http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/G...ry_bashir.html
Jacko’s Wacko World
‘King of Pop’ Hosts Child Sleepovers and Forces Own Kids to Wear Masks
Feb. 5 — Despite being accused of child molestation in 1993, Michael Jackson still sleeps in the same bedroom as children who visit his Neverland ranch, and insists that his own children be masked in public, a new documentary reveals.
Martin Bashir, a British journalist who had nearly unfettered access to the reclusive pop star over an eight-month period, said Jackson keeps his three children in disguise because he's worried that people are looking to abduct them.
"He believes they could be the subject of some kind of multimillion-pound kidnapping," Bashir said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "He refuses to reveal them to the public."
The self-proclaimed "King of Pop’ allowed Bashir to trail him for eight months to make a documentary called Living With Michael Jackson. The program airs in the United States on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, in a special broadcast of 20/20.
The pop star's lifestyle has been the subject of controversy and rumor since 1993, when Jackson reportedly reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with a 14-year-old boy who had accused him of sexual molestation. The superstar maintained his own innocence throughout. But given the previous scandal, Bashir said he was surprised to see that Jackson was still inviting children to spend the night at his home.
Neverland Sleepovers
One overnight visitor was Gavin, a 12-year-old cancer sufferer whom Jackson had befriended two years ago, after the boy was told he was dying. Gavin said Jackson's friendship and support helped him beat cancer, and that the 44-year-old pop star is a child at heart.
Gavin, who is shown cuddling and holding hands with Jackson in Bashir's documentary, said that he slept over at the 3,000-acre ranch, three hours north of Los Angeles, and even stayed in Jackson's bedroom.
Jackson said that there was nothing sexual about the sleepovers, and the boy defended his friend.
Bashir said Jackson doesn't seem to understand why people question his behavior. For his part, Jackson said anyone who would criticize the sleepovers as inappropriate is missing the point of his loving gesture, and deserves pity.
"The problem is, he appears to exist in a world he has constructed himself," Bashir said.
Though he and Gavin say they never slept in the same bed, Jackson said that he slept in a bed with Home Alone child star Macaulay Culkin and his siblings when he was little. They would just "jam in the bed" together and there was nothing sexual about it, Jackson said.
Bashir said no one who works around Jackson ever questions his behavior, although some lawyers in the United States, including California attorney Gloria Allred, have publicly expressed worry over Jackson's bevior around his own children.
"I know that there are people in the United States of America, lawyers who believe that his actions should result in the children being removed from him," Bashir said. "I think what you have to ask is whether it's right that somebody with so much financial power should be able to have people within his home, within the boundaries of his own property, and nobody can enter in to check that it's safe, to check that things are appropriate."
The Seldom-Seen Jackson Children
Jackson's own children, Prince Michael I, who is almost 6, and daughter Paris, 4, are rarely seen in public. His third child, Prince Michael II — the infant whom Jackson infamously dangled over a hotel balcony in Berlin in November to show him to fans — was born to a surrogate mother. Jackson would not identify the woman and says he does not know her.
The children always wear masks in public, but Bashir said Jackson didn't keep them masked when they were at home and not filming.
"They were covered when we were outside filming with the crew, but in fact I saw them a number of times at his home, and indeed at a hotel in Las Vegas, and they were not covered at all," Bashir said.
The two older children are the result of Jackson's brief marriage to his dermatology nurse, Debbie Rowe. The children do not see their mother at all, which is the way Rowe prefers it, Jackson said.
When Bashir asked Prince Michael I about his mother during a visit to Neverland, the boy said, "I haven't got a mommy," Bashir said. "And he was adamant about it, absolutely clear," Bashir said.
When Paris was born, Jackson said he was so anxious to bring her home from the hospital that after cutting the umbilical cord, he brought the newborn home before hospital staff had cleaned the afterbirth.
"I hate to say this, I snatched her and just went home with all the placenta and everything all over her," Jackson said. "Got her in a towel and ran."
Both Rowe, the mother, and doctors were fine with what he did, Jackson said.
In Berlin, after the baby-dangling incident, Jackson told Bashir that he would never hurt his children, and was only trying to show off the baby to the thousands of fan below his window.
Soon afterward, Jackson fed the baby his bottle and bounced him on his knee, while the infant's face was covered by a green chiffon scarf.
On an outing with Jackson to the Berlin Zoo, Jackson's children wore feathered party masks over their faces and were mobbed by paparazzi to the point that Bashir felt worried for their safety. Jackson, on the other hand, seemed unaware of the chaos and intent on seeing the gorillas.
When Bashir asked him if it would have been easier to have the children go to the zoo with bodyguards and nannies, Jackson said he didn't feel comfortable with that.
"I can't take that chance," he said. "I'd rather it be my fault if something happens."
A Future Career for the Pop Icon?
Jackson hasn't had a major hit since his album Dangerous was released 12 years ago. Newsweek magazine entertainment editor B.J. Sigesmund said his lack of major success isn't the result of his strange behavior as much as it's a result of his most recent work.
We don't really take him seriously in the job anymore," Sigesmund said. "I think he's taken as a pop culture figure, someone to look at."
Sigesmund said he didn't think Jackson's interview with Bashir would have any kind of impact on his future in the music industry.
Danyel Smith, music critic and former editor-in-chief of Vibe magazine, said she thinks Jackson will continue making records, even if Sony doesn't re-sign him when his contract runs out.
"No one will leave Michael Jackson hanging in the wind. Some other major label will sign him," Smith said.
"Nobody wants to take the chance that somebody else will sell a trillion albums with Michael Jackson. Somebody will do it. Whether it does two million or 51 million remains to be seen," she said.
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I am so looking forward to this debacle. It looks like it will be so funny!!!
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