In life, Michael Jackson couldn't escape the spotlight — but there were secrets the King of Pop took to his grave... secrets until now.
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00:00In life, Michael Jackson couldn't escape the spotlight, but there were secrets the King
00:04of Pop took to his grave. Secrets until now.
00:08The shape of Michael Jackson's nose, eyes, and chin underwent significant changes over
00:11the years, to the point that at the end of his life he bore little resemblance to the
00:15young man fans came to know in the late 70s. Jackson denied that he had sought out cosmetic
00:19surgery. He claimed in interviews that he had only ever had surgery on his nose as a
00:23practical intervention to improve his vocal range.
00:26But then there was Jackson's changing skin tone, which became noticeably lighter from
00:29the late 80s onward, leading to accusations that he was purposefully attempting to play
00:33down his African-American heritage. The truth, however, was that Jackson was suffering from
00:37vitiligo, a condition which affects skin pigment.
00:40This is the situation. I have a skin disorder that destroys the pigmentation of the skin.
00:46It's something that I cannot help.
00:48After his death, Jackson's mother, Catherine, told Oprah that he first turned to cosmetic
00:52surgery so that vitiligo wouldn't leave him looking like a spotted cow, but that he became
00:56addicted to it thereafter.
00:58By the early 90s, Jackson had firmly cemented his place as a king of pop, but he was looking
01:02to branch out. He released the movie Michael Jackson's Moonwalker in 1988, and followed
01:07it up in 1990 with an arcade and Sega Genesis video game of the same name.
01:11The game's success led to a continued partnership between Jackson and Sega. A 2016 investigation
01:16by HuffPost claims Jackson joined the team for the company's forthcoming Sonic 3. Jackson
01:21had reportedly wanted to provide music for the game, and indeed created several compositions
01:26which ended up in the finished product. But he left before its completion. He was apparently
01:30dissatisfied with how his music had been modified to fit the technical requirements of the Genesis
01:34console. The music stayed, but Jackson went uncredited.
01:38Sega has never officially confirmed Jackson's involvement in the project. In 2005, Roger
01:42Hector, the game's executive coordinator, told an interviewer that although Jackson
01:46had been brought in to do the music, none of it was actually used. But HuffPost spoke
01:50to several members of the game's music department, and they insist that not only was Jackson
01:54involved, but that the music you hear in the game is, in fact, his. They even claim
01:58that portions of the game's soundtrack were later recycled for Jackson's own music.
02:03In 2011, Jermaine Jackson released a memoir about his younger brother titled, You Are
02:08Not Alone, Michael Jackson Through a Brother's Eyes. He wrote about the difficulties that
02:12Michael faced during his lifetime, like his 1984 onstage pyrotechnic accident, his chronic
02:16pain, and his decades-long drug use. But Jermaine also made one incredibly striking claim.
02:22According to Jermaine, on the eve of September 11, 2001, Michael and his mother had stayed
02:26awake until four in the morning talking on the phone. Because of the late night, Michael
02:29was unable to keep his appointments the following day, and one of those was at the World Trade
02:34Center in New York, which had become the target of a deadly attack that took the lives of
02:37nearly 3,000 people.
02:40In 2005, Jackson's image was in tatters after he was arrested and charged with sexual abuse
02:44of a minor. Though he was found not guilty, he took an unusual step to retreat from the
02:48public eye after the trial. He decided to accept an offer from Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad
02:53al-Khalifa, a prince of Bahrain, to go and live in the country at the royal family's
02:57expense.
02:58Abdullah was a huge fan of Jackson's and had musical ambitions of his own. It was his intention
03:03to collaborate with the King of Pop on an album during his time in Bahrain, and the
03:07pair signed a contract to do so. But it all ended 11 months later when Jackson left the
03:11country, leaving Abdullah to recoup his losses in court. The Sheikh sued Jackson for $7 million
03:17at the time, but the failed collaboration between the two became much more well-known
03:21after Jackson's death.
03:22Guy Holmes, who was brought in to manage the project, told The Guardian in 2021 that Jackson
03:27was likely suffering from depression after his sexual abuse court case, which affected
03:31his ability to work. But it was the lure of more lucrative offers of live shows elsewhere
03:35that likely influenced Jackson's decision to bail. Three demo songs were recorded with
03:39the Sheikh, but are unlikely to ever see the light of day.
03:43During Guy Holmes' interview with The Guardian, he said that when he joined Jackson's team,
03:46the singer was almost bankrupt. He had 47 active lawsuits against him and a monthly
03:51bill of $4.5 million in interest against a personal loan of over $270 million.
03:57In the months before his death, Jackson had been preparing for the much-publicized This
04:00Is It show, a 50-date concert residency in London's O2 Arena. At the time it was announced,
04:06many suspected that the deal had been brokered as a way for Jackson to overcome his known
04:09financial difficulties and get him out of debt. It was only in the aftermath that the
04:13exact details of his dire financial situation came to light.
04:17In a court hearing in 2013, a forensic accountant testified that Jackson's debts had ballooned
04:22to between $400 million and $500 million at the time of his death.
04:27In the months leading up to the planned opening of This Is It, Jackson was training with actor
04:30and bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno, who had been putting the star through his paces. Despite
04:34appearing in public in a wheelchair just months earlier, Ferrigno claimed that Jackson was
04:38in top shape as he prepared for the concerts. To those around him, he reportedly seemed
04:42enthusiastic, healthy, and composed, despite remaining at a low weight throughout rehearsals.
04:47Little did they know that during that time, Jackson was dependent on several prescription
04:51drugs — and it later came out that his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was regularly
04:56injecting him with medication to help him overcome insomnia.
04:59Jackson had gone public about attending drug rehabilitation in 1993, having first become
05:03addicted to painkillers after his notorious 1984 accident. His cause of death was later
05:08determined to have been cardiac arrest resulting from an overdose of prescription drugs.
05:13Dr. Conrad Murray, who administered the fatal dose that killed Michael Jackson, was later
05:17convicted of involuntary manslaughter. At his trial, he described how the singer was
05:22addicted to the anesthetic propofol, and referred to it as his milk. During Jackson's autopsy,
05:26the drug was identified as the main substance that contributed to his overdose.
05:30This wasn't just this one night. This was administered in him on an ongoing basis.
05:36In his final months, Jackson's drug use reportedly left him with slurred speech. Those involved
05:41in staging the concert admitted that, despite promoters attempting to project the public
05:45image of an artist returning to his peak, he was often too weak to attend rehearsals,
05:49and that amid the strain, his behavior was often erratic.
05:52But maybe one of the strangest details regarding this period of time is that the 50-year-old
05:56had been sharing his bed with a doll when he slept — and it was with him when he died.
06:01Jackson faced two rounds of child sexual abuse allegations during his lifetime. The first
06:05was in 1993, when the family of an alleged victim sued the singer for $20 million after
06:10an LAPD investigation was dropped for lack of evidence. A further three boys were reportedly
06:15identified as alleged victims in 1994, but prosecutors refrained from filing charges
06:19when the main accuser declined to testify.
06:22A decade later, the Martin Bashir documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, portrayed him
06:26as having an intimate friendship with a young cancer survivor, the reaction to which prompted
06:30Santa Barbara's Sheriff's Department to raid Jackson's Neverland Ranch and file charges.
06:35And he finally said, okay, if you love me, just sleep on the bed. I was like, aw, man!
06:41In 2019, HBO released a new two-part documentary, Leaving Neverland. In it, two men who had
06:47become close with Jackson as children allege that the singer had abused them over the course
06:51of several years. The two had previously filed suits against Jackson's estate, but they had
06:55been rejected by the courts.
06:58Way back in 1994, as Jackson was reeling from the first round of sexual abuse allegations
07:02against him, the singer shocked his fans with some unexpected news. He and Lisa Marie
07:06Presley were in a romantic relationship. The couple made headlines with their sudden marriage
07:10in May of that year, less than three weeks after Presley's divorce from actor and musician
07:14Danny Keough.
07:15I've always been in dramatic relationships. They were all like that, because somehow I
07:20found some grief or whatever thrill in it at the moment.
07:24In 2024, a year after her own death, Presley's memoir From Here to the Great Unknown was
07:29released. In it, she says that the early days of her relationship with Jackson were
07:33the happiest of her life. Despite being blindsided by his interest in her, she claims that he
07:37was a fun and caring person who put her at ease with his normality, which remained undimmed
07:41by his incredible star power.
07:43Shockingly, Presley claims that at the start of their relationship, Jackson, who was 35
07:47at the time, informed her that he was still a virgin.
07:50The couple's marriage didn't last long, with Presley suspecting that Jackson had used their
07:54union as a source of good press after his legal issues. She claims that her former husband's
07:58use of drugs had also come to light, and that he had started to act differently toward
08:02her before she filed for divorce in 1995.
08:06Jackson had been criticized during his lifetime for his treatment of his three children. Who
08:09could forget the Berlin hotel incident involving baby Beejee, then known as Blanket? He was
08:14also notorious for covering the children's faces with handkerchiefs and masks during
08:18public appearances, though members of his family have since rallied to his defense,
08:22arguing that Jackson had obscured their faces for the sake of privacy.
08:25Similarly, it later emerged that Jackson had acted responsibly regarding his children
08:29when it came to providing for them in the event of his death. Though the Michael Jackson
08:32estate has been at the center of numerous legal disputes, Prince, Paris, and Beejee
08:36have apparently not gone wanting over the years. Their father's will stipulated a monthly
08:40stipend of around $60,000 for their upbringing. Jackson's mother, Catherine, was given another
08:45$26,000 per month, and entrusted with care of his children after his death.
08:50The years immediately following Jackson's death saw the release of a flurry of commercial
08:54projects that, to put it bluntly, were rushed out to capitalize on the enormous resurgence
08:58of interest in his life and work. In 2009, Motown and Sony released several posthumous
09:03collections and remix albums of his work, while rehearsal footage of his upcoming residency
09:07was given a cinema release as This Is It, along with an album.
09:11The following year, Epic Records and Sony Music Entertainment released Michael, an album
09:15assembled from outtakes that was widely criticized by fans and collaborators. It also came under
09:19criticism for apparently featuring a Jackson impersonator on three tracks, which led to
09:24legal action and the songs being pulled from streaming.
09:27Another album, Xscape, was released in 2014. For years, it was thought that Jackson's vault
09:31of unreleased music had been plumbed for everything worth sharing with his fans. But in 2024,
09:36The Hollywood Reporter broke a story that claimed that a former California Highway Patrol
09:40officer had uncovered a cache of unreleased Michael Jackson recordings in a storage unit
09:44in Van Nuys. The recordings, which include 12 tracks and snippets of studio chatter,
09:49date from between 1989 and 1991, when Jackson was at his superstar peak.
09:53Jackson's estate has both declined to buy the tapes and, at the same time, claimed copyright
09:58ownership over them, meaning they'll likely never be released to the public.