Michael Jackson (76 page)

When Evan polled his friends, they agreed that there was something inappropriate about Jordie sleeping in the same bed with
Michael Jackson. One of his patients – Evan was a dentist – suggested that, ‘just to be on the safe side’, he should insist that
such behaviour stop. She was familiar with Michael’s dermatologist, Arnold Klein, and, at Evan’s request, called the doctor
to inquire about Michael. Klein told her that Michael was ‘absolutely heterosexual’ and, according to him, there was no reason
to be concerned about him and Jordie. ‘He’s the sweetest guy in the world,’ Arnold said, ‘and, I swear to God, you would be
making a mistake separating him and Jordie. He’s completely innocent, like a kid himself.’ Still, despite Klein’s reassurance,
Evan Chandler’s patient said that, at least in her opinion, an adult should not be sleeping in the same bed with a youngster,
unless he is the child’s parent – and even then such sleeping arrangements should be closely monitored. Another of Evan’s friends,
Dr Mark Torbiner, had to agree: something
was
wrong with the arrangement as it existed between Jordie and Michael, and it should be stopped, he insisted. ‘It’s not normal,’
said Torbiner. ‘C’mon! Be realistic. In the real world, this is crazy.’

On Sunday 18 April, Michael returned from his business trip to the East Coast. As soon as he got to Neverland, he picked up
the telephone to call Jordie and invite him and his mother and sister to the ranch for a five-day ‘vacation’. Now Evan was
closely monitoring the frequency of Jordie’s visits with Michael, and becoming unreservedly uncomfortable about them.

On 22 April, much to Evan’s chagrin, Michael took June, Jordie and Lily to Disneyworld in Florida for three days, utilizing
Sony’s company jet. When they returned to Los Angeles Michael asked if he could stay at the house with June and her children.
Again, Michael slept in the same bed with Jordie. About a week later, Michael bought Jordie a computer. The youngster was
thrilled with the present; Evan was not happy about it. He had planned to buy his son the exact same computer and Michael
had beaten him to it.

It was decided by Michael and Jordie that the computer would be set up at Michael’s hide-out so that when Jordie spent time
there he would have access to the Internet. Jordie now felt that the more time he spent at the hide-out, the better off he
was – and June agreed, since she trusted Michael with her son – and maybe to spite Evan, or maybe not – she allowed the visits,
most of them overnight, to continue.

In early May, Michael offered to take June, Jordie and Lily to Monaco for the World Music Awards where Michael was being honoured
with three trophies including ‘World’s Best-selling Record Artist of the Era’. The Jackson entourage would be travelling first
class, and would stay in the $2,000-a-night Winston Churchill suite at the Hotel de Paris, the finest such establishment in
the principality. It promised to be an exciting vacation for June and her family. For his part, having his friends with him
on this overseas trip meant that Michael did not have to leave them behind; he couldn’t bear the idea of that.

On the day they were to leave, Evan Chandler came by the Schwartz house to say goodbye to his son. Though he still had not
met Michael Jackson, he had no choice but to trust that June knew what she was doing when she agreed to the trip. Disturbingly,
though, Evan noticed that Jordie now seemed oddly cold towards him. Evan would later remember feeling that his son had changed,
that he no longer seemed to care about his father. As Jordie climbed into the limousine with June and Lily, Evan stood at
the curb and watched them chatter among themselves and, as he recalled it, felt left out of the proceedings. Later, he would
say, ‘I felt then that maybe June should just divorce Dave, since they were having problems, and maybe hook with up Michael.
After all, they were having a good time, even if I had some reservations about it. Maybe I was wrong, I reasoned. Maybe I
was wrong.’

In Monaco, Michael was often photographed with June, Jordie and Lily. In several pictures, he is seen holding Lily in his
arms while walking next to June. Jordie, in a red shirt and large, oversized hat that clearly belonged to Michael, walked
ahead of them. During the show, Michael sat next to Prince Albert, with Jordie in his lap.

On Sunday 16 May Michael and his guests returned from Europe. While browsing in the airport’s gift shop, they found a feature
story in the
National Enquirer
tabloid about ‘Michael’s new, adopted family’. Along with the article were photographs of Michael with Jordie at Disneyworld.
‘Oh, no, don’t believe that stuff,’ Michael told his friends, even though the article was obviously true. ‘The stuff they
wrote about me is all lies.’

Unbeknownst to Michael, Evan Chandler had also seen the article. He worried that such publicity might set Jordie up as a target
for kidnappers and, in his opinion, the situation between his son and a man he had never met – Michael Jackson – was out of control.
Evan had a tense telephone conversation with June about the situation; he also telephoned Dave Schwartz to tell him how he
felt about the article, which resulted in a loud argument between the two men.

Though Dave had been on his estranged wife’s side, his position changed after the article came out, and his friends began
calling to express sympathy that he had lost his family to Michael Jackson. He demanded that June break off her friendship
with Michael. She refused, saying that Michael had been kind to her and the children and that for him to try to interfere
at this point was ‘just plain selfish’.

Afterwards June told Michael Jackson about the many emotional and argumentative conversations relating to him and Jordie which
had taken place in just a few hours. Concerned, Michael felt that what had transpired was typical of the behaviour of adults.
‘See, grown-ups don’t trust each other, and that’s the real problem here,’ he told June. ‘It’s such a shame that this kind
of thing happens, isn’t it?’

*

During the first weekend of June 1993, Jordie Chandler was entertaining Michael Jackson at his home when his father, Evan,
stopped by for a surprise visit. Michael and Jordie were playing in Jordie’s bedroom when Evan entered the room. Shy about
meeting Evan, as he is about meeting most people for the first time, Michael ducked into a corner.

Evan walked around the room with his mouth agape, unaware that Michael was in the shadows. ‘My God, look at all this stuff,
Jordie,’ Evan said, astonished by the sight of so many thousands of dollars’ worth of compact discs, videos, Nintendo cartridges
and toys, many of them still in boxes. ‘Where’d you get all of this stuff from?’ he asked.

Just as Evan asked the question he caught a glimpse of movement in the corner. It was Michael. Evan’s first impression of
Michael was that he was an odd person. Michael had on full makeup, including red lipstick and black eye-liner. He had on his
black hat; a band-aid on his nose. He was chewing gum. ‘Hello, Mr Chandler,’ he said, his voice a delicate whisper. Michael
extended his hand. When Evan shook it, as he later remembered, it was a weak, limp handshake.

At that moment, Evan’s five-year-old son, Nikki, from his second marriage, ran into the room. ‘Wow. Michael Jackson,’ exclaimed
the youngster. Within moments, Nikki was on the floor with Michael playing with action figures and wrestling with him, as
Evan and Jordie looked on. Later, all four went into the backyard to play with slingshots. Maddeningly, Michael kept touching
his nose, every few minutes. No one knew why; no one asked. By the time he left the house, Evan was completely taken with
Michael. He had been kind and considerate to the children, funny and ‘completely normal acting’, as Evan later recalled it.

A few days later, Michael felt comfortable enough with Evan to invite him to the hide-out. He suggested that Evan bring Nikki.
When father and son arrived, they found Jordie and Michael waiting for them. Michael then presented Nikki with an assortment
of toys, and Evan with a Carrier time-piece. Later, as the boys played, Michael told Evan that he hoped to be able to take
Jordie with him on the second leg of his Dangerous tour, which would begin on 24 August 1993 at the National Stadium in Thailand,
Bangkok. He felt that Jordie might obtain a unique education on the road with him in countries such as Taiwan, Japan, Russia,
Israel and Turkey and Mexico. Michael hoped that Evan would think of his offer as a rare opportunity for Jordie, and perhaps
discuss the matter with June.

Evan would later recall again feeling uneasy about Michael. He had to ask the question: ‘Michael, what exactly is the nature
of your relationship with Jordie?’

‘Well, I don’t know what to say,’ Michael responded, ‘except that it’s… it’s…’ He seemed to search for the right word. ‘It’s
cosmic,’ he finally said.

Evan got to the point. ‘Look, are you having sex with my son?’ he asked. One would think such a question would be asked by
Evan while his hands were wrapped around Michael’s throat, but Evan recalled his demeanour as having been calm and collected.

Michael was shocked. He couldn’t believe Evan would ask him such a question, and in such a straightforward a way. ‘My God,
I can’t believe you would ask me that,’ he said.

The two men stared at each other for a few moments, apparently not knowing what to say. Evan decided not to push the issue.
Instead, he asked, ‘What if you don’t want to be friends with my son in the future? He’ll be so hurt.’

‘Not want to be friends with Jordie?’ Michael asked ‘But that’ll never happen. No one is more loyal than me. I will always
be Jordie’s friend.’

An awkward silence hung between the two men. Finally, Evan suggested that he and Michael join the youngsters in Michael’s
arcade.

At this point, as Evan Chandler later recalled it, he truly did not know whether to approve of Michael or not. He vacillated
between feeling exhilaration and uneasiness. After all, Michael didn’t really deny that anything inappropriate was going on,
nor did he admit it.

In a few days’ time, Evan was again awe-struck by Michael’s presence in Jordie’s life, enough to suggest that Michael even
spend more time with him. The suggestion came when Michael showed up at Nikki’s birthday party on 22 May 1993, astonishing
all of the guests who couldn’t fathom that
the
Michael Jackson was playing with their children at a friend’s birthday party. ‘Who wouldn’t want his kid to be Michael Jackson’s
pal,’ Evan said at the time. He even suggested that Michael build a new wing on to the home so that he wouldn’t have to make
the trek from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles just to visit Jordie. ‘You can just stay here,’ he offered, ‘but you’d be more
comfortable building an addition to the house, I think.’

Michael took the offer seriously enough to have his representatives check with the zoning division of the county in which
Evan lived to determine if it would be possible to build such an addition to the house.

That night, Michael stayed at Evan’s home, sleeping in the same room with Jordie and Nikki. After the two boys watched a video
of
Peter Pan
with Michael, Evan bid them good night and closed the bedroom door. The last thing he saw was Michael Jackson tucked into
a roll-out bed, and his two sons in bunk beds – Jordie in the bottom bed and Nikki in the top. Those would remain the sleeping
arrangements at Evan’s home for the next two nights.

What a strange scene: Michael Jackson, arguably the wealthiest and most accomplished entertainer in show business curled up
in an uncomfortable, roll-out bed while sleeping in a room with two youngsters.

Didn’t he have any responsibilities? It was as if the person in Jordie’s room had no plans for the future, certainly no recording
dates or concert commitments.

Wasn’t he known to rub shoulders with movies stars, magnates and members of royal families such as Diana, Princess of Wales?
Why did he never mention them? Where was his family? Why did he never speak about them? He never once mentioned his brothers,
or the names of any of his siblings.

And wasn’t he supposed to be wealthy? According to
Forbes
, he had earned fifty-five million dollars the year before. Why then did he dress only in old jeans and T-shirts? Why did
he wear the same black loafers every day? When, on occasion, he did refer to his wealth, it seemed incongruous. For instance,
Evan once watched Michael and Jordie shoot water pistols at tomatoes lined up on a ledge. Michael told the youngster, ‘I’m
thinking about buying my own private jet.’ Jordie shrugged. Then, Michael said, ‘You know what? I’ll bet if I stand back three
more feet I can still hit that tomato right over there.’

If anyone had told Evan that the person sleeping in his son’s bedroom was actually a Michael Jackson impersonator, he would
have believed it – that’s how little the life of the man on the roll-out bed seemed to have with the genuine-article King of
Pop.

Over the next couple of days, Evan and Michael forged ahead with their own friendship. They discussed family matters as well
as Jordie and Nikki’s education. Michael mentioned that Jordie had often described Evan as a terrific father, and Michael
noted his own admiration of Evan’s dedication to his children. They also discussed Dave Schwartz, and his displeasure over
the
National Enquirer’s
assertion that Michael had ‘stolen’ his family. Evan said he had to agree with Dave that the story was ‘in bad form’. Michael
explained that he had learned to live with sensational articles about himself and his friends, and he hoped Evan would not
hold this one against him. Evan said he liked Michael very much and would happily allow him to continue to be friendly with
Jordie and Nikki.

The two men shook hands and agreed to keep open the lines of communication between them.

In days to come, however, Evan had more time to think about Michael’s analysis of his relationship with Jordie as being ‘cosmic’
and the fact that he had been so curiously reticent to characterize their relationship in specific terms. Michael hadn’t been
responsive to the direct, albeit disconcerting, question of whether or not he was having sex with Jordie. Rather, Michael
just seemed embarrassed by it. Evan, as he would later tell it, began to experience a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Small incidents over the next few days made a bigger impact on him.