Michael Jackson_ The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story, 1958-2009 Part 35

'It's not like we didn't try, now is it?' Michael observed, wryly. 'What a nightmare this has been, to now only end up back at square one.' He concluded that he was so unhappy about all of it, he wished he could 'just crawl into a hole.'

Another thing had also changed for Michael: he no longer wanted to think about Jordie Chandler. No one could mention the youngster's name to him. If, as they say, a thin line exists between love a hate, Michael seemed to cross it after he was forced to pose naked for the police. The subject of Jordie was off limits from that day onward.

On 16 January, Michael hosted a party for two hundred underprivileged children at Neverland. There he was, on news broadcasts all over the world, cavorting with children and gaily leading them in their fun day, like a Pied Piper. Some observers wondered if he had any sense, at all. His advisers were more frustrated than they were angry. ('I give up,' said one. 'I f.u.c.king give up f.u.c.king give up.') Michael's behaviour would never change, that much was clear. True to form, he was going to continue doing what he wanted to do, and that would have to be the end of it.

On 25 January 1994, Michael Jackson agreed to pay twenty-two million dollars to Jordie Chandler, Evan Chandler, June Chandler-Schwartz and attorney Larry Feldman. Twenty million of it was earmarked for Jordie. One million each went to Evan and June. Larry Feldman then got about five million from all three of them in contingency fees. Jordie's money would be held in a trust for him, to be paid out over the intervening years under the supervision of a court-appointed trustee.

'He had s.e.x with Jordie, and he paid a price,' said a member of Jordie's family of Michael. 'He ruined the kid's life. I hope he learned a lesson, the pervert. But I doubt it. He should be in jail. But he's not, so good for him.'

In the end, no criminal charges would be brought against Michael by the police or the Grand Juries, citing a lack of evidence. They had many witnesses, said the police, but no victims who actually wanted to testify against Michael Jackson.

'All's well that ends well,' said Anthony Pellicano, bitterly. 'From the beginning, this case was always about how much money the father could get out of Michael Jackson. So he got what he wanted, I guess.'

Attorney Michael Freeman, who had represented June Chandler-Schwartz, says that, in his opinion, Michael was innocent of any wrong-doing. 'I think he was wrongly accused,' said the attorney. 'I think that Evan Chandler and Barry Rothman saw an opportunity and went for it. That's my personally held opinion. I believe it was all about money, and their strategy, obviously, worked.'

Elizabeth Taylor's comment about the end of the investigation and litigation was cla.s.sic spin-doctor Liz. 'Thank G.o.d this case is being dismissed,' she said. 'Michael's love of children is one of the purest things I have ever seen, it s.h.i.+nes like an extra sun, despite the media's distorted lens. I always knew this would be thrown out of court, and I am so grateful.'

The Last Word on the Matter.

When I conducted a telephone interview with Michael in August 1994, after the allegations were settled, he told me, 'Too much damage had already been done to everyone involved. I don't care what people think. I know the truth. If anyone has ever gone through something like this, they'd know you'll do anything to end it.'

Of the case, Michael suggested extortion, but without actually saying as much since he was not supposed to speak about the case by legal agreement (which didn't stop him, though, in other instances). 'Lots of people are always trying stuff like this, trying to hurt me, embarra.s.s me. I thought this was just another one of those things. I never dreamed it would blow up to be the mess it became. I'd never hurt a child, and any child who has ever been my friend knows that. I'd never, ever, ever hurt any child on this planet.

'I want to go on with my life,' he said, pa.s.sionately. 'I want to make records. I want to sing. I want to perform again. Tell my fans I have supreme confidence that they'll judge me on stage and in the recording studio, just as they always have. I don't believe this nightmare will interfere with my career,' he added, 'because I've spent too many years developing my relations.h.i.+p with the fans. They should just know that, yes, I paid some money. So what? But no, I'm not guilty. I did nothing wrong.'

I asked him if he was concerned that, his fans aside, he would be thought of by much of the general public as having been guilty because of the way he settled the case. His answer was direct: 'It's my talent. My hard work. My life. My decision.'

Today, Jordie Chandler is twenty-three years old and living on eastern Long Island near the beach in a $2.35 million home, under an a.s.sumed name. He and his family also own a high-rise apartment in Manhattan and a condominium in Santa Barbara.

Evan Chandler also lives in Long Island under an a.s.sumed name.

June Chandler and David Schwartz are divorced.

Jordie hasn't seen Michael Jackson since that day in Anthony Pellicano's office a decade ago when Evan and Michael had their final show-down. The last instalment of Michael's payments to Jordie was paid in June 1999.

PART ELEVEN.

Michael and Lisa Marie Become Lovers.

On 1 February 1994, Michael telephoned Lisa Marie Presley at her estate in Hidden Hills, California. He was at his hide-out in Westwood. 'Hey, listen up, girl,' he said, according to her memory, 'I'm heading up to Las Vegas to see The Temptations and the Fifth Dimension. Come with me. I'll get us a suite at the Mirage and we can party like there's no tomorrow.'

'Am I staying in the suite with you?' she asked 'h.e.l.l, yeah,' Michael said. 'What do you think, girl?'

'I think I'm still married,' Lisa said.

'Then separate rooms, if that's what you want,' Michael responded.

Lisa agreed to go; the next day, the two flew up to Vegas in Michael's private plane.

Otis Williams of The Temptations once told me, 'Man, we were backstage after the show, and here comes Mike with this chick, and he's all up in her face, kissing on her, and we were saying, "Who the heck is this girl?" Finally, he introduced her: Lisa Marie Presley. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I said to the guys, "Check this out. The King of Pop and the King's daughter, together. It had to happen. They looked pretty cosy."'

Two weeks later, Lisa accompanied Michael again to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for his appearance on The Jackson Family Honors Special The Jackson Family Honors Special (the programme Jermaine had been working on for months). Designed to pay homage to Elizabeth Taylor and Berry Gordy, the television special was also an attempt by the Jacksons to project a wholesome image to a now-suspicious public. (the programme Jermaine had been working on for months). Designed to pay homage to Elizabeth Taylor and Berry Gordy, the television special was also an attempt by the Jacksons to project a wholesome image to a now-suspicious public.

Janet made a quick appearance performing her hit 'All Right', before vanis.h.i.+ng from sight as if embarra.s.sed for herself and everyone else on stage. She had little to do with any of her family members, and steadfastly refused to appear in the planned finale. She even checked into the Luxor Hotel, rather than take a chance on running into anyone named Jackson at the MGM Grand, where most of them were staying. Michael also wanted little to do with his father or siblings, which was not a surprise. Though Jermaine had generously offered him a suite at the MGM Grand, he chose to stay at the Mirage.

'When does the boy grow up and not have to go to the family reunions?' Lisa has said he asked her. He said that it was taking 'everything I have' to show his face in public again after all that had happened with the Chandlers, 'and to now have to do it at one of these things is really hard for me.' If it wasn't for his mother, he said, he would never even attempt it.

'But if you weren't here, there wouldn't even be a show,' Lisa observed.

'Exactly,' Michael said, dryly. He adjusted the red arm band on his black military jacket. 'If I could, I think I would pay twenty million dollars for them to be more famous than me.' He seemed exhausted. 'What a relief it would be to accept their love and not have to wonder what they have planned for me, next.'

It was then that Lisa had an uncomfortable encounter with Elizabeth Taylor, who had tried to coax Michael into performing. He didn't want to sing. Rather, he just wanted to make an appearance, present an award, and then sit in the audience. As Elizabeth tried to change his mind, an already-protective Lisa intervened. 'Look, he's not going to perform,' she told Elizabeth, 'so you might as well just leave it alone.' Elizabeth, taken aback, gave Lisa a once-over and remarked, 'Well, you're the boss, I guess,' and walked away.

(In the end, after the show was broadcast, Michael ended up getting dragged into a messy lawsuit between the producers of the show against the Jackson family.) When they got back from Las Vegas, on 21 February, Michael invited Lisa to Neverland. The two spent hours walking hand in hand on the well-manicured property, as Lisa's children, Danielle, five, and Benjamin Storm, eighteen months, played with their nanny. Workers at the estate recall seeing Michael and Lisa kissing while high atop the Ferris wheel, then nodding graciously to the Neverland staff members as they sauntered from one ride to the next.

There were times when Michael seemed unable to contain his laughter; he seemed to appreciate Lisa's sharp and clever mind as much as he relished her new role as protector and sounding board. 'I can run anything by her,' he said, 'and she has a good point of view about it. She's on top of everything, she knows so much. I've never known a person like her.'

He made sure all of her needs were met in an instant. If she got thirsty, he would clap his hands once and, as if by magic, a waiter would appear with an aperitif. If she was too tired to walk, someone driving a golf cart would appear to take her back to her room for a nap.

For the first two days, Lisa and her children stayed in one of the visitors' units on the property. On the third night, Michael ordered a dinner of poached salmon and cuc.u.mber salad to be served to him and Lisa on one of the candle-lit terraces. Afterward, he presented Lisa with a gift: a three-strand, pearl choker with a diamond clasp at the front, worth about $50,000. That evening, while her children and their nanny slept in the guest quarters, Lisa stayed with Michael in his bedroom.

Did they make love? Lisa, say her friends, is a woman who enjoys physical intimacy and would not become involved in a relations.h.i.+p that was not s.e.xual. She was aware that her mother and father had stopped being intimate shortly after she was conceived. Elvis met Priscilla when she was just fourteen; he was twenty-four. The two lived together for six years before marrying in Las Vegas, but were never intimate. Then, on their honeymoon, Priscilla got pregnant. Eight months later, Lisa was born. After that, Elvis would never touch Priscilla again saying he felt weird having s.e.x with his child's mother. 'I was young and accepted his way of life as normal,' Priscilla recalled. Though she was one of the most publicized women in America, Priscilla then lived in a s.e.xless marriage for a couple of years before she got involved with her karate instructor and that was pretty much the end of her marriage to Elvis. Lisa was not about to find herself in the same situation.

In truth, Lisa and Michael had an intense and active s.e.x life, which came as a surprise to many people. According to all available evidence, it was the first time he had ever experienced such chemistry with a woman, or with anyone anyone, for that matter. His a.s.sociates say the early stages of the romance impacted his personality in positive ways, in terms of his self-confidence and self-image. 'Apparently, Michael Jackson is a freak in bed,' said Lisa's friend Monica Pastelle. 'Lisa said he was amazing, and she's been around. Everyone was saying, "No way, Lisa. It can't be true. Michael Jackson? Are we talking about the the Michael Jackson, the one with the glove?" However, she wasn't joking, and it wasn't long before she didn't think it was funny, either.' Michael Jackson, the one with the glove?" However, she wasn't joking, and it wasn't long before she didn't think it was funny, either.'

Who knows why it became so intense for Michael with Lisa. However, it was this surprising some may think of it as astonis.h.i.+ng s.e.xual component that most cemented the relations.h.i.+p between Michael and Lisa.

The 'first time' for them was in Florida, during a weekend stay at Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Donald recalls seeing Michael and Lisa walking hand in hand on his estate, seeming lost in a mutual dream. In a photograph taken that day, Lisa was elegantly dressed in a severely tailored, black silk dress that fell in fluid lines around her shapely figure. Michael was wearing a sharp, black suit, scarlet-coloured s.h.i.+rt and matching tie. At one point, he dropped to one knee and kissed her hand. She urged him to his feet; the two embraced. Michael gazed at her intensely, mesmerized by her face. They kissed. He pulled from his vest pocket a small, wrapped box. When she opened it, Lisa's face lit up. Pearls.

'It was romantic,' Donald Trump recalled. 'Later, I asked Michael how things were going and he said, "Great. I just got to kiss the most beautiful girl in the world. I hope I'm worthy of her. I think I might marry her."'

'They made love at the Trump estate,' said another one of Lisa's confidantes. 'She said it was intense, it took her breath away. I have no idea what they were doing, or what he he was doing to her, but since she gravitates toward the unconventional, she was out of her mind over this guy. Maybe it's hard for some to believe,' she concluded, 'but true, just the same. was doing to her, but since she gravitates toward the unconventional, she was out of her mind over this guy. Maybe it's hard for some to believe,' she concluded, 'but true, just the same.

'After that first time, she went to turn on the lights, and he leapt out of bed and ran into the bathroom so she wouldn't see his body. He emerged twenty minutes later, in full makeup and wearing a silk robe.

Then, they went at it, again. He liked her to wear jewellery in bed. They were into role-playing games, though Lisa would never say who was playing what kind of role.'

To say that Michael wanted children is to understate the way he felt about procreation. He craved offspring. When Lisa didn't become immediately pregnant, even before they were married, he began to express his disappointment. 'I want children,' he said, 'and I thought we would be expecting one within a couple of weeks of making love. But Lisa says it takes time. I don't have time,' he said. 'I want it to happen, now. I want children so badly.'

Michael and Lisa Marie: Happily Ever After?

On 26 May 1994, Michael and Lisa were finally married in the Dominican Republic after a brief and, according to her, 'uneventful', courts.h.i.+p. Lisa's divorce from Danny Keough had been finalized twenty days earlier.

Lisa's mother Priscilla had married the most famous singer of her time back in 1967, and now Lisa followed suit with a man who was, arguably, pop music's biggest star. Though Michael and Lisa claimed to be crazy about one another, much of the public just thought they were crazy. 'I actually did fall in love with him,' she told Newsweek Newsweek in the spring of 2003, 'but I don't know what was on his menu.' in the spring of 2003, 'but I don't know what was on his menu.'

The close relations.h.i.+p they had forged during the time of the allegations was known only to those in Michael's and Lisa's inner-circle. The two had managed to keep the fact that they even knew each other out of the press. Therefore, when they married, it was like a bolt from the blue.

Lisa was in love with Michael; did he feel the same about her? Always painfully conscious of the emptiness of his life, he said that he'd been missing out on 'too much' and wanted to now jump-start his life. After the Jordie Chandler business, the gnawing, empty s.p.a.ce in his heart somehow seemed more terrifying than ever. He was determined to now 'start living', he insisted and, at the time, that meant being in love with a woman, marrying and having children with her. Lisa Marie Presley was that woman.

'When he nearly lost everything because of the allegations and then the drug abuse, he was determined to set things straight,' recalled one of his a.s.sociates. 'He may have been in love with her, I don't know. I think he was actually in love with what she represented: conformity and kids. Everyone who knew him felt it was too soon after rehab for him to be jumping into a marriage, especially since he'd never been married and had no idea what he was doing. I knew he wasn't emotionally equipped for it. I also think the physical relations.h.i.+p was a powerful tool in convincing him that, yes, she was the one. However, as far as I know, she had been the only only one.' one.'

Michael was deeply disappointed in the wedding ceremony, he later admitted. He's a romantic. He'd always hoped for a grand, opulent and loving affair, like Jermaine's wedding had been so many years earlier. It was significant to him that he one day have a ceremony to join him with someone he loved and to express his affection for that person before family and friends. Sure, he had romanticized the notion over the years, but so what? People have done so throughout the ages, and have seen those dreams become reality in their lives. Michael never imagined that he would run off and marry a person in secret, as if ashamed of his relations.h.i.+p.

What Michael and Lisa ended up with was a fifteen-minute ceremony in front of a judge at his home in La Vega, eighty-five miles east of Casa de Campo, a resort owned by fas.h.i.+on designer, Oscar de la Renta (where Michael and Lisa had sequestered themselves in a four-thousand-dollar-a-night oceanfront villa). The ceremony was conducted in Spanish, and translated to Michael and Lisa by one of the attorneys present. Instead of the tuxedo he had dreamed of wearing on his wedding day, Michael wore black pants and matching s.h.i.+rt with a cowboy belt, bolero and black flamenco hat. Lisa also wore black. They exchanged heavy gold wedding bands. Michael later said he missed having Katherine present and to some extent, even Joseph. 'It just didn't feel right,' he said. 'It felt empty, like everything else in my world.'

Rather than blame his frustration on his and Lisa's lack of preparation for the event, Michael blamed it on the media saying that there was no way he could have had the ritual of his dreams, 'because the press would have made it a fiasco.' It was a shame, felt those who knew him and cared for him, that he kept missing out on a good and fulfilling life because of his celebrity, and that he continued to blame such intangibles as 'the media' for his grief over it. After all, even his friend Elizabeth Taylor managed to have big and wonderful wedding ceremonies along the way.

Perhaps it's a clue to their insecurity about what they were doing that Michael and Lisa didn't warn their families and friends about the wedding, lest someone try to induce them to reverse their decision. It wasn't a surprise, perhaps, that Michael didn't confide in Katherine, Joseph or his siblings, considering his complex relations.h.i.+p with them. However, that he didn't tell Elizabeth Taylor in advance was really startling especially to her. When Michael finally telephoned Elizabeth from the Dominican Republic to give her the news, she was so distraught she spent the next day on the telephone with friends saying that she was, as she put it, 'so worried about Michael, I don't know what to do. I'm pulling my hair out over it! What has he done? What has he done? What has he done?'

That night, Elizabeth was with friends at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel. When a reporter asked her if she would confirm rumours of Michael's marriage, she snapped at him, 'I am not not in the business of clarifying rumours. Now, be gone!' in the business of clarifying rumours. Now, be gone!'

The fact that Lisa kept the news from her mother, Priscilla, to whom she is close, also spoke volumes. It would be almost a week before Lisa confirmed to her frantic mother that she had married Michael Jackson.

Feeling strongly that Michael was exploiting her daughter and using her to rehabilitate his damaged image, Priscilla was not happy about the news. 'Can't you see what he's up to?' she asked her, according to what Lisa later recalled. 'It's so obvious.'

Lisa disagreed. She felt that Michael truly loved her. He had said as much and she had no choice, she felt, but to take him for his word. 'I can't say what his intentions were with me, but I can say it was the most real thing I think he's had,' Lisa noted in the spring of 2003. 'My mother was like, "Timing! h.e.l.lo? h.e.l.lo?" But I rebelled against my mom, of course, and tried really hard not to think like that, not to believe that.'

'My G.o.d! Use your instincts,' Priscilla admonished her. She could not believe her daughter would marry, of all people on the planet, Michael Jackson. 'What does your gut tell you?'

'It tells me that you should mind your own G.o.dd.a.m.n business,' Lisa shot back. 'It's time for me to lead my own life and for you to stay out of it.' Clearly she and Priscilla had issues that pre-dated her marriage to Michael. Also, her s.e.xual chemistry with Michael was so intense, Lisa wasn't about to give it up.

'All I wanted at the time was to believe what he was telling me, and that was it. It was this whole psychodrama that was going on, and I really put my mother through it. She thought he was lying to me, using me.'

Lisa's ex-husband, Danny still a trusted friend was also unhappy about the union. He knew better than to drag her into a fight with her about it, though. However, he told her that he was concerned, about her and about their children. It seemed to him, as it did to everyone else in her life, that she had made a big mistake.

Michael decided that he didn't want to announce the marriage. He said he wanted them to have their privacy. However, Lisa disagreed. 'The more we hide it, the more interest there will be in it,' she argued. 'Shouldn't we just announce it so that the interest will die down?' She didn't know Michael very well, did she? Of course, what he really wanted to do was to create a big, worldwide controversy about his relations.h.i.+p with her; he just couldn't help himself.

His strategy worked. For the next two months, the press ran with headlines speculating as to whether or not Michael and Lisa had been married. Meanwhile, the two took a duplex apartment suite in Trump Tower in New York (directly below Donald Trump's), while Michael began work on a new alb.u.m.

If Lisa thought she was famous before, she would discover an entirely new and unwelcome sort of celebrity, as Michael's wife. One of his bodyguards remembered, 'It was chaos with the media and fans suspecting the newlyweds were in the suite, but not able to confirm it. One morning, we were getting ready to leave, and Mike had to explain the strategy involved in getting them out of there. He didn't want them seen together. For him, everything was a big drama. Nothing could just occur easily; it had to unfold with loads of bedlam and confusion. That's just what he's used to, and I think he thrives on it.'

As Michael was putting on his hat and his surgical mask and his sungla.s.ses and his makeup, he explained to Lisa, 'See, first you leave, and they'll take you downstairs in the back, and then whoos.h.!.+ whoos.h.!.+ off you'll go in the car with the smoky windows. Then, I will do the same. And we'll meet up later, and n.o.body will be the wiser.' He seemed delighted by the intrigue. off you'll go in the car with the smoky windows. Then, I will do the same. And we'll meet up later, and n.o.body will be the wiser.' He seemed delighted by the intrigue.

'He was all ready to go, looking like Michael Jackson looks with the mask on his face and hat on top of his head,' said the bodyguard. 'She sized him up from head to toe and said, "f.u.c.k, no. Screw this s.h.i.+t." And she just got into the front elevator and went down to the lobby, alone. He started screaming, "Lisa! No! It's dangerous out there! They'll eat you alive!" Then, he turned to me and said, "Don't just stand there you big idiot, follow her." So, I raced down after her in another elevator. When I got there, she was gone. When I went back up and told Michael, he freaked out. "My poor wife! She's been kidnapped," he said, acting like the biggest drama queen, ever. "How will I live with myself? Call the police," he shrieked. "No, call the FBI. No, call the CIA." I said, "Look, man, she's probably in a coffee shop somewhere eating a doughnut. Let me find her." I did find her, an hour later, in a bar down the street, having a martini with some guy she'd just met, and it was ten in the morning. I thought to myself, What a match-up this this is.' is.'

Finally, in July, Michael and Lisa announced that they'd been married the previous May.

When I appeared on the United States news programme, Good Morning America Good Morning America to report on the news of Michael's marriage, I joked that 'the newlyweds are registered at Toys 'R' Us.' There was, I felt at the time, little choice but to remain light about the subject, the reaction to the news had been so cynical in America. After the show was broadcast, I received a telephone call from an irate Michael. 'How could you say that?' he demanded. 'How can you make light of my marriage? I love Lisa. Why won't people believe that? Why won't people let me be happy?' to report on the news of Michael's marriage, I joked that 'the newlyweds are registered at Toys 'R' Us.' There was, I felt at the time, little choice but to remain light about the subject, the reaction to the news had been so cynical in America. After the show was broadcast, I received a telephone call from an irate Michael. 'How could you say that?' he demanded. 'How can you make light of my marriage? I love Lisa. Why won't people believe that? Why won't people let me be happy?'

'You have to understand that it does seem odd,' I explained. 'The marriage came out of nowhere. There are people who don't believe it's legitimate.'

'You know what? I don't care what people think,' Michael said angrily. 'She's my wife, I love her.'

I took the opportunity to ask Michael a few questions about the relations.h.i.+p. Did he and Lisa have a pre-nuptial agreement? 'No way,' he said. 'What kind of marriage would that be?'

Was Lisa pregnant, as had been reported? 'No,' he said, 'but we want children and we will will have children. But don't rush me,' he said, now giggling. have children. But don't rush me,' he said, now giggling.

There had been recent reports that Lisa had plastic surgery in a Los Angeles hospital, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s enlarged and liposuction on her hips, at Michael's behest. It was preposterous, but I decided to ask him about it, anyway. 'Ridiculous,' he told me. 'Just try telling Lisa Marie what to do. It would never happen. I would not be able to convince her to do anything. The truth,' he said, 'is that she had scar tissue removed from an appendectomy, and dermabrasion on her face to get rid of old acne scars.'

He also volunteered an anecdote about giving her an engagement ring (after his telephone proposal, once they were in Los Angeles, together). 'Lisa and I were in the living room [at Neverland] having a gla.s.s of wine,' he said. 'We had just finished watching All About Eve All About Eve, starring the great Bette Davis. We both love that movie. I walked over to her, reached into my pocket and pulled out this huge, diamond ring. "So what do you think?" I asked her. "You wanna?" She screamed out, "Yes, yes, yes." So, anyway, I gotta go,' he concluded. 'Just tell people to leave us alone, will you? We're happy. That should be the end of it.'

As it turned out, even though Lisa was in love with Michael, she she not he was the one with certain goals she hoped to achieve as a result of the marriage; chief among them was the realization of her musical career. 'Michael told Lisa that he would attempt to get her a record deal at Sony,' says her friend, Monica Pastelle. 'Yes, she loved him. She didn't marry him because of the offer to help her career, but it was on the table as something he was going to work on for her.' not he was the one with certain goals she hoped to achieve as a result of the marriage; chief among them was the realization of her musical career. 'Michael told Lisa that he would attempt to get her a record deal at Sony,' says her friend, Monica Pastelle. 'Yes, she loved him. She didn't marry him because of the offer to help her career, but it was on the table as something he was going to work on for her.'

For the next year, the newlyweds divided their time between Michael's 27,000-acre ranch in Santa Ynez, California, and Lisa's one-acre estate in Hidden Hills, a hundred miles away. Some thought Lisa and her two children would move into Neverland. No chance. She wanted to maintain her independence. Plus, her kids thought Michael was a little strange, especially five-year-old Danielle. No matter how hard he tried with her, Michael could never win over the girl. He was usually so good with children, but not with Danielle. She would take one look at him, squeal and run in the other direction. 'What'd I do? What'd I do?' Michael would ask. Therefore, whenever Lisa and her offspring went to stay at Neverland, she would tell her housekeeper, 'Just pack our toothbrushes and a few comfortable pairs of walking shoes, 'cause I don't think we'll be staying very long.'

Once she started living with him in their residences, Lisa was even more amazed at the degree to which Michael was emotionally repressed. Determined to 'fix him', she busily went about the work of peeling away layer after layer, as if he were an onion. However, it was difficult; the protective layers around him were thick and impenetrable. It had taken years for him to become who he was, and he wasn't going to easily change. He didn't want want to become more communicative, as Lisa had insisted. He didn't to become more communicative, as Lisa had insisted. He didn't want want to become more extroverted, either, as she had suggested. to become more extroverted, either, as she had suggested.

Most maddening to Lisa, her new husband continually blamed other people for problems that were clearly of his own making. Lisa, a Scientologist, maintained that she was the architect of her own life and had no one to blame but herself for the aspects of it that had not worked out for her. When her first marriage to Danny Keough ended, she didn't blame the press or her fame, she blamed herself and later felt that she had made a critical mistake in ending it. She wished she could go back, but she couldn't so she moved forward and found a way to incorporate Danny into her life, as a best friend.

'Lisa felt Michael was too much into playing the victim,' said Monica Pastelle. 'Maybe it was understandable, given all he'd been through in the last year. Their relations.h.i.+p became strained as she tried to prod him along, make him feel less sorry for himself, lift his spirits. She said he was like a young boy, angry at the world. She had no patience at all with the lost childhood routine. "Who hasn't had a miserable childhood?" she would say. "Show me someone who loved every single second of their childhood, and I'll show you a person who has deluded himself into believing such a thing."'

Going Public.

Michael and Lisa certainly didn't make many television appearances, but the two that they did agree to do together are memorable. In September 1994, they made their first television appearance as husband and wife on the MTV Awards in New York, in front of two hundred and fifty million television viewers.

Backstage, according to Lisa, Michael announced to her, 'Now, check it out, girl. I'm going to kiss you when we get out there.'

'Oh no, you're not,' she said.

'Oh, yes I am,' he said, smiling. He thought they were bantering, but Lisa wasn't kidding.

'No, Michael,' she said. 'That's bulls.h.i.+t. Absolutely not. I don't want to do it.'

'Oh, sure you do,' he remarked. 'It'll be great.'

'I'm telling you, don't you f.u.c.king do that, Michael,' she warned him. 'I'm serious.'

About an hour later, they walked on to the stage to thunderous applause, holding hands. Lisa didn't know when the kiss was going to happen, she would recall, but she knew he was going to do it because 'by this time I realized that he does whatever he wants to do.' She said that, as they walked out from the wings, she was squeezing his hand so hard, 'I think I cut off the circulation.'

'Just think, n.o.body thought this would last,' Michael told the audience with a grin. He motioned to Lisa. Then, he embraced her and kissed her fully on the lips.