Deborah - What a nice article and note about the king of pop. I agree with you that his live will be even larger after his death which is so sad. Perhaps in death we can once again experience his music, art, and life with a more open heart and mind.

I agree with your article, Michael Jackson was a genius and we will all miss him. It's sad that he got caught up in that legal circus and I hope that his death won't trigger any further legal battles.

Gag! Your drippy defense of him seems a bit much. Regardless of whatever abuse he may have suffered in childhood, he was a grown man and should have known what was acceptable and appropriate when it came to relationships with children. Personally, I don't believe he was innocent in the child abuse allegations. He was a master at projecting himself as weak and fragile and an innocent to satisfy his own needs of being childlike. He was not a child. He was an adult. Why make excuses for his inappropriate and bizarre behavior?

I really liked what you had to say about Michael Jackson. I too thought he was misunderstood and not at all the ogre "gag" described. I agree with you that he got persecuted throughout his life. Thanks for your thoughtful writing.

"He was being persecuted not prosecuted." Well put. I too think in the end that he was "guileless and naive," not in the least malicious or predatory.

I think a lot of people found it hard to connect with him after the trial--wanted him to disappear, too. The whole thing stirred up so many mixed emotions in all of us. Yes, an adult man should have been more self-aware; and it freaked people out that an adult man wanted to befriend children. But the world was also telling him not to grow up and punishing him for doing so, as is noted in a similarly smart piece on Jackson's isolated adult life in today's Los Angeles Times.

Anyway, thanks for your honestly and courage in making the record a bit clearer for us. The horror should really be directed at the media circus that basically ended everything for him years ago. What a shame.

Deborah, thank you for such a heartfelt, loving, caring, honest, and open-minded appraisal of Michael Jackson. He surely has been a terribly misunderstood individual and I think much of the public owes him an apology for "persecuting" him and not taking into consideration the total package of who Michael was. One thing I do agree with that Freud stated was that much of our childhood is responsible for who we are as adults. We are remnants of our past; nothing that has happened during our childhood escapes us. Either we will persevere, seek our own help as adults, or sink further into our despair and confusion. Sometimes we are so disturbed by our past that we need someone to help pull us out, and that's exactly what Michael needed.

It's very unfortunate (and I'm certainly not blaming) that no one close to him could help him or get him the psychological/emotional attention he needed. He obviously had problems (as we all do), but his sweet spirit shined brighter than his circumstances. He was beautiful and I think if more people were like him, life would be much better. There was nothing judgmental about him, uncaring, cold, distant, or even arrogant as famous as he was. He sustained a childlike humility that made him the wonderfully respected being he was.

Because of all the pain he has had to suffer at the hands of being continually misunderstood and abused, not only by his father, but also by people out to secure his monetary assets, he is in a better place now, where God can heal all Michael's pain.

I'm sure he is resting in peace finally. While celebrating his life...we should also celebrate the peace he now has access to.

Its sad that he couldn't find the peace he needed on earth and or people who understood him early on.
Child predators hide yet michael had nothing to hide from anyone. I agree with the author about how his guilelessness got the best of him and the public couldnt support his bizarreness.

I have been totally silent since I saw the news on the Internet. For sometime I've been hoping that it was only another rumor about him. It didn't work, news keep coming out with no signs of reversal. I've also been trying to gather my thought on what can I say or what should I say about this. It's been extremely hard... it's just not easy to get over this.
I really appreciate your remarks about him and I strongly agree with what you said. So far my feeling has been that when there're a thousand insane men saying that Michael was wrong, he was almost alone to defend himself...It wasn't very much that he was weak but he was dewarfed by this huge population of idiot like people who never tried to understand what was really going on but were only obssessed with idiot media reports whose purpose I'm afraid is only to get sensation. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness to think it carefully and consciensly.
I believe Michael has a beautiful soul and he had his own philosophy about life but he failed to communicate it well because it was so unique just like his music talent, but I thought most people took it at face value and refused to accept it.
If media have made his success, they've also contributed greatly to his death. Publicity is the most ensential factor that added to his pressure. When there's a world of people pointing their fingers at you and tell you that you're a "freak", anyone would feel powerless to point back at the huge crowd of fouls and try to tell them they should reconsider their opinions. Most people would try to remain silent, but for Michael I guess there's more than silence, he also had to face the real torture from the court and greedy people who were out to get him (his money). Yes, he was not only isolated, he was also cornered and tortured alive.
Honestly, I've read extensively about Michael on the Internet since last year (I'm from a remote Chinese countryside and only got to know Michael last year when I went to Shanghai) and I was sincerely praying for him that it would be finally over. My heart sank when I heard he was recently sued again for 40 million...the person never knew he wasn't going to suceed in his tactics...he only saw Michael's back. I have almost all of Michael's albums and when I listen to them one by one, I could feel in his music how his life has changed...I know it's been entangled but I was still praying for him. I was praying that I would be able to see him on stage in London in July...
Sorry I'm writing too much, but thanks for sharing, I truly appreciate that. Hope this will be a lesson for the world to learn,to learn to show respect to someone they don't really know.

I absolutely loved your post, and agree with everything you said about MJ. And for me he died indeed from a broken heart. May he Rest In Piece

I agree on your psychological description. I also believe, that his reputation, career, health and soul was damage not only by unscrupulous individuals whom don’t have the courage or capacity to achieves or produce what they want, instead, have the need to destroy others who have the talent, power, fame and fortune. Media help Michael to promote fame; certainly they also contribute to destroy him in pushing him to the edge, as a result to heart failure. I believe that Michael Jackson will remake a bridge for us to learn.
I wished a Michel could have found ways to heal his childhood wounds to enjoy his life. I certainly will pry for him, Hopefully he would be able to rest and acquired the peace in haven that he was not enjoined in earth.

I agree on your psychological description. I also believe, that his reputation, career, health and soul was damage not only by unscrupulous individuals whom don’t have the courage or capacity to achieves or produce what they want, instead, have the need to destroy others who have the talent, power, fame and fortune. Media help Michael to promote fame; certainly they also contribute to destroy him in pushing him to the edge, as a result to heart failure. I believe that Michael Jackson will remake a bridge for us to learn.
I wished a Michel could have found ways to heal his childhood wounds to enjoy his life. I certainly will pry for him, Hopefully he would be able to rest and acquired the peace in haven that he was not enjoined in earth.

Thank you for writing such a thoughtful article on Michael Jackson's persona and psyche.

I had never thought of body dysmorphic disorder, but now it makes so much sense!
I've always thought of Michael Jackson as trying to get back to a childhood that he wasn't allowed to have. His interactions with children went against social norms, so most people didn't understand them - or worst, denounced them as something evil. I don't believe that about him. I believe that the man who wrote "Heal the World", "Gone too Soon", and gave countless hours, hugs, dollars, and smiles to children actually did want to just see (and be) a happy child.

His kind heart was damaged by the darkness the media cast over him and I think it was just too much.

I'll always think of MJ as an extrodinary talent with a kind, and misunderstood soul. I hope he's found some peace.

This article was just what I was looking for - Thank you.

i dearly wish that he could've performed one of the concert of his comeback so that we can cherish his performance forever, i wonder if there are any videos of his rehearsal available, coz there must be some as it always has been on his shows

I was really surprised by your assessment of Michael Jackson regarding the sexual molestation charges. I thought you of all truth seers would have clearly seen his lies. There were too many allegations against him to have it all be false. Let's not get caught up in his fragility. He was narcissistic like so many famous people. He wanted his version of the truth to be real and it was not. The Martin Bashir interview and the one he did with Oprah show a manic and insensitive side. He cared about his persona. I agree that he was robbed of his childhood. It is important to note that he never had a functional adult romantic relationship. There is definately something fishy there. He would not have settled the first case with a payoff if he was truly innocent. He accepted his children from Debbie Rowe as a gift. Not a healthy adult outlook on life - it's selfish. He claimed that they were biologically his when in fact they clearly were not. When he was on trial jurors said that they were confined to strict guidelines but that they felt he was in fact guilty. His vanity and sense of invinciblity knew no bounds. Because he was a sensitive artist does not mean that he was a healthy functioning adult who understood reality. Sometimes where there is smoke there really is a fire.

Maybe he died of a broken heart because he did to those children what his father had done to him. He was possibly killed by his own shame.

was bogus and was necessarily rebutted with a TAKE TWO version by MJ himself because Bashir's contained so many lies and innaccuracies and OMISSIONS.

During Bashir's interviews, MJ has his OWN cameras set up and taped it all as well. There was a LOT Bashir left out so that he could skew the "interview" with MJ to his own scandalous liking and get his own piece of the media circus surrounding MJ's supposed "pedophelia". Bashir was just another vulture out to get his own piece of MJ and honestly he ought to ROT for what he did to Mr. Jackson.

You can find all NINE "Living With Michael Jackson, TAKE TWO" videos out there on YouTube - should you care to know what Bashir left out - if you want to know the TRUTH.

PART ONE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvhwWDCV9Bo

I am a 62 year old white, middle class woman. I re-encountered Michael Jackson when my pre-teen daughter shared the "Dangerous" Album with me. I couldn't stop listening to it. Then I bought the Black or White video. That was when I really fell for Michael. That album and video remain my favorites.
I am still very sad about his death. Like many others, I've started doing a bit of research about his life; several sources, written before he died, say he suffered from lupus and vitilgio; the first can result in fatal heart attacks and the second can lead to skin cancer, for which he was being treated. There is so much emphasis on drug abuse, but little said about his other medical issues. Like everything about him, his was a complicated life. I am still crying for him, and for all we've lost, and I hope he is at peace now. He was an amazing artist.
Thank you.

I really found your article very flattering. Nice to find a person who is fair not judgmental and clearly open minded. I wish you could have
been there for him, before he died. I have questions though,
I never believed Michael was guilty of harming children. One needs to just listen to his music and you know where his heart was.. In exam.
Earth, Heal the World. We are the World. and so on.He loved children.
Too many people saw how sweet he was,and went in to take full advantage. That is a victim.Not a predator.
Could the Dr. he hired not have put Michael under whats known as Mental Hygiene arrest. For his own Safety or health.? Or does that require a Psychiatrist to do that? He needed medical help,clearly.
Intervention was never going to work because he didn't see what he was doing would hurt him, But a Dr. should know that.
I wish more people would be as kind as you are in their observations.
The media has never been more insensitive then they are these days.
As someone who worked 9 years around the clock, 6 to 7 days a week.
I know the toll it takes on a person. Michael looked so completely sad after that trial Which I did not watch. Something inside told me he was innocent..Thank heaven for you, a level headed open minded reporter with a lot of class.

I have been a MJ fan my entire life. When i heard of his passing, like so many others, i was shocked and deeply saddened. I really loved Michael. I haven't stopped crying.

Having said that, I am so conflicted. I can not help but think that he has lied to us so many times over the years. Dont get me wrong, i want so badly to believe all of his explanations, but i just find they are too unbelievable.

For example, he said that he only had two cosmetic surgeries. We can see that he clearly had multiple surgeries. Why not just tell the truth? He said that he is the biological father of his children, clearly he is not. Why not just tell the truth? He said he had Vitaligo, with all the other changes it seems too convenient. Also, if you look at La Toya, it appears that she has also lightened her skin. He said in a 1993 interview with Oprah that Brooke Shields was his girlfriend. I later read in an interview with Brooke that she said they had last seen each other in 1991 and they were just friends. I think he used his friendships with women over the years to cover up the fact that he wasn't interested in women at all. He said he wasn't gay, but if he was, i wouldn't have loved him any less. Why not tell the truth about his orientation? Now with the child abuse allegations, i have read extensively about both cases and i have never once heard anything about Michael taking a lie detector test. I wonder, why not? If i was accused of something criminal, i would demand one to clear my name. Why didn't he take one? Could that have cleared everything up? Or is it that he didn't take one because he was in fact hiding something? I don't want to think a man that has so profoundly changed our world for the better could possibly do something so socially inacceptable.

Ok, so Michael didn't owe us anything. It was his life and his idiocyncrasies. I just wish he would have told the truth. If he had possibly he could have gotten the help he needed. Most likely he was too deep in his own denials. Most likely he believed the nonsense that he fed to us.

I came across this video on youtube showing Michael's home movies which were broadcast years ago and he really did act like a big kid. Was it all an act to cover up his being a predator?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl3noJ8pIQE

Beautifully written article on MJ's death. I don't believe he was a child predator or molester. He was simply too trusting, naive and surrounded by people who fed and lived off his money exploiting the "friendships" they had with him. He must have been lonely, trapped by his mega fame. In the end, who really cared for him? Who will be heart broken forever? His mother and children of course. And perhaps just a few precious friends. I hope they round up all the unethical doctors who got him addicted and prosecute them. His fans of course were and are loyal but never let inside his inner circle. It is a shame that such talent will never walk this earth again but his beautiful voice and good deeds will live on forever. No fan expected him to die and I'm certain that MJ didn't plan to die that day. RIP.

Read "The Michael Jackson Conspiracy" by Aphrodite Jones. Read the GQ article "Was Michael Jackson Framed" by Mary Fischer back in 1994. Read court documents. Michael may have been guilty of trusting the wrong people. It has recently come out that he was being controlled by a Dr. Tohme Tohme who was trying to run his estate and was given power of attorney. Michael was naive about alot of things. However, he did a lot of philanthropic work and gave to charities, I have read that he donated over $300 million to various charities. That is an unbelievable amount of money, he donated all his proceeds from an entire 67 date tour to charity, that is unheard of.

Thanks Anonymous for the articles mentioned...I have read them. There is also a new one out from Kevin Trudeau show called was Michael Chemically Manipulated for Profit? Very good article. I honestly believe that slimey people used him to get themselves wealthy. He will always be the King of Pop. Read articles and interviews by his friend Dr. Chopra who was a good friend.

A PATH TO THE SOUL OF EVERY SPHINX

http://www.BackdoorToNeverland.com

Michael Jackson had one chance out of a billion to become who he became. He took that chance.
For him, music was “create or die.”
There was no way for him to go back.
To me, Michael Jackson will remain a fighter.
I respect that. Too many dreamers, so few doers. There is a price tag on everything. But who is
really stepping forward to pay the price?
Michael Jackson was not perfect.
He was a man fighting for his standards.
He paid the price.
Devoted to originality, he immured himself in his persona. Worshipped worldwide, loneliness was
his curse.
A dancing paradox.
There will never be somebody like him again.
But however strange Michael Jackson may have seemed, he can be understood.
There is a path to the soul of every Sphinx.
I hope that my work will help you understand the universe of this consummate artist.
Once you have read this material, you won’t see Michael Jackson as you used to.
He was only human after all.

Yves Gautier

http://www.backdoortoneverland.com