Vanity Fair

Michael Jackson – The Boy Who Would Be King

Lisa Robinson has enjoyed a long relationship with Michael since he was fourteen years old. Their first interview took place at his home in Encino, when some of the words she used to describe him were “precious, enthusiastic, inquisitive and fun”. She found him to be “absolutely adorable”.

She spoke about him rehearsing with his brothers, who would tease him and kid around while they were talking. She said that they were a close family until he was about fifteen. As his brothers got older and some moved out, they became more distant. Michael told her when he was a teenager his brothers stayed with girls in the same bedroom where he was sleeping, so he was not happy and became even more distant with them.

She asked him about the Osmonds, who were performing around the same time as the Jackson 5 and if they were copying the Jacksons, Michael said he guessed so!

They had two dogs, Heavy and Hitler, who later was renamed Duke.

In 1975, Michael discussed his music with Lisa saying that he wanted more freedom to decide what and how he was going to sing. “I know what sounds good” he said.

She also asked him about girls and dating, but he told her he wasn’t really interested at that time as he was too busy. He was seen out with girls like Tatum O’Neal, but he said they were friends and it was not a real romance. He liked to be quiet about his private life and she got the feeling that he had been told not to discuss it too much.

He told her he liked the songs that the Jacksons sang and when she saw him dancing and asked where he had learned, he told her had had been watching Fred Astaire movies. He added that he loved performing, not for the money, but for coming up with new ideas, pioneering and innovating.

For his Annie Liebowitz photoshoot she wanted him to dance and he was glad to oblige. He also loved to be dressed up and to look his best.

Lisa thought that things began to get difficult for Michael around 1984 when she saw him at Madison Square Garden on the Victory Tour and later in 1988 when it was apparent he had been having plastic surgery. People, she said, thought he was “La-La” but she knew he wasn’t. His nickname was “Nose”, and he resented Joseph calling him that, when his own nose was just like Michael’s.

She spoke of Lisa Marie Presley who said that Michael should let people know he had a normal speaking voice and was funny and witty. Lisa said she was shocked when he used the word “crap” when he talked about the original mix of the ’Thriller’ album.

If she saw him now, she thinks that he would have really talked to her because he trusted her.

To watch the video in full please click here.

Source: Vanity Fair & MJWN