'There were no guests at his kid's birthday party': The latest book by Michael Jackson's bodyguards tells a bitter-sweet story about the pop star's secluded life
Courtesy of IBN Live
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The following article is a compilation of excerpts and observations from the latest book titled, 'Remember The Time: Protecting Michael Jackson In His Final Days', written by his former security guards, Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard, with Tanner Colby.
Hounded by the tabloid media, Michael Jackson spent his final years moving from city to city, living with his three children -- Prince, Paris and Blanket -- in virtual seclusion. His two security men, Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard, spent almost all their waking hours with the Jacksons, watching out for them.
Here is a compilation of 10 moving things we didn't know about the 'King of Pop' and his strange, secluded life:
1) "The biggest indulgences for the kids were their birthday parties. For those, Mr Jackson went all out."
Bill and Javon discuss the birthday party for one of Jackson's children. Michael Jackson would have a list of things he'd want done for the kid. Be it a clown, a magician, a popcorn machine or an inflatable jumper. He'd be really specific about the things too. "Make sure you find a clown that can make balloons into different animals," he'd say.
He'd take the children out when his staff was working for the surprise party. "They'd come back and we'd yell, 'SURPRISE!'. We'd have the magician, the clown with the balloons, the cotton candy -- the whole place would be decked out for a party. But there'd be nobody there." There were no other guests, no other children. "It was just the clowns, Mr Jackson, me and Jovon, sometimes the teacher or the nanny. The kids didn't have any friends. It was hard to witness, hard to accept that there was nobody coming around, ringing the bell and bringing gifts."
2) "We rode in the service elevators, with trash bags stacked in the corner, waiting to be hauled down to the basement. That was the world Michael Jackson lived in."
"Everybody thought Michael Jackson led this high-flying life, glamorous life. But never once did we go in through the front lobby, where everything is beautiful and pretty and clean," says Javon. Jackson's security guards recall how they always had to hide from the main entrance of any hotel or restaurant, hide from the paparazzi. There's only one occasion that they remember NOT doing that.
"Mr Jackson had a meeting at the Bellagio, and we ran into Steve Wynn. He asked us to walk through the Bellagio's casino are with him. A few people were gawking, but it wasn't too busy that time of the day. We walked into the front lobby and Mr Jackson looked around and said, "You know, I can't even remember the last time I saw the lobby of a hotel. I forgot how beautiful they are. This is really amazing."
3) "His main contact with the outside world was through the fans. People would send fan mail and gifts too. He would mostly keep the gifts that were handmade -- a collage or a card with a special message on."
There was so much stuff sent by Michael Jackson's fans that the security guards were asked to designate one bedroom as the fan mail room. "The walls were plastered with handmade cards and letters, and the floor was covered with big stacks. And that was just what was accumulated in Las Vegas over a few months' time." They add that except for those letters and occasional visits from his mother or one or two other people, he really was just alone with the kids inside this little bubble."
4) "A lot of the time, hanging out, he was just a regular dude. But every now and then you'd get these reminders of how isolated his life had been, like with some of the words he used."
One of the times the Jacksons had to stay at a hotel, they'd snuck in Prince's dog into the room. The dog wasn't properly house-trained, and they couldn't walk it. "You can imagine what it smelled like in there after a couple of days.
"Bill I need you to go out and get some smells."
"Smells? What's 'smells'?"
"You know, things to make the room smell good."
"You mean air fresheners?"
"Yeah, yeah. Stuff like that."
5) "He'd read anything and everything he could get his hands on. History, science, art. He'd drop $5,000 like he was buying a pack of gums. At one point, he actually bought a bookstore."
Bill says that it was on one of the trips back from Tokyo, in LA. Jackson went to visit this used bookstore. It had a lot of rare books from the personal libraries of some pretty famous people, Hollywood stars. "There were books that Humphrey Bogart had signed, books that Ingrid Bergman had signed." Jackson wanted to buy all of them, but the owner didn't take him seriously. "So he made him an offer of $100,000. Said he'd pay cash on the spot. Couple of weeks after he got back from LA, this truck filled with all this books showed up at the house in Vegas."
6) "He never wore reading glasses in public."
Bill says that whenever Jackson went to a bookstore, he'd always go to that rack where they keep the glasses. Jackson would grab a bunch and try them until he found a pair that matched his prescription. "When he read at home, he had one of those magnifying glasses that they use in doctors' offices, the kind with a built-in light that blows things up about a billion times bigger."
7) "He read The Wall Street Journal every day, and never watched TV. Only DVDs. He was also a huge fan of 'The Simpsons'."
Bill says that Jackson liked to read newspapers from different countries, in different languages, irregardless of whether he understood it or not. "He read the WSJ every day. That was the only American media he'd consume, because that paper was pretty much the only place he could get real news without running into crazy Michael Jackson stories."
Bill and Javon add that they made sure that they kept any magazines/newspapers with negative articles about him, out of his reach.
8) "Get something nourishing. Don't get drugs," Jackson would tell the homeless person he had just given money to.
One time, at Jackson's insistence, Bill and Javon took him to an area populated by homeless people. Jackson cracked open the window, and called out to the homeless, distributing $100 bills to them. He preferred giving money to the women. "People started lining up outside his window like it was an ATM."
9) "I need you to bring something back for me. It is very important. In my bedroom, to the left, is a walk-in closet. Inside the closet, there's a small hidden door. Inside there you'll find a silver metal briefcase. I need you to bring me that briefcase."
Bill says that inside the silver metal briefcase, were two Academy Awards. "When I looked more closely at them, they had both had 'Gone With The Wind' written on them. One was for Best Picture. I looked it up online. Apparently, these two statues wre the most valuable Oscars ever bought at auction. Mr Jackson paid $1.5 million for them back in 1999. It's in the 'Guinness World Records'.
10) "Friend" and "Flower", his mysterious women guests
Michael Jackson had an Eastern European lady friend whom he'd hug and kiss in the back of his chauffeur-driven car, his former bodyguards said. The singer had another female visitor nicknamed 'Flower' as well. 'Flower' visited a few days after 'Friend' and while she and the pop star were close, Jackson was more fond of 'Friend'.
Five Jeremy Kyle Celebrity Specials are set to air this summer with stars confirmed to appear including Michael Barrymore, Tito Jackson and ‘Coronation Street’ star Liz Dawn.
The Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder and former IT girl Tara Palmer Tomkinson will also feature on the daytime show.
Viewers will see each celebrity open up about an issue they’ve struggled to deal with, starting with Michael who will discuss his issues with drink and drugs, as well his struggles with his sexuality.
He will also give his account of the 2001 party which ended with the death of Stuart Lubbock.
Tara will open up about her struggle with cocaine addiction while Shaun is set to reveal the details of his time as lead singer of The Happy Mondays, while Tito will talk about the Jackson family’s fame and fortune.