The Years 1987 to 1989
I want to clarify the issue. I have never changed my cheeks or my eyes. I haven’t made my lips thinner, and I haven’t had any surgical procedures done on my skin. All these claims are ridiculous. If it were true, I would say so, but the truth is that it isn’t. I had my nose operated on twice, and recently I created a split in my chin [which today isn’t considered plastic surgery]. But that’s it. I don’t care what others say. This is my face, and I know myself.“
In this book, Michael describes his relationship with his father as stormy.
In an interview in 1993 with Oprah Winfrey, he said about these relationships: ”I was afraid... I was very afraid. He would sometimes come to see me. I would get nauseous from fear and throw up.“
When Oprah Winfrey asked him in that interview whether he had had this condition in childhood or in adulthood, he answered with one word: ”Both.“ At that time, Michael was thirty-five years old.
Molly Meldrum, an Australian music critic, wrote about Michael’s experiences as a little boy:
”When you and I were busy with childish games, he was on stage performing. When you and I were busy riding our bicycles, he was on stage performing. When we first went to school, he was on stage performing. And stage managers live in a world that is very, very different.
Based on what we’ve heard, Michael had a foul-mouthed father who forced him to stay in the studio, rehearse, and record. While kids his age were out playing with their friends.
It has been said that when Michael vomited in the restroom due to anxiety about performing in front of fifty thousand people, his father would pull him out of there and shove him onto the stage. We get anxious even about going on stage at school shows, even in front of only a hundred people. But Michael Jackson, as a superstar, experienced a very different situation.
In fact, Prince and Madonna, when they were teenagers, bought the Jackson Five albums. They had their childhood, and even if their early teenage years were painful and deprived them of many things, at least it wasn’t in the public eye. Michael never had that opportunity.
None of the stars in the history of music have been in the public eye as much as Michael. Perhaps with the exception of a small number of them, including Elton John, Boy, Paul McCartney, and Mick Jagger. Even then, all of them managed to spend at least their teenage years out of sight before everyone knew their names.
What is clear is that Michael didn’t have a normal childhood. Maybe being surrounded by fans and being pressured by them led to his shyness and sensitivity during the time when he wasn’t on stage.
His shyness is a known fact. Only in these recent years are the pieces of the puzzle of Michael Jackson slowly being found, one by one.
Smokey Robinson, one of the Motown artists, describes how carefully Michael paid attention to everything and how, like a sponge, he absorbed everything—especially in the music industry and stage management—and how curious he was, and still is. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1993, Smokey Robinson said that ”Michael was like an old soul in the body of a child. He was never really a child.“
Michael’s teenage experiences had a greater share in shaping the complex personality that people around the world recognize him for in every country.“
[Excerpts from the writings of Molly Meldrum, an Australian music critic, about Michael’s childhood experiences]
In May 1988, Michael moved from the Hayvenhurst [the family home in Encino] to a villa in the Santa Ynez Valley, about one hundred miles north of Los Angeles. The 2,700-acre (117612000 square meters) Sycamore villa was renamed very soon to «Neverland». Neverland is ”Peter Pan’s“ city, the city of Michael’s favorite book: «Peter Pan The Boy From Never Neverland»
[Neverland]
On 18 May 1988, Michael’s first film «Moon Walker», in which he appears as the lead role, was shown for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival in southern France. The film was intended for release at Christmas.