What did the Cascio family and Teddy Riley say to Oprah?
The Italian family of the Cascios—Eddie and Frank, whose sons are featured behind three songs from Michael Jackson’s new album, and also Teddy Riley, one of the album’s producers—shared their memories with the world in an interview with Oprah that aired four days earlier on television. Here is what they had to say next.
(Return to the interview)
Oprah: Eddie, you’ve known Michael since you were a kid. Michael taught Eddie music and was his teacher. Eddie, why did you decide to come here?
Eddie: I thought it was important for people around the world to know who Michael really was—and especially what place he had for us, as a family.
Oprah: Connie, what did you feel when your husband (for the first time) said that Michael Jackson was at your front door?
Connie: Michael never gave notice. He would just appear at the green door. Sometimes he’d knock on the door halfway. And I would wake the kids and they would play while they should have been asleep at that time of night.
Oprah: How did you keep this secret for all these years?
Eddie: Michael was very private, and he saw that we treated him warmly and respected him for the human being he was. And he didn’t want us to talk about this relationship with others—and we never did.
Connie: We wanted to be his family and to be by his side during all the bad days. We were with him even before those bad days arrived, and when the bad days came, we stayed with him—and he appreciated what we did.
Oprah: By “bad days,” do you mean the accusations of sexual abuse? Did you ever ask your children if something bad happened between them and Michael?
Dominick: As a father, we had to ask. And they looked at me like, “What are you saying?!”
Oprah: I’m asking you—Eddie, Frank, Mary Nicole—did you ever witness any inappropriate behavior?
Frank and Nicole: No, never.
Eddie: Never. Michael couldn’t even swat a fly—he was that kind and gentle.
Oprah: What did you think when you went to court over the accusations?
Eddie: It was really ridiculous.
Connie: Terrible.
Eddie: Michael was the target of exploitation.
Oprah: So during all this time, you never thought that maybe your children wouldn’t be safe with him?
Dominick: Never, never. We didn’t even have doubts.
Oprah: When he became a father himself, did he still come to your house?
Connie: Yes, of course. When the children were born, we were with him.
Oprah: Did he bring his children to your home?
Connie: Of course, of course. He didn’t trust anyone else except us. He would leave his children only with their nanny or with our family.
(Return to the interview)
Oprah: What is the most important thing Michael taught you?
Eddie: To always be honest with myself, to be humble, and to be grateful for what I have. And never stop learning and studying.
Oprah: He was a perfectionist. (Eddie confirms)
Oprah: Was he always “Michael Jackson”? Were you seeing him in military-style clothes, or in pajamas and a sleeveless undershirt too? (laughs)
Eddie: He always had his own style.
Frank: He would walk around the house in pajamas.
Eddie: He wore pajamas and paired them with a stylish blazer. (laughs) He always had something that showed he was Michael Jackson—a blazer or an iconic armband.
Oprah: Did your family somehow benefit from Michael’s messiness and expensive gifts—like a Rolls-Royce?
Eddie: No, there was no mess. He would give us Christmas gifts, and we would give him Christmas gifts too.
Connie: He loved gifts.
Oprah: I thought he was in the Jehovah’s Witnesses and didn’t celebrate Christmas because that faith doesn’t allow it.
Connie: But he did celebrate Christmas. He always loved Christmas and loved receiving and giving gifts.
Oprah: What gifts would you give him?
Dominick: He loved it. We bought him books and also things related to art. He loved Michaelangelo. He always talked to me about Michaelangelo.
Oprah: Did you talk to him three days before he died?
Dominick: Yes. Father’s Day (the third Sunday in June) he called me and congratulated me, and he spoke with all members of our family.
Oprah: Did you ever see any sign of drug addiction in him?
Dominick: We didn’t see anything. When he was in our home, he was a completely normal person.
Eddie: He was sharp. Unfortunately, in the past he had suffered from such a problem.
(Explanation: Michael died on June 25, 2009 after his doctor injected him with an anesthetic drug, and his death was ruled an accidental homicide. Michael couldn’t sleep, and used strong sleeping medications to fall asleep. Earlier, in 1984, while filming a Pepsi commercial, he suffered a severe burn on his head and underwent long-term treatment with very strong painkillers. In 1993, due to his use of painkillers, he canceled the Dangerous Tour halfway through because his health was at risk.)
Oprah: It was said that he had trouble sleeping. Were you aware of that? Because you said he would come to your house in the middle of the night.
Connie: We knew, but I have to tell you that he slept in our house because he felt calm there. I think he felt safe there and was separated from everything else in the outside world. I think our family freed his mind from his superstar life.
Oprah: How much do you miss him?
Dominick: We always miss him.
Connie: This longing never goes away. It’s a daily argument for all of us, and there isn’t a day when we don’t talk about him at least once in the house.
Oprah: Michael and Eddie recorded 12 songs in the basement of the house (their home studio), and today we’re hearing three of them. Eddie, you know there were discussions going around that this isn’t Michael’s voice. What do you say about that?
Eddie: I can tell you that it is Michael’s voice. He recorded them in the basement with me. This is the voice of Michael Jackson.
Oprah: We’re now going to play another one of these songs, called Monster, which Eddie says Michael danced to.
Oprah: Teddy Riley produced some of the new album’s tracks. He’s worked with Michael for more than 18 years on Dangerous, History, and Invincible. He’s also one of the experts who confirms Michael’s voice on these songs.
Oprah: What do you say to the skeptics?
Teddy Riley: I tell the ones who doubt it that it’s Michael’s voice. I’m saying this along with friends who have also worked with Michael for more than 25 years. Some people—and even people from inside the family—doubt this. But we were there professionally with him.
Oprah: Why are you so sure it’s his voice?
Teddy Riley: You hear that certainty in his voice, and you see his presence in the song. Besides that, nobody could scream with that kind of power like him. Nobody can imitate Michael’s voice exactly.
Oprah: Will.i.am, who is my friend, said that Michael was a perfectionist and wasn’t satisfied with his work being released because it wasn’t perfect.
Eddie: I think Michael definitely wanted these songs to be released. He recorded them for his fans. They deserve to be released, and people should recognize Michael’s genius.
Teddy Riley: This is continuing his legacy. They aren’t perfect, but they are Michael’s art—and we have to carry on his legacy.
Oprah: Are you saying it’s better to have a little Michael than to have none at all?
(Teddy confirms)
Oprah: Did Michael accept and enjoy the fire that these songs burned with? Did he like the controversy?
Teddy Riley: He loved it—he lived with it. Yes, I think he’s looking at us from above with a smile and saying, “Ah! This is what I wanted!”
Oprah: Did both of you have plans to go to London to watch his This Is It tour?
Teddy Riley: Yes, I would go with my kids.
Oprah: I think it’s great that this family, even though they knew Michael Jackson and recorded songs in their basement and wore pajamas, never told anyone anything.
(At the end, Keep Your Head Up plays.)
Source: eMJey
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Oprah: There’s new controversy surrounding the release of Michael Jackson’s new album, titled “Michael,” which will be released with 10 previously unheard tracks.
Today, the Cascio family is here with us. They were reluctant to come because they were worried that this would be a betrayal of the secret, close friendship they had with Michael Jackson for more than 25 years. Michael considered them his second family. They made music with the man who was a mystery to most of us, recorded home videos, and have endless memories of him.
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(The video, recently filmed at the Cascio home in New Jersey, is being broadcast. In it, scenes from the Cascios’ home videos featuring Michael are shown. The Cascios talk about Michael from a human perspective, separate from the noisy world of his stardom.)
Dominick Cascio, the family’s father, says he worked in hotel management at the Helmsley Palace in New York, where he met Michael. The King of Pop asked him whether he had a wife and children—and that he would like to see them one day.
Connie, the mother of five children: He was extraordinary. We treated him like a member of the family—not like the King of Pop, but like a normal human being.
Dominick: He called us the family of love, his second family.
Frank: We grew up with him.
Eddie: He was always very humble and didn’t act like “Michael Jackson.”
Connie: I always cooked for him. I knew exactly what his favorite foods were.
Nicole (the family’s daughter): He loved your sweets.
Eddie: He introduced us to his sweets buffet at Neverland. One of the first things he said when he came here was, “So where’s the sweets buffet?” And then he made us go out and buy something for him. My father went out and bought several boxes of his favorite candies and sweets, and we put them all there (he gestures toward a corner of the kitchen) and he said, “All right, the buffet is set too.”
Connie: He once took the trash out for me.
Nicole: He loved doing household chores.
Eddie: He ate dinner with us and was like one of our family members. He always made sure that we said prayers before meals. The memories we have of him are truly priceless.
(Return to the interview)
Oprah: Eddie, you’ve known Michael since you were a kid. Michael taught Eddie music and was his teacher. Eddie, why did you decide to come here?
Eddie: I thought it was important for people around the world to know who Michael really was—and especially what place he had for us, as a family.
Oprah: Connie, what did you feel when your husband (for the first time) said that Michael Jackson was at your front door?
Connie: Michael never gave notice. He would just appear at the green door. Sometimes he’d knock on the door halfway. And I would wake the kids and they would play while they should have been asleep at that time of night.
Oprah: How did you keep this secret for all these years?
Eddie: Michael was very private, and he saw that we treated him warmly and respected him for the human being he was. And he didn’t want us to talk about this relationship with others—and we never did.
Connie: We wanted to be his family and to be by his side during all the bad days. We were with him even before those bad days arrived, and when the bad days came, we stayed with him—and he appreciated what we did.
Oprah: By “bad days,” do you mean the accusations of sexual abuse? Did you ever ask your children if something bad happened between them and Michael?
Dominick: As a father, we had to ask. And they looked at me like, “What are you saying?!”
Oprah: I’m asking you—Eddie, Frank, Mary Nicole—did you ever witness any inappropriate behavior?
Frank and Nicole: No, never.
Eddie: Never. Michael couldn’t even swat a fly—he was that kind and gentle.
Oprah: What did you think when you went to court over the accusations?
Eddie: It was really ridiculous.
Connie: Terrible.
Eddie: Michael was the target of exploitation.
Oprah: So during all this time, you never thought that maybe your children wouldn’t be safe with him?
Dominick: Never, never. We didn’t even have doubts.
Oprah: When he became a father himself, did he still come to your house?
Connie: Yes, of course. When the children were born, we were with him.
Oprah: Did he bring his children to your home?
Connie: Of course, of course. He didn’t trust anyone else except us. He would leave his children only with their nanny or with our family.
------------------------------------------------------------
(During a break, a recorded video is shown. Eddie takes us downstairs to their home, the place where he recorded songs with Michael.)
Eddie says that in this basement, for Michael, he had made a cave of solitude—one that even had a dance floor and a wide-screen TV. Every morning, Michael would wake up and dance, and Eddie would be there with him. Years later, in 2007, he was ready to work. They worked long hours in the studio. Eddie believes Michael was happy that his fans could hear these songs.
(Return to the interview)
Oprah: What is the most important thing Michael taught you?
Eddie: To always be honest with myself, to be humble, and to be grateful for what I have. And never stop learning and studying.
Oprah: He was a perfectionist. (Eddie confirms)
Oprah: Was he always “Michael Jackson”? Were you seeing him in military-style clothes, or in pajamas and a sleeveless undershirt too? (laughs)
Eddie: He always had his own style.
Frank: He would walk around the house in pajamas.
Eddie: He wore pajamas and paired them with a stylish blazer. (laughs) He always had something that showed he was Michael Jackson—a blazer or an iconic armband.
Oprah: Did your family somehow benefit from Michael’s messiness and expensive gifts—like a Rolls-Royce?
Eddie: No, there was no mess. He would give us Christmas gifts, and we would give him Christmas gifts too.
Connie: He loved gifts.
Oprah: I thought he was in the Jehovah’s Witnesses and didn’t celebrate Christmas because that faith doesn’t allow it.
Connie: But he did celebrate Christmas. He always loved Christmas and loved receiving and giving gifts.
Oprah: What gifts would you give him?
Dominick: He loved it. We bought him books and also things related to art. He loved Michaelangelo. He always talked to me about Michaelangelo.
Oprah: Did you talk to him three days before he died?
Dominick: Yes. Father’s Day (the third Sunday in June) he called me and congratulated me, and he spoke with all members of our family.
Oprah: Did you ever see any sign of drug addiction in him?
Dominick: We didn’t see anything. When he was in our home, he was a completely normal person.
Eddie: He was sharp. Unfortunately, in the past he had suffered from such a problem.
(Explanation: Michael died on June 25, 2009 after his doctor injected him with an anesthetic drug, and his death was ruled an accidental homicide. Michael couldn’t sleep, and used strong sleeping medications to fall asleep. Earlier, in 1984, while filming a Pepsi commercial, he suffered a severe burn on his head and underwent long-term treatment with very strong painkillers. In 1993, due to his use of painkillers, he canceled the Dangerous Tour halfway through because his health was at risk.)
Oprah: It was said that he had trouble sleeping. Were you aware of that? Because you said he would come to your house in the middle of the night.
Connie: We knew, but I have to tell you that he slept in our house because he felt calm there. I think he felt safe there and was separated from everything else in the outside world. I think our family freed his mind from his superstar life.
Oprah: How much do you miss him?
Dominick: We always miss him.
Connie: This longing never goes away. It’s a daily argument for all of us, and there isn’t a day when we don’t talk about him at least once in the house.
Oprah: Michael and Eddie recorded 12 songs in the basement of the house (their home studio), and today we’re hearing three of them. Eddie, you know there were discussions going around that this isn’t Michael’s voice. What do you say about that?
Eddie: I can tell you that it is Michael’s voice. He recorded them in the basement with me. This is the voice of Michael Jackson.
Oprah: We’re now going to play another one of these songs, called Monster, which Eddie says Michael danced to.
------------------------------------------------------------
(The songs Monster and Breaking News are played.) During the break, Teddy Riley joins them.
Oprah: Teddy Riley produced some of the new album’s tracks. He’s worked with Michael for more than 18 years on Dangerous, History, and Invincible. He’s also one of the experts who confirms Michael’s voice on these songs.
Oprah: What do you say to the skeptics?
Teddy Riley: I tell the ones who doubt it that it’s Michael’s voice. I’m saying this along with friends who have also worked with Michael for more than 25 years. Some people—and even people from inside the family—doubt this. But we were there professionally with him.
Oprah: Why are you so sure it’s his voice?
Teddy Riley: You hear that certainty in his voice, and you see his presence in the song. Besides that, nobody could scream with that kind of power like him. Nobody can imitate Michael’s voice exactly.
Oprah: Will.i.am, who is my friend, said that Michael was a perfectionist and wasn’t satisfied with his work being released because it wasn’t perfect.
Eddie: I think Michael definitely wanted these songs to be released. He recorded them for his fans. They deserve to be released, and people should recognize Michael’s genius.
Teddy Riley: This is continuing his legacy. They aren’t perfect, but they are Michael’s art—and we have to carry on his legacy.
Oprah: Are you saying it’s better to have a little Michael than to have none at all?
(Teddy confirms)
Oprah: Did Michael accept and enjoy the fire that these songs burned with? Did he like the controversy?
Teddy Riley: He loved it—he lived with it. Yes, I think he’s looking at us from above with a smile and saying, “Ah! This is what I wanted!”
Oprah: Did both of you have plans to go to London to watch his This Is It tour?
Teddy Riley: Yes, I would go with my kids.
Oprah: I think it’s great that this family, even though they knew Michael Jackson and recorded songs in their basement and wore pajamas, never told anyone anything.
(At the end, Keep Your Head Up plays.)
Source: eMJey