The Michael Jackson Tapes (22 page)
Read The Michael Jackson Tapes Online
Authors: Shmuley Boteach
This is shocking stuff coming from Michael's mouth, and truly captures the very essence of how his life went off the rails. Arrogance is at the heart of all human corruption, and it doesn't get much more arrogant than this. Here you have a man who was once a devout Jehovah's Witness, with all their emphasis on purging even an iota of idolatrous conduct from one's life, saying that it's no big deal that his fans have banners declaring that he's God. And I understand that they don't mean it literally. But Michael should have been at the forefront saying, “Everything I have, every talent of which I am possessed, comes only from God and to him belongs the glory.”
Instead, we had a sad spectacle of a man allowing himself to be worshipped by a bunch of lost souls who sleep outside his hotel room, desperate for an object of veneration to fill their inner emptiness. Michael should have been the first to tell them to go home and find something truly worth worshipping, to stop obsessing over a rock star and cultivate their own lives and real relationships. Instead, like so many other men and woman who have fallen in love with their own graven image, he became addicted to the adulation until he felt the need to play the role and act as if he were indeed a god.
Michael and I are both students of the Hebrew Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament) and I often told him that the Bible can be distilled into one short sentence. There is only one God, and it isn't you, so make room in your life for the real Creator. I told Michael many times, “Michael, in life we all end up humble. In that there is no choice. One way or another, we will end up with our arrogance deflated. Rather, the choice lies only in how it will come about. Either we humble ourselves, Michael, or God will humble us.” How tragic for Michael that he could not humble himself before it was done for him.
SB: So it's not idol worship because you yourself have subordinated yourself to the higher value saying that I represent this?
MJ: I'm representing the higher being. I'm not saying I'm God, but I'm saying heal the planet, heal the world, save our children, save the forest. There's nothing wrong with that. Right?
SB: Idol worship is where it's about me.
Yes, I know. I could have been much more forceful at the time in telling Michael that his words were abhorrent. But I justified holding my tongue in the belief that I had to first build trust before I could really be tough on him, as I increasingly became. I regret my cowardice and my fear that I would lose my intimate relationship with my friend, the superstar. I did, however, correct it a few months later as I increasingly lectured Michael on how his need to be worshipped was ruining his life and alienating him from God. As I predicted, it led to the demise of our relationship. Ordinary mortals do not criticize deities. At least I wasn't burned at the stake.
MJ: Yeah, no that's not what I'm about.
SB: The opposite is “I may be a hero, but I'm a hero for a higher cause.”
MJ: If you saw my show you would see it's totally not about me. Big giant screens show them cutting down the rainforest and hungry children reaching out. It's just so beautiful. People start to cry and get emotional. It's so wonderful.
PART 4
THE KATHERINE JACKSON INTERVIEW
Michael mentioned to me that he wanted me to interview his mother for this book. I wanted to discover her impressions on who Michael was, what made him unique, and what was the source of his pain. But more than anything else, knowing what a devout Jehovah's Witness and deeply religious woman Katherine Jackson was, I wanted to know how she felt about Michael leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses Church. It always seemed to me that the church had a salient effect on Michael. It kept him humble and grounded even after he became the biggest star in the world. Having God as part of his life reminded Michael that he was not a deity. He was a mortal man, flawed and incomplete. In the years after he abandoned the church, Michael began to exhibit unhealthy signs of a Messiah complex. He saw himself as the children's redeemer when in truth it was their parents who had to be their redeemers. The trouble with anyone who sees themselves in a superhuman light is that they are above criticism. And the refusal to accept guidance and criticism would later prove fatal for Michael.
Katherine Jackson was visiting New York City, and I met her in her suite in the Four Seasons Hotel. When I walked in, she was reading the Bible. In fact, on both occasions that I met with Mrs. Jackson she was reading the Bible as I entered. A religious and pious woman, she exuded a grace and nobility of spirit that was noticeable and impressive.
On Her Children's Fame and Talent
Shmuley Boteach: So I just want this to be more of a conversation. First of all, I wanted to meet you and it's a great pleasure. I'm friendly with Michael. He always talks about you. In fact, you're one of the central figures in the book.
Katherine Jackson: Oh really?
SB: Oh he adores you. When we went to visit Neverland we saw the Katherine Train and Mount Katherine. And when he talks about you his eyes close and he almost goes into some rapturous ecstasy.
KJ: [Laughing] He is such a good son. He really is a good son.
SB: Oh he worships you. I mean you are one of the great matriarchs in America. I mean, who can claim to have had a family that has achieved the things your family has achieved? You must be very proud of your children.
KJ: I am. I am very proud of them. But, you know, you have to pay the price.
SB: If you ever want me to turn this tape recorder off, I'm happy to. KJ: You mean whenever I want to?
SB: If you ever want me to turn it off, I'll turn it off.
KJ: That's all right. Just whatever you want to ask me, I'm ready. SB: You mean pay the price in terms of fame?
KJ: Yeah. When it comes to fame, you know, you pay the price. Some is good and some is bad. People like to hear bad things. People make up things about you and it hurts in a way because you find a lot of people. . . they get on television and they say a lot of things about you they don't even know about. And it's not true and this is what happens. So you have to be strong to get through this.
SB: How do you account for the extraordinary musical talent in your family?
KJ: Well, I've always loved music. My husband did too. My sister and I when we were young we used to sing together all the time and now the funny thing about it, my father, coming from Indiana. . . East Chicago, Indiana. That's where I was raised. My father used to keep the radio stationâwe didn't have television in those daysâused to keep the radio station on a station called, “Supper Time Frolic.” And every night it would come on and it was all country western.
He [her father] gave my son Tito a guitar. After I got married and I moved to Gary, my father brought a guitar over for Tito as a gift. And the boys what they did, after they got television, they used to watch, whenever Temptations, you know they would come
on, that was back in the sixties. It really started when I used to sing with them.
on, that was back in the sixties. It really started when I used to sing with them.
SB: That I haven't read. You used to sing with them?
KJ: You haven't read that? Yes. No, no, not professionally.
SB: No, I understand. At the house. . .
KJ: When they were little, when they were very young. I don't even think Michael was born at the time and whenever. . . We had [to pay] for a month of TV. And you know, how you get that and then you pay so much a month. And our TV broke down and it was snowing and cold and we didn't have. . . the kids didn't have anything to do. So we would sing songs. They were songs like “Old Cotton Field Back Home.” I don't know if you're familiar with those songs, folk songs really. And even before then when my husband and I first married we used to sing together just around the house doing nothing, harmonizing, and we always loved music and my husband's family was musical. He plays the harmonica, he used to, and the guitar and his brother played the saxophone and the other brother played the trombone and my father played guitar. So we just love music and I guess that's where it stemmed from.
SB: So you don't see it as something genetic?
KJ: Well it could be because my. . .
SB: There's no real family that has this record of. . .
KJ: My grandfather or great-grandfather, I would say grandfather, my mother used to tell me stories about how they would keep old wooden windows where they used to throw the windows open, you know, and they would sing and you could hear their voices echoing across the countryside and there was nothing else to do. That was the cheapest thing you could do was entertain and entertain yourself and your family because there was not much money in the black families at that time so they entertained themselves with music. Guitars and harmonicas.
SB: So do you think those families were happier than the families today with money?
KJ: Oh yeah, I think so. I really believe that. Because even when I was in Gary I think I was much happier, in a way. I'm happy today
but . . . the families are closer and I think that every family feels that when they're poor, they're closer.
but . . . the families are closer and I think that every family feels that when they're poor, they're closer.
SB: Some of the questions that I have. . . Let's first begin with Michael. He wanted me to meet you because he said many times that you can tell me the kind of stories that he may have forgotten. For example, what made him who he is? And I don't mean the musical side. Most Hollywood stars who have made a lot of money and who are world-famous are arrogant and self-centered. They're not interested in kids. That's the last thing they're interested in. They're interested in themselves. First of all Michael lived at home until he was about twenty-seven years old, which is amazing. I mean who's ever heard of. . . Macaulay Culkin moved out when he was like eleven [I was exaggerating]. How do you account for his softness, his gentility, his love of animals, his love of children, his sensitivity to life? He's like a boy, things surprise him and startle him. How do you account for all of that?
KJ: You know all those questions you ask it's hard to answer in a way. But, they used to own a cat each and I said, “You can have a cat but you can't bring them in,” and things like that for years before we came to California.
SB: So here he was already demonstrating this from the earliest age.
KJ: The love of animals from an early stage and Janet was another one that loved animals even when she was [young]. We don't have a law but you had to keep your animals out there. Animals just run stray. Animals everywhere.
After we came to California he was able to get animals, so they had snakes and he had sheep. Here in Encino we had a little zoo. We had a giraffe.
He loved those things. You know I think it's because. . . I'll tell you what I believe. That it was because when we were back in Indiana, it was really a bad place. Gary, Indiana, was really a bad place. And my husband, he wouldn't let the kids go out and be with. . . the neighborhood kids.
SB: Why didn't any of this go to Michael's head? Why did he stay at home? He said to me, “I'm old fashioned, you stay home until you
get married.” Did you raise the values with him? Was it the religious faith he was raised with? Michael is a fundamentally soft, sensitive person. Where does that come from?
get married.” Did you raise the values with him? Was it the religious faith he was raised with? Michael is a fundamentally soft, sensitive person. Where does that come from?
KJ: I'd hate to say it.
SB: Are all your kids like that?
KJ: Most of them, yes. I'd say thatâand I hate to say it. I used to tell him all the time that he was too much like me and I didn't want him to be that way.
SB: That's exactly what he says.
KJ: [laughs] I used to tell him, “I don't want you to be that way. You're a man. You have to be strong. You know. But he's gentle. He's just a gentle person.
SB: So what you're saying is that his softness comes from you. He was much more attached to you than he was to his father.
KJ: Oh yeah.
SB: So he took after your example.
KJ: Oh yeah.
SB: And he actually believes in being soft and he'd rather be hurt than inflict pain.
KJ: Nothing bad.
Religion in Katherine's and Her Children's Lives
Shmuley Boteach: And are you “soft” like that because of your religious faith? Michael talks about your religious faith all the time.
Katherine Jackson: No, I've been like that all the time. I wasn't a Jehovah's Witness all the time.
SB: You were a Jehovah's Witness when you were young?
KJ: I was not. I used to be Baptist. My mother raised us going to church school every Sunday and being in the Junior choir.
SB: So you were raised Baptist?
KJ: Yes.
SB: And did you go to church? Were you a religious Baptist?
KJ: Yes, I went to church but I didn't like what I saw in the Baptist church. And so after I got to judge religion by the way the people act and they were doing it and that's why I got out of it.
SB: And where was this?
KJ: In East Chicago, Indiana.
SB: 'Cause you saw things that turned you off and you decided to seek a better religion at the age of what. . . Twelve? Thirteen?
KJ: Yeah. Twelve, thirteen. My sister and I were studying to be a Jehovah's. . . Well, we were just studying with the people next door who were. 'Cause Jehovah's Witnesses come around and they teach the Bible to people. My mother found it and she got angry with us and made us stop. So after I got older, and I got married, and moved away, I remembered that. And that's when I started to study.
SB: Were you married?
KJ: I was already married.
SB: So you were exposed to the Jehovah's Witnesses when you were a teenager.
KJ: Yes.
SB: But your parents felt this was something they didn't want.
KJ: Right.
SB: So they dissuaded you. But it stayed with you internally. So when you had more independence and freedom, you got married young? KJ: Nineteen.
SB: Nineteen? My wife got married at nineteen. My mother got married at nineteen. It's like a number in the family.
KJ: Mmmm.
SB: So you got married at nineteen and you moved with your husband to Indiana straight away?
KJ: To Gary, Indiana? No, when we first got married we stayed and two months later we moved to Gary, Indiana.
SB: So it was at that time that you went to find the Jehovah's Witnesses again?
KJ: Yes, but it was, I guess, about ten or twelve years later.
SB: And what was the appeal for you? I know a little about it that I've read. Did you feel you found greater sincerity?
KJ: Well, what it is about Jehovah's Witnesses is it's a religion that goes strictly by the Bible and they believe in doing right. Like, if you commit adultery or anything like that, you get disfellowshipped. If you're married and you commit adultery, which is wrong, then you get disfellowshipped from the religion. A lot of things make me believe in it. I believe in it because I believe it's a true religion. I do. There's a Creator who cares about you and then we have examining the scriptures daily.
SB: Every day you have something to read?
KJ: Aha.
SB: Old and New Testament?
KJ: Aha.
SB: And you take these books wherever you go?
KJ: Well, not that one [she points to a book]. But these are just testimonies by people about what they went through.
SB: You feel it's based on the Bible so it's very authentic. Therefore, it's a true religion, so it really spoke to you. And you then formally converted?
KJ: No, I studied. You have to study the Bible.
SB: Did your husband walk this path with you?
KJ: He studied also but he didn't become one. He thought it was too strict for him. My oldest daughter was baptized. Michael was at one time.
SB: No other kids?
KJ: No. No others.
SB: And why was that? Why some and not others?
KJ: I guess they did but I never forced anything on them. It was up to their own free will if they wanted to be.
SB: So at a certain age you spoke to Michael about the religion and he took to it?
KJ: No but, I guess he wanted to and he went with me to the Kingdom Hall.
SB: Were you proud of the fact that he became a Jehovah's Witness? KJ: I was very proud that he became a Jehovah's Witness.
SB: And by this time was he already famous? Or he was just a boy?
KJ: He was already famous, in a way. Yes, he was famous because The Jackson 5 was very famous at first.
SB: Right, so this was that age already with The Jackson 5.
KJ: Right, right.
SB: But he was the only one of The Jackson 5 who was baptized? KJ: He was the only one.
SB: And he used to go with you on Sundays to church?
KJ: Oh yes, aha. And he used to go on his own.
SB: I asked Frank to show you this beautiful article that Michael and I wrote about Pioneering and the Sabbath. A beautiful article. [It was published on the well-known spirituality website
Beliefnet.com
.]
Beliefnet.com
.]
KJ: Oh, really?
SB: Oh, it was covered everywhere.
KJ: Oh, really?
SB: Oh, it was huge. It's a shame he doesn't show you these things. It was a beautiful article.
KJ: Oh why didn't he show it to me?
SB: It's a beautiful article about how he loved the Sabbath.
KJ: Mhmm.
SB: So he would go with you. He told me that what he liked about them was that they never treated him differently. That although he was now a star, they would call him Brother Jackson.
KJ: Aha.
SB: They would go out of their way not to treat him differently, not less than, but not more, than any other.
KJ: Yes.
SB: Did you see that as well?
KJ: Yes, they did. That's how they think. There's a lot of entertainers that are Jehovah's Witnesses. I can't think of the name of the group, you know, Benson, Ronnie Loss. Just, I can go on and on with a lot of entertainers that are Jehovah's Witness. And they treat them the same. They don't treat them any different. Just like one of them.
SB: Did Michael like that? That he could just finally be himself?
KJ: Yes, I think so.
SB: He also told me that they were very good. That if reporters followed him to church they didn't make a big deal about it. [laughing]
In the article, we write jokingly “even reporters are children of God.”
In the article, we write jokingly “even reporters are children of God.”
KJ: [laughing] That's true.
SB: Okay, so you have all these children, a few of them took to the religion and Michael was one of them, even though he was a big star. It has always seemed to me in our conversations that Michael has a natural spirituality, that he has a natural closeness to God. KJ: Yes, aha.
SB: Could you comment on that at all? Did you see that from an early age?
KJ: Aha.
SB: Did he pray before he went to sleep at night?
KJ: Yes, I believe he has. Like I have some children. . . I don't know if they even, I don't know, I can't say because. . .
SB: Are you comfortable with talking about this?
KJ: I'm fine. But I know Michael is [spiritual]. He's always been a quiet, loving child. And he just loved people, loved children. And we'd sit there and both of us, we'd just sit and cry when we saw. . . because it's very sad and I knew then, you know. . . and he used to always tell me, “I know I can't heal the whole world, Mother, but I can at least. . . I can make a start.”
SB: I was discussing this with Michael yesterday. Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays.
KJ: No.
SB: And is there a reason for that?
KJ: Yes. . . Jesus' death is . . . the only holiday that. . .
SB: Okay, so there's Easter. Do you call it Easter or do you call it something else?
KJ: Uh, we don't call it. . . we don't celebrate Easter.
SB: That's the resurrection. You celebrate the actual day that he died. KJ: Yes.
SB: Right, okay. Good Friday.
KJ: And that's the only day he said to keep. Not the resurrection, he said.
SB: Do you read the Bible every day?
KJ: Yes.
SB: So this is. . . this is your life, your religion. It's absolutely central to who you are.
KJ: Well, yes, in all the Kingdom Halls [I attend five meetings a week]. SB: Five meetings a week?
KJ: But you don't have to meet. We have a meeting on Sunday night, which is where we go and they teach and we learn, things like that. You never stop learning the Bible.
SB: Right.
KJ: Do Jewish people read it all the time too?
SB: Absolutely. Oh absolutely, we read it. . .
KJ: After reading it day and night. I know you know all about that. SB: We read the bible every single day.
KJ: Aha.
SB: I mean, by this age already, I'm thirty-four years old, I've studied it my whole life. I know, I mean, I'm not trying to brag, but just from reading it I know a lot of it by heart by now.
KJ: Oh.
SB: At least the five Books of Moses, that is.
KJ: Aha.
SB: Which is what we focus on more than anything. More than Psalms or the prophets.
KJ: Right.
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