Michael Jackson_ The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story, 1958-2009 Part 37

At about this time, she was already furious with him because of a cover story in TV Guide TV Guide during which he was quoted as saying that she told him Elvis once had a nose job. 'He was quoting me, "Presley told me Elvis had a nose job," which is absolute bulls.h.i.+t,' she now recalls. 'I read that and I threw it across the kitchen. "I told you during which he was quoted as saying that she told him Elvis once had a nose job. 'He was quoting me, "Presley told me Elvis had a nose job," which is absolute bulls.h.i.+t,' she now recalls. 'I read that and I threw it across the kitchen. "I told you what? what?"'

'It was getting nasty,' she recalled, ten years later. 'I was ready to kill him, I swear to G.o.d.'

In December 1995, Michael finally returned to Neverland. Priscilla Presley decided to pay him a surprise visit to find out what was going on with her son-in-law. 'When she arrived, she saw Michael in the living room playing with about a dozen babies, all crawling about, some laughing, some crying,' recalled Monica Pastelle. 'It was like a big nursery, with a grown man in the middle of it all, seeming in a state of bliss. Though nothing wrong was going on, she was flabbergasted. It was so unsettling, Priscilla left, immediately.'

Lisa was speechless when her mother confronted her about what she'd seen.

A week later, Michael went to New York to begin rehearsals for a concert at the Beacon Theater, 'Michael Jackson One Night Only', which was scheduled to be broadcast on cable television to 250 million viewers on 9 December. On 6 December, he collapsed during a practice session and was hospitalized at New York's Beth Israel North Hospital. His doctors said he was suffering from heart arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat prompted by severe dehydration, gastroenteritis and a chemical imbalance affecting his liver and kidneys. He also had a viral infection. Yet earlier in the day, he seemed fine. Marcel Marceau, who was going to make an appearance on the HBO programme during Michael's performance of 'Childhood', had been at the rehearsal when Michael collapsed. 'He was so full of energy, in absolutely wonderful condition,' said the mime, who turned away for a moment during Michael's practice session of 'Black and White' under the hot and blinding lights.

'I heard silence,' said the mime, 'and everything stopped. I looked and he was on the floor.'

By the time medics appeared on the site, Michael's heartbeat was irregular and his blood pressure low. He had on so much makeup, they had to check his pallor by the color of his chest when they lifted his s.h.i.+rt.

As soon as he was checked into the hospital, Michael's press people telephoned Lisa in Los Angeles and, with frantic explanations, begged her to fly to her husband's side. 'h.e.l.l, no,' was her response. 'Screw him. I'm not going. Why should I?'

She wasn't going to get out of it that easily, however. Michael's collapse had made big news: 'Jacko on his Backo' screamed the front page of the New York Post New York Post. The hospital even set up a telephone number with daily, automatic message updates on his condition. The media had a.s.sembled in front of the hospital, waiting for his wife to arrive to be with him. His 'people' then badgered her 'people' about Michael's image and how it would 'look' if his wife wasn't at his side. After all, even Diana Ross had shown up. Finally and surprisingly, to her friends, anyway Lisa gave in. Arriving at the hospital the next day, wearing a black pea coat and sungla.s.ses, she was whisked through a side entrance.

It's possible that Michael really did want Lisa to be with him. However, when she got there he must have been sorry she'd agreed to the public relations manoeuvre. She showed up with fire in her eyes. When she walked into the room, the first thing that hit Lisa were all the framed posters of s.h.i.+rley Temple as a child-star, Mickey Mouse and Topo Gigio, the strange, little puppet-mouse popular from the old Ed Sullivan Show Ed Sullivan Show in the 1950s and 1960s. When Lisa looked down at Michael, he appeared to be on his death bed; it seemed as if he had tubes coming out of every limb. He reminded her, she would later say, of the pathetic creature from in the 1950s and 1960s. When Lisa looked down at Michael, he appeared to be on his death bed; it seemed as if he had tubes coming out of every limb. He reminded her, she would later say, of the pathetic creature from E. T E. T. at the end of the movie when the alien has taken a turn for the worst. As she stood there, 'E.T.' gazed up at her weakly and, mustering all his strength, managed to say, 'Hi, Lisa. How are you?'

Lisa wasn't moved. She didn't care much about Michael's health, not at that moment, anyway. She suspected that he wasn't suffering from 'exhaustion' or 'dehydration'. He had long ago confided in her about his panic attacks. According to those who know her well, she figured that he'd suffered another and, based on his destabilized condition, that it had been quite a jolt to his system. Surely, though, it wasn't because of the upcoming concert, she speculated. He'd made many such appearances, why would this particular one cause such a reaction? The broadcast had actually now been postponed indefinitely, costing both Michael and HBO a fortune. (It would never happen.) Whatever was going on with him was serious. Now that Michael was a captive audience, she wanted to confront him. So where had he been? Why was he so anxious? Most importantly, where did she stand with him?

Michael usually tries to avoid confrontation. So, for his irate wife to barge into his safe, hospital haven was upsetting. His heart must have been thundering in his chest.

Making matters more tense was the fact that the Cascio brothers had just left the room five minutes earlier. Had Lisa seen them? It was difficult to tell; her face was that impa.s.sive. But it's likely she wouldn't even have recognized them now. Still, it was a close call.

Lisa closed the door behind her. She and Michael then engaged in a private and, judging from the shouting going on in the room hers, not his heated conversation. 'I'm like a lion, I roar,' she would say in 2003. 'I won't be a victim. I don't sulk, I get angry. I go immediately into retaliation.

'I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him,' she recalled. 'I started asking questions, and it was always a different story. He said I was causing trouble and stirring up problems. He told me, "You're making my heart rate go up," and asked me to leave. I said, "Good. I want out. This is insane, all of it."'

When the door to Michael's room opened, Lisa burst out as if shot from a cannon, past everyone in the hall and straight to the elevator. 'Mrs Jackson,' exclaimed one of the doctors. 'My goodness! Your husband cannot be upset like this. He's much too fragile. If you're going to do this, you'll not be able to visit him.'

Lisa gave him a sharp look.

Michael's mother, who had been pacing in the hallway, regarded her daughter-in-law intensely. She could not fathom that Lisa would fly all the way from Los Angeles to New York just to fight with her son. Janet, who had also rushed to be at her brother's side, had just gone to the ladies' room. As Lisa stood waiting for the elevator, Katherine walked up to her and exploded in stunned disbelief. 'What is wrong wrong with you, Lisa,' she hissed. 'You are so with you, Lisa,' she hissed. 'You are so spoiled spoiled. I can't believe that you would do this to Michael.' At that moment, the elevator opened and Lisa got into it. She turned, faced Katherine and gave her a critical look. Luckily for Katherine, the elevator's doors then slammed closed between them.

Lisa wanted to see Michael the next day. 'Absolutely not,' Michael's handlers told her. There had been a meeting with Jackson family members and it was decided that Lisa was an antagonizing presence in Michael's life, and that he should now be protected from her, at all costs. Furious, Lisa went back to Los Angeles.

Perhaps a clue to Michael's behaviour his distancing himself from Lisa and his subsequent, apparent panic attack can be found in a.n.a.lysing a chain of events from late 1995. It would be many years later that Debbie Rowe would reveal that she became pregnant that December. Michael had certainly given Lisa fair warning that Debbie would have his baby if she wouldn't do it. 'Tell her to go ahead and do it,' Lisa had said. If she was being sarcastic, perhaps Michael didn't catch the mockery.

Did Lisa know about the pregnancy? 'I don't think Debbie even knew yet,' observed Monica Pastelle. 'I think by the time Michael was on his back in the hospital, she was only a couple of weeks' pregnant. As for Lisa, if she had known, do you think Michael would have been still drawing breath when she left that hospital room?'

It certainly appears either that Michael was a fast worker when he realized his marriage was in trouble or that he had a master plan to father a child, once and for all, which did not involve his wife. Some have said that Michael and Debbie were intimate. Others have said Debbie is 'not his type' and insist that they underwent the process of artificial insemination shortly before Michael ended up in the hospital. Since no one who knows them well enough to be privy to such information wants to discuss it, Debbie's pregnancy remains one of Michael's most sensitive secrets. 'I can only tell you that I did not discuss it with him,' said one of his advisers. 'I did not want any more information about any of it.'

When Michael was released from the hospital after a week, he went off to Euro-Disney in France to recuperate. He must have had at least a half-dozen children with him, judging from photographs taken on his vacation.

On 18 January 1996, I appeared on CNN to announce that Lisa Marie Presley had filed for divorce from Michael Jackson. In her pet.i.tion, she noted the 'Date of Separation' as 10 December 1995, just after she saw Michael in the hospital. 'This person is one of the biggest entertainers out there,' Lisa told Newsweek Newsweek in 2003. 'He is not stupid. He's very charming when he wants to be, and when you go into his world you step into this whole other realm. I could tell you all about the craziness all these things that were odd, different, evil or not cool but it still took me two and a half years to get my head out of it.' in 2003. 'He is not stupid. He's very charming when he wants to be, and when you go into his world you step into this whole other realm. I could tell you all about the craziness all these things that were odd, different, evil or not cool but it still took me two and a half years to get my head out of it.'

In March 1996, Debbie Rowe suffered a miscarriage. 'I was just devastated,' she has said. 'I thought I would never be able to have a baby, and I really wanted to have his. Michael was there to console me the whole time.'

It's fascinating, in retrospect, that Debbie's pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage as well as her very existence in Michael's life had still escaped public scrutiny. It seems incredible that someone of Michael's celebrity status could be married to one woman and planning a baby with another... and no one in the media would catch on to any of it. How, one wonders, did he manage it? 'Carefully,' responded someone in Michael's camp, only half-kidding. 'Very carefully.' Or, perhaps not very well at all, it could be argued... if, in fact, he had a panic attack over it.

Michael's divorce from Lisa was finalized on 20 August 1996. As part of the settlement, Lisa received ten per cent of royalties from Jackson's HIStory HIStory alb.u.m. According to the agreement, she was allowed to write a tell-all book about her marriage, if she ever chose to do so; she did not sign a so-called 'confidentiality agreement'. At the time, though, Lisa just wanted to get on with her life and career. She said that she had great regard for Michael and refused to speak critically of him. She knew that he wasn't entirely venal... she just didn't know, at this point, what to think of him. So, she chose to preserve her dignity by keeping sacred their private life together. Seven years later, though, in the spring of 2003, Lisa began to discuss her frustration as Michael's wife during promotion of her long-antic.i.p.ated debut alb.u.m, alb.u.m. According to the agreement, she was allowed to write a tell-all book about her marriage, if she ever chose to do so; she did not sign a so-called 'confidentiality agreement'. At the time, though, Lisa just wanted to get on with her life and career. She said that she had great regard for Michael and refused to speak critically of him. She knew that he wasn't entirely venal... she just didn't know, at this point, what to think of him. So, she chose to preserve her dignity by keeping sacred their private life together. Seven years later, though, in the spring of 2003, Lisa began to discuss her frustration as Michael's wife during promotion of her long-antic.i.p.ated debut alb.u.m, To Whom It May Concern To Whom It May Concern, on Capitol Records.

Michael was deeply conflicted by the end of his marriage to Lisa, his heart flooded with despair. Never before had he connected with a woman, or maybe even another person, on the level that he had with her. She had been there when he most needed her, during the dark days of allegations and drug abuse. 'She's like a force of nature,' he said of her, 'always there for me. I don't know how I'll be without her.'

He also had a strong s.e.xual connection to her, and that had been a first for him. Previously, he hadn't been able to open himself up, feel uninhibited and truly, physically intimate with anyone. However, for some reason, he was able to let himself go with Lisa. Who knows why? It's easy to be sceptical of Michael's relations.h.i.+p with her, but doing so risks ignoring his obvious humanity. Despite the plastic surgeries and maddening friends.h.i.+ps with boys, and all of the rest of the eccentric behaviour that goes into making Michael Jackson such a strange individual, he is still a human being with emotions, feelings and a beating heart and, somehow, Lisa Marie Presley was the one to truly touch it, to truly affect him. 'I'm afraid it will never happen for me, again,' he said at the time. 'I'm scared to death that it's over for me, now.' Indeed, it was difficult for him to let it go.

Michael spent a couple of weeks lamenting what had occurred with Lisa. 'Lisa said that the part of him that is critical of himself the beaten child part of him really kicked in after the divorce was finalized,' said Monica Pastelle. 'He wanted to call and talk to his best friend, her. He didn't want to let go. She needed s.p.a.ce, though. She really needed time away from him. She felt that he had really screwed with her mind, and she got sick and her body started breaking down after the divorce. She poured her life into him. Now, she needed to reclaim it for herself. He had a hard time with that.'

In the end, Michael Jackson had no choice but to go on alone. He was a survivor, he told himself. He had music to work on, career commitments a huge, world tour coming up with a show that, as always, demanded his complete focus. Besides, he and Lisa had different goals in life. He wanted to raise children; she already had two, and had made it clear that she didn't want any more with him. Michael wasn't used to waiting for other people to catch up with him and with his goals. When Debbie Rowe said she would have his baby, he jumped at the opportunity. With glacial determination replacing his despondency, he was ready to push onward. That had always been his way; at the age of thirty-eight, he wasn't going to change.

Debbie is Pregnant.

In September 1996, Michael embarked on a new worldwide concert schedule, the HIStory HIStory tour, the first leg of which began in Prague, Czech Republic, and would not end until Honolulu, Hawaii, at Aloha Stadium in January 1997. The second leg would begin in Bremen, Germany, in May 1997 and end in Durban, South Africa, in October 1997. During the tour, Michael would perform eighty-two concerts in fifty-eight cities to over 4.5 million fans. It was a gruelling schedule. All told, the tour, the first leg of which began in Prague, Czech Republic, and would not end until Honolulu, Hawaii, at Aloha Stadium in January 1997. The second leg would begin in Bremen, Germany, in May 1997 and end in Durban, South Africa, in October 1997. During the tour, Michael would perform eighty-two concerts in fifty-eight cities to over 4.5 million fans. It was a gruelling schedule. All told, the HIStory HIStory tour visited five continents and thirty-five countries. tour visited five continents and thirty-five countries.

A month after the tour began, and just a few months after his divorce was finalized, Michael made headlines again with another bombsh.e.l.l revelation: a woman was carrying his baby. Debbie Rowe was five months' pregnant, which meant she and Michael had been working on a baby while he was still technically married to Lisa. Debbie later explained, 'I said, "You deserve to be a father. Let me do this for you. Let me have your baby." He was surprised, but he said, "Yes. Let's do it."'

Debbie's existence in Michael's life and her pregnancy was finally revealed when she was tricked into discussing it with a 'friend' who was surrept.i.tiously tape-recording the conversation. 'She just didn't know any better,' explained Tanya Boyd, one of the neighbours in the Van Nuys apartment complex where she lived at the time. 'She was an open-hearted girl who never dreamed that there were people out there tape-recording conversations for the tabloids.'

However, there it was, for all to see, on the front page of News of the World News of the World (3 November 1996). 'I'm Having Jacko's Baby,' blazed the headline, with individual photographs of Michael and Debbie. She was appalled. 'Oh, my G.o.d, no,' Debbie said to a friend who was with her when she saw a copy of the publication. 'Please, tell me it does (3 November 1996). 'I'm Having Jacko's Baby,' blazed the headline, with individual photographs of Michael and Debbie. She was appalled. 'Oh, my G.o.d, no,' Debbie said to a friend who was with her when she saw a copy of the publication. 'Please, tell me it does not not say that. It's my own fault. Look at this thing. say that. It's my own fault. Look at this thing. Look at it Look at it. They're treating us like freaks!' Debbie took the newspaper and flung it across the room, angrily. Then, she sank into a chair, buried her face in her hands, and burst into tears. 'Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds,' she kept said. 'How can they do this to Michael? He doesn't deserve it. And he's going to be so mad at me.'

In truth, the article was fairly accurate, especially reading it retrospectively. In it, Debbie was quoted as saying that Michael was, indeed, the father of the baby, and that he'd be raising the child without her. She also said, according to what the News of the World News of the World reported as being on the tape-recording, that the two had engaged in s.e.xual activity, but that when she did not immediately become pregnant, they decided to try what she said Michael referred to as 'a foolproof way of doing it': artificial insemination. She said that the process occurred at the Los Angeles Fertility Inst.i.tute (on Brighton Way in Beverly Hills). The first time ended in miscarriage, she said. This time, she felt she would carry to full term. The article also said that Debbie would receive about $500,000 from Michael when she delivered the baby. reported as being on the tape-recording, that the two had engaged in s.e.xual activity, but that when she did not immediately become pregnant, they decided to try what she said Michael referred to as 'a foolproof way of doing it': artificial insemination. She said that the process occurred at the Los Angeles Fertility Inst.i.tute (on Brighton Way in Beverly Hills). The first time ended in miscarriage, she said. This time, she felt she would carry to full term. The article also said that Debbie would receive about $500,000 from Michael when she delivered the baby.

The revelation was almost as startling and maybe more so than the excitement that had resulted from Michael's surprise nuptials to Lisa Marie Presley. The questions from the media came fast and furiously: who was the expectant mother? What is she to Michael? Why is it that no one had ever heard of her before? It all seemed strange, almost like a publicity stunt.

Debbie's father, Gordon Rowe a retired cargo pilot who lived in Cyprus went on the record to say that the baby was conceived by artificial means at the Los Angeles Fertility Inst.i.tute.

'She broke the news to me in a telephone call,' he said. 'I only speak to her once in a while, and I knew something was up. She said straight off: "I'm going to have Michael's child." After I recovered from the shock, Debbie said, "Come on, it's not so bad. We had the child by artificial insemination." I said, "Debbie, why artificial insemination? Isn't he capable of fathering a child like anyone else?" She laughed and said, "Michael doesn't do anything anything like anyone else." I said to her, "Isn't this the same man who was charged with child abuse?" She said, "He wasn't charged with anything, not at all." Then, she told me, "Dad you have no idea who the real Michael Jackson is. He is the most compa.s.sionate person I have ever met in my life. If you could only spend one day with him, you would love him like I do."' like anyone else." I said to her, "Isn't this the same man who was charged with child abuse?" She said, "He wasn't charged with anything, not at all." Then, she told me, "Dad you have no idea who the real Michael Jackson is. He is the most compa.s.sionate person I have ever met in my life. If you could only spend one day with him, you would love him like I do."'

Gordon had rarely seen Debbie since he and her mom, Barbara, divorced more than twenty years before; he had not been directly involved in her upbringing since the early 1970s. 'She's always been a rebel,' he said of Debbie. 'Maybe if I'd been more of a father, things would have been different.' After his comments received worldwide publicity, he issued a general retraction of everything he had said, each and every word. It appeared that Gordon spoke too soon, and that Michael was unhappy about his comments. The pop star soon issued his own statement: 'The reports speculating that Ms Rowe was artificially inseminated, and that there is any economic relations.h.i.+p, are completely false and irresponsible.'

However, Steve Shmerier, a California computer executive who dated Debbie for six months before her first pregnancy with Michael, insists, 'Debbie told me she had agreed to try for a baby using artificial insemination as a favour to a friend. No names were mentioned. But with hindsight, you don't need to be a genius to figure out who she was talking about. She is simply not the maternal type, though. She's always said she had no interest in having children. The only reason she agreed to do this thing for Michael was the understanding that she would not become a traditional wife.'

Michael could insist that the baby was not the result of artificial insemination, and the public and press could either believe him or not. However, he went a step too far in also claiming that there was no 'economic relations.h.i.+p' with Debbie. Such a statement only weakened his credibility about the baby's conception. After all, who in his right mind would believe that he wasn't giving Debbie some some money? Even the surrogate mother who comes into the picture as a complete stranger is compensated for her services, let alone those who are close friends of fifteen years. Is it logical that Debbie Rowe would have a child for one of the wealthiest entertainers in show business and that he, in return, would not give her even a dime for her trouble? money? Even the surrogate mother who comes into the picture as a complete stranger is compensated for her services, let alone those who are close friends of fifteen years. Is it logical that Debbie Rowe would have a child for one of the wealthiest entertainers in show business and that he, in return, would not give her even a dime for her trouble?

In fact, according to reliable sources, Debbie has received millions of dollars from Michael over the years, not as payment for her services but as 'gifts' to her. When Michael's former business manager Myung Ho Lee sued him for fourteen million dollars in 2002, among the court papers filed was Michael's monthly monthly budget, which included 'payment to Debbie Rowe' for $1.5 million. Whether she's getting money from him every month, annually, or per child, she will never have to worry about finances again. Michael arranged for other financial annuities for her, as well as eventually buying her a $1.3 million home in the exclusive Franklin Canyon enclave of Beverly Hills, in the fall of 1997. He and Debbie would never live together. budget, which included 'payment to Debbie Rowe' for $1.5 million. Whether she's getting money from him every month, annually, or per child, she will never have to worry about finances again. Michael arranged for other financial annuities for her, as well as eventually buying her a $1.3 million home in the exclusive Franklin Canyon enclave of Beverly Hills, in the fall of 1997. He and Debbie would never live together.

'At the time that the story broke, Debbie was supposed to meet him in Australia,' said Tanya Boyd. 'She presumed that the trip would be off, that Michael would be so upset about what had happened that he would refuse to see her. She cried a lot that day.'

Debbie frantically attempted to locate Michael in Sydney to explain to him how she had been deceived by her 'friend'. However, before she could reach him, he was on the telephone, calling her. Contrary to what Debbie expected, as she recalled it, Michael could not have been more loving and understanding. She now says that it was during that telephone call that she realized that Michael was the man for her. 'Look, I can understand how this terrible thing happened,' Michael told Debbie. 'I've been tricked by the media before. Relax. It'll be okay, I promise.'

'Debbie so appreciated him,' said Tanya Boyd. 'Even though she had obviously created a huge jam, he didn't blame her for it. That went a long way toward making him a saint in her eyes. She was so relieved, she decided that she would be loyal to him, and once you have Debbie Rowe's loyalty, you have it for life unless you screw up, royally.'

'Focus, Debbie,' Michael told her. 'Keep your eye on the goal, which is that you and I have this baby. Of course, the press would find out about it, eventually. I expected it. They have made my life miserable for years.'

Though he tried not to show it to the expectant mother, Michael actually was apprehensive about the news of Debbie's pregnancy being made public. First of all, would his fans put it all together and realize that he'd been working on having a baby with Debbie before he was even divorced from Lisa? How would that look? (Oddly, it would turn out that much of his public wouldn't figure it out, or, at least, care.) Not only was he unsure how his fans would take it, he was worried about the reaction of his mother, Katherine.

Indeed, Katherine, still a devout Jehovah's Witness, was not happy to learn from news broadcasts that her son was fathering a child with a woman to whom he was not married. 'This reminds me of what Michael's father did in the seventies,' Katherine said, privately, speaking of Joh'Vonnie. 'It broke my heart. I won't have history repeat itself with Michael. I just won't have it.'

After the news of Debbie's pregnancy broke, Katherine tried to reach Michael overseas. It was difficult because of his tight schedule but on the day the pregnancy story broke, Katherine managed to find Debbie, whom she had met on several occasions, at a neighbour's apartment, where she was hiding out from the stalking media. That neighbour recalled, 'I picked up the telephone, hoping it was Michael calling for Debbie from Australia, and this woman on the other end said, "Would you please put Miss Rowe on the phone?" I thought it was a reporter, so I said, "She's not here." And the woman said, "Well, this is Michael Jackson's mother. Can you help me locate her?" I have no idea how she got my number. I handed Debbie the phone.'

Katherine was, as Debbie's neighbour put it, 'sweet as she could have been to her.' For about thirty minutes, she talked to Debbie about the sanct.i.ty of marriage, and about the Jehovah's Witness faith. Debbie was impressed. In fact, by the time she ended her conversation with Katherine, she had not only agreed that it would be best if she married Michael, she was practically ready to convert.

When Michael found out that Katherine and Debbie had spoken, he probably sensed that his life might be about to change. Indeed, according to one of his a.s.sociates, when Michael finally spoke to Katherine on the telephone, she asked him to marry 'that nice girl, Debbie' and 'give your child a name, not like your poor, half-sister, Joh'Vonnie.' Michael had never wanted to repeat the sins of his father, so Katherine perhaps knew how to appeal to him or, as the a.s.sociate put it, 'She pushed all the right b.u.t.tons.'

Michael agreed that he should marry Debbie. 'It's definitely the right thing to do,' he said.

When one reviews the chain of events described by their intimates, it's interesting that Katherine's telephone call to Debbie and Michael had such an impact on their future together. Prior to the Jackson matriarch's involvement, the plan was that Debbie was to have been a 'surrogate mother' for Michael a close friend doing a favour for him by having a baby, which she would then give him to raise. After the birth of the child, Michael intended to issue a statement, and then keep the mother's ident.i.ty a secret, in much the same way the ident.i.ties of most surrogate mothers are protected. A good example of what he and Debbie intended is the way he has handled the ident.i.ty of the woman who gave birth to his very blond third child, Prince Michael II. We don't know who she is, other than that she's not Debbie; Debbie has denied maternity. He has not divulged her name, and he hasn't married her, either. It wouldn't have been easy, of course, to keep Debbie's ident.i.ty undisclosed, but since he has managed to keep the other woman's ident.i.ty out of the press, it obviously can be done. Over the years, Michael had proven that, if he wishes to do so, he can keep secrets about his private life.

However, Debbie's having confided to a traitorous friend about the pregnancy, the resulting publicity, and then Katherine's concern, altered Michael's master plan and also his life. As a result, he was not only going to be a father, but a husband again.

While speaking to her on the telephone, Michael insisted that Debbie keep her plans to visit him in Australia and, in fact, take the next plane. She agreed to meet him at the Sheraton on the Park Hotel, where the Jackson contingency occupied forty rooms. However, she did not know then that she was going to be marrying him, there. 'She was surprised when she finally got there, and he told her of his plan,' said Tanya Boyd. 'She called me [on November 12, 1996] and said, "Guess what? I'm marrying Michael tomorrow." I asked her if she loved him. She thought it over for a moment, and answered, "Yes, I do, sort of." I pushed. "Romantically?" She paused, and said, "The kind of love I have with Michael is bigger, more important, than that. It's not the kind that most people can understand. Simple love affairs end. This relations.h.i.+p will never end."'

Michael's New Family.

On 13 November 1996, Michael Jackson sat down at a grand piano in his two-bedroom suite at the Sheraton on the Park Hotel in Sydney. With a flourish, he played the Wagner march known as 'Here Comes the Bride'. Michael had on a creamy foundation and transparent powder that made his face almost stark white. He had extra eyeliner on his lids, emphasizing their almond shape; his eyes stood out like dark coals. He highlighted his nose and cheekbones with bronze tones. His eyebrows were tweezed and darkened. He had on a black hat and one long curl framing each side of his face. Also, he appeared to have fake sideburns. The total effect was nothing short of jaw-dropping, in that Disneyland sort of way.

From one of the other rooms came Debbie Rowe, six months' pregnant, wearing black and holding a small arrangement of flowers. It had just been ten days since the world knew that he was about to become a father and now, thanks to his mother, he was about to become a husband, again. As fifteen of their friends watched, thirty-eight-year-old Michael and thirty-seven-year-old Debbie both wearing black were wed in a simple ceremony. Michael's best man was a new friend of his named Anthony who was eight years old. Michael identified him as a nephew. (However, unless there are relatives unknown to other family members, he doesn't seem to have a nephew by that name.) Michael further explained that the boy had been depressed by the death of one of his parents. 'I brought him with me to cheer him up,' he explained.

As they stood in the suite, decorated, wall to wall, with exotic orchids, roses and deep pink lilies, Michael presented Debbie with a $100,000 diamond and platinum ring. After being p.r.o.nounced man and wife, they exchanged an affectionate look and a brief, tentative kiss. Debbie seemed tense, holding herself stiffly. When they drew apart, Michael held her away from him, gazing deeply into her face. He then leaned in and kissed her on the neck. 'You are so beautiful,' he said, holding her with his eyes. 'More beautiful than I ever imagined the mother of my child would be. Thank you so much, Debbie. Thank you so much for being... you.' It was a touching moment.

The next evening, Michael and Anthony attended the Australian premiere of Michael's short film Ghosts Ghosts and walked side by side in front of the clicking and whirring cameras. Michael looked content in one of his military outfits and a black silk surgical mask. Anthony, who wore a simple, short-sleeved black s.h.i.+rt, was dark-haired, good-looking... and, in the opinion of most observers, a dead-ringer for Jordie Chandler. and walked side by side in front of the clicking and whirring cameras. Michael looked content in one of his military outfits and a black silk surgical mask. Anthony, who wore a simple, short-sleeved black s.h.i.+rt, was dark-haired, good-looking... and, in the opinion of most observers, a dead-ringer for Jordie Chandler.

Meanwhile, Debbie was in her hotel suite making long-distance telephone calls to friends in the United States. Marsha Devlin, another one of her Van Nuys neighbours at the time, recalled that Debbie told her she needed her to pay her telephone bill for her. 'She had left the States in such a hurry, she forgot to pay it,' said Marsha. 'It was disconnected already; she owed back money for the bill. If she had money from Michael by this time, you sure would never know it. She told me she had about three thousand dollars in the bank.'

When Marsha asked, Debbie told her that Michael did not stay with her in her suite at the Sheraton on the Park Hotel the night before they wed, nor on their wedding night. Instead, she said, he stayed with 'an a.s.sistant' in another room, 'so that I could get some rest. I was exhausted.' Less than a week later, Debbie returned to Los Angeles, never having slept with Michael in Sydney.

The day before he married Debbie Rowe, Michael telephoned Lisa Marie Presley in Los Angeles to tell her of his plans. He still cared deeply about her, he said, and didn't want her to 'read about the wedding in the papers'. He felt dreadful, he told her, about the way their relations.h.i.+p ended, 'with us saying mean things to each other. And now I'm moving on,' he told her, according to a later recollection, 'but I don't really feel that it's right, not without your blessing.' In fact, those close to Michael say that he was so anxious about his marriage to Debbie, he was jittery and would begin to sob at the slightest provocation, his tears flowing, unchecked. No wonder he was worn out; his life had been filled with such confusion and anxiety for as many years as he could remember, the stress of it keenly felt, especially while on the road with yet another strenuous tour. He was bone tired; getting up on that stage and executing his trademark dance steps had become more of an ordeal with each pa.s.sing year. 'I'm getting too old for this s.h.i.+t,' he said.

Lisa didn't know how to react to Michael's telephone call. She still loved him, she said, but she was adamant that they would never be together, again. Therefore, he should go forth and do whatever he wanted to do with his life, with Debbie Rowe, or anyone else. She gave him her 'blessing'. Anyway, it was time for her to move past the madness of his world, to stop trying to fathom the unfathomable. After she and Michael ended their marriage, she fell into a serious health decline, 'the worst two years of my life,' as she put it. Privately, she said that she hoped he was content in his new life, but she knew him too well. His sadness sprang from so many years of distrust and unhappiness, how could a marriage to someone with whom he wasn't in love possibly end his misery, even if she was having a baby for him?

Lisa may have been concerned, but much of the public and media's reaction to Michael's second marriage was just cynical. It appeared that he married a person he didn't love, who was having a baby that may or may not have been his, or maybe conceived artificially. 'Please respect our privacy,' Michael said in a statement, 'and let us enjoy this wonderful and exciting time.' As for Debbie, many people didn't know what to make of her, either. On its front page, the Daily Mirror Daily Mirror published a photograph of her on a hotel balcony in Sydney cradling her head in her hands in dismay, probably expressing exasperation at the presence of an army of paparazzi, below. However, the bold headline suggested otherwise. It read: O published a photograph of her on a hotel balcony in Sydney cradling her head in her hands in dismay, probably expressing exasperation at the presence of an army of paparazzi, below. However, the bold headline suggested otherwise. It read: OH G G.o.d! I' I'VE JUST MARRIED M MICHAEL J JACKSON.

Prince Michael Jackson, Michael's son, was born in February 1997 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. (He is now known as Prince Michael I. Michael's grandfather and great-grandfather were both named Prince.) He and Debbie cut the umbilical cord together. The baby was weighed. He spent five hours in intensive care with a minor problem, and then Michael rushed him out of the hospital and off to Neverland.

When Debbie was released from Cedars, she recuperated at a friend's house.

'I have been blessed beyond comprehension,' Michael said in a statement, 'and I will work tirelessly at being the best father I can be. I appreciate that my fans are elated, but I hope that everyone respects the privacy that Debbie and I want and need for our son. I grew up in a fish bowl and I will not allow that to happen to my child. Please give my son his privacy.'

Michael and Debbie posed for photographs with Prince in March, at the Four Seasons Hotel. Though the poses seemed warm and Michael and Debbie appeared to be proud parents, it had actually been the first time Debbie had seen the baby since the day she gave birth to him six weeks earlier. She was smuggled into the hotel room, given the infant to hold, told to smile for the camera with Michael... and then, her work done, thanked profusely by Michael and sent on her way. She did seem very loving to her child who was light-skinned with black hair and dark brown eyes during the time she cradled him in her arms. No doubt, however, she would not want to have become too attached to Prince. It would just make matters more difficult for her. Under ordinary circ.u.mstances, a surrogate mother would never be called upon to have to pose for pictures with the baby she had given to someone else to raise. However Debbie Rowe, always amenable to whatever was asked of her, was in a different world... Michael's world.

A woman who worked as a chef at Neverland recalls the way Prince was nursed during his first six months. 'Debbie was not a significant presence,' she said. 'We never saw her. The baby was cared for by a team of six nannies and six nurses. They all worked eight hours each, in s.h.i.+fts, so the baby would always have two nurses and two nannies by his side. They were kept under constant video surveillance, which was monitored by members of Jackson's security team. The nannies all have special training. The day-team do exercise drills with the baby to build up his strength. The night-team began reading and singing to Prince when he was only three weeks old. When Prince cries, he seemed to be calling for his mama. It was eerie, almost as if the baby didn't have a mother at all. There are no pictures of Debbie. Mr Jackson has just one photo by his bed, and that's of Lisa Marie as a child in the year when the two of them met.'

She said Prince sometimes slept in Michael's room in a crib filled with stuffed animals. 'The room was more like a nursery than a room for a grown man,' she recalled. 'There were two life-sized figures outside, like a toy shop. One is a boy scout, the other is a girl in a British policeman's hat. Inside there was Peter Pan stuff on the walls and a bunch of Nintendo games we were told not to touch.'

One nanny who worked at Neverland said, 'There was a feeling of being a bit under siege. Nevertheless, the baby did get exceptional care. We had to measure the air quality in his room once every hour. When we fed him, all the utensils had to be boiled first and could only be used for one type of food. They were all thrown away after a single use.' Prince was given new toys every day and, apparently for sanitary reasons, Michael instructed his staff to discard his 'old' toys after Prince has gone to bed. 'Debbie Rowe really had no input,' the nanny said. 'I saw her maybe three times and she seemed very sullen.'

For Debbie, one perk of being Michael's wife was the opportunity to rub shoulders with the rich and famous. However, sometimes she didn't rub as closely as she might have hoped. For instance, she had been anxious to meet Elizabeth Taylor. However, Elizabeth was annoyed at Michael at this time because Michael had never introduced Debbie to her, and she couldn't fathom that he would go off and marry someone she didn't know. Michael told Debbie to go ahead and try to meet Liz if she wanted to, but that it wouldn't be a good time for him to be an intermediary. Debbie attempted to contact Elizabeth, telephoning her a few times. At one point, she gave Elizabeth's secretary her mailing address, so that Elizabeth would have it in her appointment book. One day, she received a note from the screen star: 'Thank you for your interest in my career. Enclosed, please find a signed photo. With affection, [signed] Elizabeth Taylor.'

'Debbie laughed when she got it,' said Tanya Boyd. 'She thought it was the funniest thing in the world. She even framed it! "So close," she said of Elizabeth Taylor, "yet so, so far."'

Lisa Marie has a Change of Heart.

Michael Jackson is a powerful person who has a strong effect on people, even the most wealthy and famous who want nothing more than to be in his life. Apparently, Lisa Marie Presley was not immune to that influence. Despite all that had happened with him in their twenty-month marriage, she was compelled to keep abreast of the goings on in Michael's life. Maybe in an effort to achieve that goal, she suddenly began socializing with Michael's sister Janet. A few months earlier, the two were spotted together at a club in Manhattan called Life, seemingly enjoying each other's company and causing people to wonder what in the world they were doing together.

Lisa explained to friends that she was advising Janet on how to get back in shape for her upcoming Velvet Rope Velvet Rope tour; Janet had apparently gained about forty pounds and was determined to lose them, and more. However, it's unlikely that Lisa and Janet were going to the gym together. It simply looked like they were having fun because, that same week, they were seen shopping, having lunch, going to the movies and even catching an off-Broadway play, both in disguises. In September 1997, Lisa attended the launch party for Janet's tour; Janet had apparently gained about forty pounds and was determined to lose them, and more. However, it's unlikely that Lisa and Janet were going to the gym together. It simply looked like they were having fun because, that same week, they were seen shopping, having lunch, going to the movies and even catching an off-Broadway play, both in disguises. In September 1997, Lisa attended the launch party for Janet's Velvet Rope Velvet Rope CD. Shortly after, they attended the MTV Awards together. CD. Shortly after, they attended the MTV Awards together.

When Michael heard from Janet that she was socializing with Lisa, he became intensely interested. 'Does she ever talk about me?' he wanted to know. 'I'll bet she hates me, now. Does she hate me, now?'

Janet told her brother that Lisa seemed to hold no grudge against him for what had happened in their relations.h.i.+p and, in fact, would actually like to see him. What she didn't tell him was that Lisa had been suspicious of Michael's marriage to 'Nursey'. She knew Michael well enough to know that his goal had always been to have children, and he didn't seem to care how he got them. He had wanted Lisa to bear him a child, but she drew the line there since she didn't want to bring a child into an unhappy union. She suspected that he and Debbie had an agreement to have a baby, and that their marriage was just a device to make it legitimate. Janet confirmed all of those suspicions, telling her that Michael 'did it [married Debbie] for Katherine, really.' Lisa didn't hold against Michael any of his choices where Debbie was concerned. 'You can't blame someone for being exactly who they are, can you?' she asked her friend, Monica Pastelle. 'A lot of people use surrogate mothers and, if you look at this and really kinda squint at it, I think that's what it is. But,' she hastened to add, 'it gives me a terrible headache if I think too hard about it, so I try not to.'

Michael then telephoned Lisa to ask if they could be friends. 'I've always loved you,' he said to her, according to a later recollection, 'and I hate that way it ended between us. I really do.'

Lisa told him that an important aspect of her Scientology training is that she not hold on to bitterness and anger, and that she had dedicated herself to get past any negative feelings about him. He was happy to hear it. He then invited her and her children to join him in South Africa where his HIStory tour was finally wrapping up. His mother and father would also be there, he said, so Lisa wouldn't have to feel awkward about the propriety of such a visit. They were helping him watch Prince Michael, he explained. (That may have been true, but Michael also had a team of nurses and nannies on hand.) Lisa couldn't resist; she said, yes.

Whatever Lisa's intentions had ever been involving Michael, she still had a deep connection with him and seeing him building a family with another woman wasn't easy for her. It had been some time since she had immersed herself in his world, which as she once said, was 'the only way to figure out how he's doing. You can't ask someone how a rollercoaster ride is while they're still on it you just have to hop on too.' Lisa had to see for herself how he had adjusted to life since they parted company. A lot had changed for him. He had sidestepped the molestation allegations, released new music, toured successfully, married, had a child. Finally, it appeared he was settling down, finding himself. Would she now find a new Michael Jackson, one that had risen from the ashes of the broken man she knew before. It was this curiosity that took her across the Atlantic, twice. She would first join him in London, where he would be playing Wembley Stadium (12-17 July). She had Scientology business there, she said. Then, she would return to the States, and rejoin Michael at the end of the tour in South Africa.

Perfect, Michael must have thought. As it happened, Debbie was joining him in France, Austria and Germany (25 June-6 July), just a week before Lisa's arrival, to see him and Prince Michael, who was about four months old. By that point, she'd only seen the baby once, maybe twice, since he was born. She was planning to leave before the London dates, which was fine with Michael because she and Lisa would then not cross paths.

In Germany, Michael was upfront with Debbie and told her that Lisa would be joining him on his next dates in England and then, later, in South Africa. Debbie wasn't thrilled with the news she may have thought Lisa was encroaching on her territory but she got over it, quickly. Their relations.h.i.+p wasn't such that she could tell him what to do, anyway, even if they were married. Plus, she didn't really care. 'Look, the thing is this,' she told a friend. 'I don't tell Michael Jackson how to live his life, and he doesn't tell me how to live mine. [Debbie always referred to her husband as "Michael Jackson".] And that's a fact,' she concluded. 'So if he wants to run around with his ex-wife, I'm not going stop him. Because I don't want him stopping me if I want to do the same thing with my ex-boyfriend.'

'But that's not a normal marriage, is it?' protested Debbie's friend.

'We're talking Michael Jackson's Michael Jackson's marriage, here,' quipped Debbie. 'Come on! Get real. I have it under control. I'm a grown-up, and I know what I'm doing, and so does he. Besides,' she said, 'I think we'll have a big announcement, soon.' marriage, here,' quipped Debbie. 'Come on! Get real. I have it under control. I'm a grown-up, and I know what I'm doing, and so does he. Besides,' she said, 'I think we'll have a big announcement, soon.'

Debbie didn't explain at the time, but she and Michael either had s.e.x (as they would later insist), or did something more artificial to make it happen, but while she was in Paris, staying at the Disneyland Hotel outside the city, she became pregnant with his second child. She knew her relations.h.i.+p with Michael such as it was, whatever it was was not in jeopardy. They had an arrangement; it seemed to work.

Meanwhile, in London, Lisa and her two children joined Michael and his parents in London. They all stayed in Michael's $10,000-a-night suite at the luxury Carlton Towers hotel.

Michael's three dates at Wembley Stadium were all sold out; he was in a terrific mood. However, as devoted as Lisa was to it during their visit, she didn't have enough quality time with him to get a handle on Michael's state of being.

Three months went by, and Lisa joined him again in South Africa in October. This time Lisa stepped off the plane with a shock of blonde hair, moderately resembling the shade of Debbie's hair. During this trip, she made a concerted effort to 'weasel' her way (as she later put it) into his busy days.

Lisa and Michael, and his parents, son and her children, all stayed at the Palace Hotel in the centre of Johannesburg. The former couple was seen holding hands and beaming at one another. Yet, beneath the veneer of her pleasant smiles, Lisa had begun to grow uncomfortable with the new Michael Jackson. While he was not nearly as troubled as he had been during her reign in his life, some of the changes she saw in him bothered her.

For one thing, the vulnerability that he had before, born maybe of paranoia or an impending sense of doom, had now been replaced with a kind of bravado. It appeared that Michael felt invincible. A particularly troubling fact for Lisa was the appearance of a thirteen-year-old Norwegian boy. He was a cute kid who wore a red baseball cap all the time, given to him by Michael. His presence, even if it was innocent, was disconcerting. Did Michael still not realize how dangerous it was for him, in terms of his public image, to have young boys with him on tour?