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VH1 WILL UNCOVER MICHAEL JACKSON'S SECRET CHILDHOOD

Source of Article
Indiantelevision.com Team
(16 March 2005 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: One case that the media is following closely is pop icon Michael Jackson's trial in front a California judge.

But regardless of the outcome of his trial on child molestation charges, the gap between how the world views Michael and how he sees himself has never been wider.

In this context music and lifestyle channel VH1 explains how the beloved child entertainer became such a bizarre public figure. In India through its segment VH1 News the broadcaster will air Michael Jackson's Secret Childhood on 19 March at 10 pm.

VH1 News has examined the singer's upbringing and found a life filled with abuse, hard labour, relentless ambition, and conflict between his religious upbringing and growing fame. Beginning with Jackson's birth in 1958 to the record-breaking success of his Thriller album in 1984, the special delves deep into Jackson's past, such as the mental and physical abuse he endured from his father, Joe Jackson. This includes incessant rehearsals, whippings and humiliating Michael by calling him 'big nose'

Joe exorcised his frustrations over his own failed musical career by exploiting his musically gifted children - especially Michael - by forcing them to perform in seedy bars and strip joints from Indiana to Ohio. At the same time, the proselytising of his mother Katherine - a devout Jehovah's Witness - confused Michael about singing, sex and family secrets.

This show opens the doors to the Jackson family homes in Gary, Indiana and Encino, California to uncover bizarre, never-before-seen home movies of Michael dancing with Emmanuel Lewis and cavorting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. In exclusive interviews, viewers are introduced to Michael's first "little friend" the child actor Rodney Allen Rippey.

Other interviews include former CBS Records music mogul Walter Yetnikoff, the man responsible for Michael pursuing a solo music career, but knew him since his childhood years as a member of the Jackson 5, Tatiana Thumbtzen, Michael's co-star from The Way You Make Me Feel video who tells her tale of unrequited love for the shy pop star. Then there is Teresa J. Gonsalves, a childhood pen pal who got to see a side of the pop icon that very few were privileged to see.

These people, along with celebrity family therapists, biographers and religion experts, all offer their theories about the man whose public antics have become a national obsession. As far as the trial is concerned the sexual molesting case against Michael Jackson, which could put him in jail for 18 years, rests almost entirely on the confused and sometimes contradictory testimony of three siblings, none older than 18.

Defense lawyers for Jackson face a delicate balancing act in cross-examining the young witnesses. Challenging them too vigorously could turn the jury against the defense team and Jackson, who has promoted himself for years as loving children and all things childlike.

While the accuser and his siblings appear to be resolute on central aspects of the case, the halting manner of their presentation and the defense team's aggressive efforts to undermine it illustrate the difficulties in putting children on the witness stand and having their testimony stick.

End of Article

Jackson Declares Innocence, Says He's Victim of Conspiracy


Source of Article
By JOHN ROGERS
Associated Press Writer

March 27, 2005


Michael Jackson, declaring he is "completely innocent," said Sunday his trial on child molestation charges has brought him to the lowest emotional point of his life, and he asked his fans around the world to pray for him.

During an interview with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the entertainer also said he believes he is the victim of a conspiracy, although he declined to elaborate, citing the court-imposed gag order that prevents him from discussing his trial in detail. Jackson added, however, that he believes he is the latest of several "black luminaries" to be unjustly accused, citing former South African President Nelson Mandela and former heavyweight boxing champions Muhammad Ali and Jack Johnson as others.

"I just want to say to fans in every corner of the Earth, every nationality, every race, every language, I love you from the bottom of my heart," Jackson said toward the end of the hourlong interview broadcast live over the Internet. "I would love your prayers and your goodwill, and please be patient and be with me and believe in me because I am completely, completely innocent. But please know a lot of conspiracy is going on as we speak."

Jackson also said at one point that he remains in "intense pain" after falling in the shower earlier this month, although he said at another point that his health was perfect. The entertainer arrived late to court on March 10, wearing pajama bottoms, a T-shirt and walking stiffly. His representatives said at the time he had been treated at a hospital for a serious back injury.

"I was coming out of the shower and I fell and all my body weight - I'm pretty fragile - all my body weight fell against my rib cage," Jackson said. "And I bruised my lung very badly."

He said the injury has caused him to cough up blood and was so painful that it brought him to tears in court one day when he was seen wiping his eyes with a tissue. He added that he remains under a doctor's care.

Earlier in the interview, when the reverend noted how thin he is, Jackson replied that he has never been a big eater, something he said has always concerned his mother and others, including actress Elizabeth Taylor, a friend.

"Elizabeth Taylor used to feed me, to hand-feed me, at times," he said.

"Please, I don't want anybody to think I'm starving, I'm not." he quickly added. "My health is perfect, actually."

The entertainer also denied recent rumors that he is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.

"That's not true at all. It's just one of their many schemes to embarrass me. It's to drag me through the mud," he said.

He did indicate there is some sort of battle under way over the music catalog he owns that contains the rights to songs by the Beatles, Little Richard and others, but he declined to elaborate.

"There's a big fight going on, right now as we speak, about that," he said. "I can't comment on it, but there's a lot of conspiracy out there."

The first 40 minutes of the interview were given over to an upbeat Jackson reminiscing warmly about his career, his family and such childhood musical heroes as James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Sammy Davis Jr. and the Beatles.

He spoke of growing up in a household filled with music, and the reverend recalled first meeting the 46-year-old entertainer when Jackson was about 7 and arrived at his office in a station wagon with his brothers and father, who asked about booking the youngsters for a show.

The reverend told The Associated Press earlier this month that he and Jackson frequently pray together, and he told his audience Sunday that he speaks by phone with the entertainer nearly every day.

Jackson said prayer is helping him get through his trial, which resumes Monday.

"I gain strength from God. I believe in Jehovah God very much," said Jackson, who is a Jehovah's Witness.

"Probably the low point, the lowest point emotionally, is probably what I'm going through," he replied when asked the lowest point in his life.

He said the high point was when he recorded his much-heralded "Thriller" album of 1982. He set out to make it a disco version of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite," and believes he succeeded, Jackson said, noting it won eight Grammys and was the biggest-selling record of all time.

"I would say that was the pinnacle," he said.