We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. At first that's a starling thing. He filled the property with an amusement park, a private zoo, and dubbed the oasis Neverland. Taking a cue from "Bad's" title, he became a crotch-grabbing tough guy, a far cry from his gentle, offstage personae. It's happening in familieswe know it's happening in churches, and in schools, and sports teams everywhere. Oprah, who referenced her own experiences with sexual abuse as a child during the interview, added that when you're as young as Robson and Safechuck were when they allege that Jackson abused them7 and 10you "don't have the language to explain what is happening to you." She explained: BRIAN HIATT, "ROLLING STONE": Michael Jackson all but disappeared. Michael, a fiercely private entertainer, had refused to give an interview for 14 years. J. RANDY TARABORELLI, BIOGRAPHER: From the time that most kids were building tree houses, Michael Jackson was building an image. Leaving Neverland and Oprah's interview helped me come to terms with the fact that by continuing to defend Michael Jackson in the name of his talent, I was contributing to our society's habit of victim shaming. BRIAN MONROE, "EBONY MAGAZINE": I was really struck by the razor stubble, all along his face. Michael, a fiercely private entertainer, had refused to give an interview for 14 years. Jacksons album Dangerous, which had been falling down the charts in the two years after its release, became a top-10 bestseller again. So an auction of his most personal items seemed like the answer. LEMON: When we return, Michael on-stage the night before he died. There is not a single thing or person in popular culture that is worth not protecting and believing our children. So for me, it's time to say goodbye to Michael Jacksonone last time. LEMON: But in 1993, disturbing allegations surfaced concerning Jackson's association with children. And part of my concern about Michael was the fact that he always seemed to be suffering from some form of ailment or infirmity. Michael told Oprah that he was in a relationship with Brooke Shields. Do you go out and have fun, do you date? Yes, Michael replied. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he spent a lot of internal time reflecting on who he was, where he'd been. LEMON: Even though Jackson couldn't replace his earlier success, he never stops innovating. I suspect so. He was sobbing. And the Jacksons began their rocket rise to stardom. On the day after his death, Presley wrote on her blog that Jackson always thought he'd die early like her father. Throughout the film, we hear from both men (in, yes, graphic, explicit detail) about exactly what they say transpired between each of them and Jacksonand across four hours, we hear why neither of them came forward about what purportedly happened to them until adulthood. (Video: HBO) Comment on this story In 1994, Michael married Lisa Marie Presley. Oprah's interview with Michael is one of the most-watched TV events in history, with 90 million people tuning in to watch and more than 7.8million catching up on the interview on YouTube since . NORRIS: There's a reason it's called "Neverland Valley." Oh, there's a lot of is sadness about my past life and, you know, adolescence, and my father, and all of those things. And I know that it tore him to pieces. The interview was one of those must-watch television events that stop everyone in their tracks; it presaged the massive viral video before the popularization of the internet: if one didnt see the interview, there was nothing to talk about the next day. Tern claims the visual aspect very subtly [drew] Michael Jacksons personality, that outdated mogul thing. As Senior Director of Editorial & Strategy, I oversee all of Oprah Daily's digital content, from editorial to video to social media. Michael Jackson was adamant that he was a "gentleman" first and foremost while talking to Oprah Winfrey. 21 das de prueba gratuita de nuestro curso de francs online, Mejore su ingls con EL PAS con 15 minutos al da, Disfrute de nuestras lecciones personalizadas, breves y divertidas, Mejore su italiano con EL PAS con 15 minutos al da, Las mejores oportunidades hablan alemn. He sat there on a daily basis, watching accusations hurled at him, suggesting that he was an insensitive monster. DE PASSE: I was asked to come to see this group. And sadly, he really internalized that message. THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. CNN has unearthed a 1993 Oprah Winfrey interview with Michael Jackson in which he addresses Pepsi's then plan to cast a white actor to play him as a child in his ill-fated advertisement for the . There would be no other form, honestly. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While we're on our way, did anybody see him? The show received a 39.3 rating, just below the Jan. 22, 1987, episode of "The Cosby Show," which received a 41.3. Jackson would turn to Quincy Jones, then musical director for "The Wiz," now a multi Grammy winning producer, arranger, and composer. In 1993, Oprah helmed what would become the most-watched TV interview of all time a title which the show still proudly holds. GORDY: When she told me about another kids' group I said, wait a minute, I got all these other stars. Nuevo curso 'online', Maestra en Ciencias Ambientales presencial en Benito Jurez, Licenciatura en Administracin de Empresas presencial en Benito Jurez, Maestra a distancia en Lingstica Aplicada a la Enseanza del Espaol como Lengua Extranjera, Licenciatura Ejecutiva en Psicologa Semipresencial. He's trying to not affect the legal proceedings in any way. "All I did was enhance the dance.". I don't know him the way I'd like to know him," he said. LEMON: On the very next morning, Jackson was found unresponsive in his own bed. And Michael Jackson was ready to spread his wings. He announced his farewell tour, This Is it, in a brief press conference on March 5, 2009, in London. He's not going to be able to get any weirder than this. Disfruta con nuestros Crucigramas para expertos! In this never-before-heard interview from 2012, Emmy and Tony-award-winning actress, Cicely Tyson explains the surprising story of how she found her calling, shares behind-the-scenes history of her most iconic roles and reveals the biggest life lessons she's learned. And he thinks he's being loving. HARVEY: Those tests we anticipate will take approximately four to six additional weeks. The production was very skillful because the images told of all [Jacksons] eccentricities. It was just very difficult to imagine this is a guy who's ready to come back and do an amazing series of 50 concerts, and then more across the world, which was the plan. The Watch OWN app is free and available to you as part of your OWN subscription through a participating TV provider. ), Still, even as a grown, college educated, opinionated adult, until just two days ago, I was one of those Michael Jackson defenders. You think about what the it factor is, that's what he had. Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Jacksons 2005 trial lasted 18 months; the trial lasted 14 weeks. These are victims whose lives were forever ruined by a troubled, sick person who had the access and power to manipulate them for decades, even after his deathbecause he was larger than life. Followed by news helicopters and a convoy of cars, Jackson rushed from Neverland Ranch to the courthouse. There were dozens of lawyers and bodyguards and assistants. You are seeing through to the blue veins, and they're very, very apparent. Curiously, there was no mention of her personal connection to Jackson in particular, the famous 1993 live interview with him at Neverland Ranch, which took place just months before the first . You heard things from him that you've never heard before. xD LEMON: Three years later, in the fall of 1991, "Dangerous" was released. There's a flash behind him, and his hair catches on fire. Nobody says anything about that!, His physical appearance remained the focus of the conversation. As a result, its lead single "Black or White" shot to number one. There are also accusations that Reed created this film and Robson, and Safechuck participated because they're after money and fame. Robson told Oprah of his decision to speak out: "If anything that I say is going to help any other survivors, then I should be able to speak the truth.". The only way you become immortal is that your work lives on. Download the Watch OWN app and access OWN anytime, anywhere. One of the last photographs that was taken of Michael Jackson while he was alive. The interview would be Jackson's last. .css-ssumvd{display:block;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.0625rem;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.25;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-ssumvd:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-ssumvd{letter-spacing:0rem;margin-top:0.9375rem;}}Gayle King Interviews Angela Bassett, Gayle Says March Is a Good Month for TV Lovers, Sheryl Lee Ralphs Definition of True Love, What We Know About The Little Mermaid Remake, Oprah Congratulates Kimmel on 20 Years of His Show, Nikole Hannah-Jones on "The 1619 Project", Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Wakanda Forever Podcast, Oprah Is Acting in Tyler Perrys Next Netflix Film. And I remember going to the recording studio, and there was park across the street. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. They are mourning in Gary, Indiana, too, Michael's hometown. Beating, Joe maintained, is something you do with a stick. It would make me sad that I would have to go and work instead. Our editors handpick the products that we feature. In 1993, Jackson spoke about both in this interview with Oprah Winfrey. If you look closely, in the sequence where they walk together to the amusement park all the rides are moving, but theyre completely empty, he says. "It was the most exciting interview I had ever done," Oprah says. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we have a personal doctor here with him, sir. BOTEACH: I said, look on the flip side of that. He's not the person to do this. He was very placid. TOURE: So he's doing the moonwalk. Who wants mortality? Michael Jackson was about to go from child pop star to the biggest star on the planet. And yet the money kept rolling in. And then he would dance, you know. KENNY ORTEGA, CHOREOGRAPHER: He was so excited about this project, and so invested. TOURE: I don't think anybody, even like the Iowa housewives, were saying, you know they're not sleeping together. Have you ever been in love? Oprah pressed on. LEMON: The soundtrack of a generation. #MichaelJackson #OprahWinfrey #MichaelJacksonInterviewThis is the Making of "Michael Jackson Talks . He also raised eyebrows with his red carpet companions Brooke Shields and Emmanuel Lewis. LEMON: Jackson, in his last interview with "Ebony." CASTRO: It showed him to be quite abnormal. That was a very odd appearance, that he felt it necessary to say, this is good-bye. Since the mid-1980s, people had speculated that Jackson wanted to become white, that he wanted to become a woman, that he had bought the Elephant Mans remains, that he slept in an oxygen chamber, that he had married Elizabeth Taylor, that he suffered from anorexia, that his best friend was a monkey, that the monkey was telepathic, that Michael was a homosexual and that he was a virgin. LEMON: Rabbi Schmuley Boteach was a friend and spiritual visor to Michael Jackson. USHER, SINGER: Michael had an unseen magic to influence people, the music and the culture. She was referencing the naysayers on social media who were alreadybefore even watching the two-part documentarydiscrediting Robson and Safechuck, calling them liars because neither of them had spoken up when they were younger about what they say happened to them. Ellen: Oh, thank you. Time said, Part soap opera, part show, the Michael Jackson interview was vivid, reckless and emotionally naked. Life opined that Oprah delivered as promised and accomplished something nearly impossible: bringing Peter Pan down from the clouds.. He hadn't shaved that morning. I'd like to take a shot at producing your record. JACKSON: Yes. MESEREAU: I was on occasion. "After the attention is no longer on this film, this is something I will be dealing with for the rest of my life," Safechuck told Oprah. SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS TODAY AND ENJOY THE BENEFITS. LEMON: Michael Jackson, dead at the age of 50. And, generally, he expressed to me that he was made to feel that he was ugly, that he was not pretty. They were tremendous. I'm ashamed to admit it in writing, but, here goes: I was one of those critics. TOOBIN: He was emaciated. In fact, in the documentary, Safechuck reveals that he only finally came to terms with his own abuseand opened up to his wife about itafter seeing an interview Robson did about his experience with Jackson on The Today Show in 2013. It was not like watching a 50-year-old man returning to the stage. LEMON: The shadow of drug abuse would follow him even into death. Would you trade it in for a normal childhood with the celebrity? He said he urged the singer to keep children out of his bedroom. QUINCY JONES, MUSIC PRODUCER: I said, you know what? This man was a universal pop icon. The pop star's eccentric behavior hardly deterred the album's record-breaking five number ones. Be in the know on current and upcoming trends. The live interview, which took place before any abuse allegations were made against him, covered . When he answered no, she commented that she wouldnt be either. The hurt was so ingrained in each of these men, in fact, that neither of them were willingor ableto accept what had happened to them until they had sons of their own. SMITH: He backed out of the auction. JOANN SAMS, SECRETARY, ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL: Oh, it was just unbelievable, because they were so young, but yet they were so talented. The unprecedented live event, which took place before any allegations were made about sexual abuse, drew a worldwide audience of 90 million people. This is the first time I really had an opportunity to be completely alone with him. Oprah : Michael Jackson is the seventh of nine brothers and sisters born in Gary, Indiana to steel mill worker Joseph and mother Katherine. transcript. to Oprah" February 10, 1993: ABC: 2 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Oprah Winfrey 49 . And it would catch fire when Jackson unveiled an out of this world dance move on a television special for Motown's 25th anniversary. But some wondered whether he could pull off a strenuous 50- concert tour. There are many people in the past who have done many things to themselves and they're not talked about like my brother is. LEMON: As his life was controversial -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He raised the bar for image makeovers to a point where no one else wants to even come close to it. Have expert advice and tips delivered directly to you. They just have that natural talent for dancing any of the new, hot dances. Oprah Winfrey interviews Michael Jackson's accusers from "Leaving Neverland." By Meredith Blake Staff Writer March 1, 2019 6 AM PT Reporting from New York Oprah Winfrey is arguably the. There wouldn't even be the MTV that is now without Michael Jackson's influence. Sometimes he would call me at 3:00 in the morning crying, terrified about what would happen to his children. He wasn't making new records. Less than a year later, Jackson made headlines again when he married Lisa Marie Presley, the 26-year-old daughter of Elvis. You could not on your own going bearing in mind book buildup or library or . I had go-to lines about being able to separate the art from the man; about how Jackson was certainly an oddball with an affinity for children because of his own troubled upbringing, but that didn't make him a criminal; about how there was never any real proof that he had abused children. He's unconscious? But their victory tour reviews were mixed. Again, the 911 tape. And that's what happened. Stay up to date with the latest trends that matter to you most. A child's understanding of "abuse". The circus surrounding the trial seemed more than Jackson could bear. It was just sad. JACKSON: Because he -- he saw me -- he wanted me to -- I guess, maybe, I don't know if I was his golden child or whatever it was. It cost him around 10 million dollars to keep that up at its peak. I didnt even want to look in the mirror, my father would tell me I was ugly and I would cry all the time, he said of his adolescence. He didn't exchange words with his lawyers very often. And no one wanted it more than Michael. For instance, Leave Me Alone, from his 1987 album Bad, was the first song in what became something of a subgenre in his musical oeuvre: Michael lamenting media harassment and responding to it with music. Addeddate 2021-07-25 18:28:55 Closed captioning no Color color Identifier okra-interviews-michael-jackson-1993 LEMON: It is Chopra's belief that prescription drug abuse was Jackson's downfall. The cost -- $19 million. Not all are available yet, though Anyways, I hope you like them. I knew it wouldn't look right. They don't sound dated. An extended version of the special will also be available on Oprahs SuperSoul Conversations podcast starting Sunday, March 10. In 1993, Oprah Winfrey made history by conducting the most-watched interview in television history. Jackson vehemently denied the accusation on national TV. BEN BROCKMAN, ATTORNEY FOR MICHAEL JACKSON: I was trying my best to get him down.