten years old at the time, just three weeks shy of turning eleven. Motown’s press release said he was eight. The first thing America thought it knew about Michael Jackson was a lie.
From that very young age, Jackson learned how the public’s fascination with celebrity could be exploited to fuel commercial success. For a time, he embraced his fame and happily used it to reach the top. Starting with a single white glove, Michael Jackson the man carefully crafted the public spectacle known as the King of Pop. He studied magicians and the way they manipulated audiences, using the buildup of mystery to create big, jaw-dropping revelations. He studied the lives of iconoclasts like reclusive filmmaker Howard
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