Authors: Steve Knopper
“Well, I really shouldn’t be telling you this”
: Phillips interview for
Rolling Stone,
2009, courtesy of Claire Hoffman.
“I almost fainted”
: DiLeo interview for
Rolling Stone,
2009, courtesy of Claire Hoffman.
Murray and Williams hallway exchange, “that he wouldn’t want the world,” “I am not giving him the keys,”
Williams refusing Murray’s food request, and “make sure security”
: Williams testimony,
People vs. Murray
.
“A star can never die”
: Michael Jackson,
Dancing the Dream
(London: Transworld/Doubleday, 1992/2009), p. 15.
Travis Payne heading to 2
P.M.
rehearsal, mother’s call, “I’m sure everything is fine,” “No, we’re rehearsing,” rerouting to Staples, and “Smooth Criminal”
: Payne testimony,
Katherine
Jackson vs. AEG,
May 13–14, 2013.
“People say things” and twenty texts
: Author interview with Chris Grant.
Tour accountant call from Gongaware and MJ in the hospital for heart attack
: Author interview with Abby Franklin.
“Tell me something that will make me”
: Kenny Ortega testimony,
Katherine Jackson vs. AEG,
July 8–10 and August 8, 2013.
Ortega collapsed, sobbing, Payne hauled him into a seat, friends held up Moffett, Bush in a similar state, and security closed building
: Franklin interview.
Payne typed on his laptop, “No one knew what to do,” and “So many deaths”
: Author interview with Stacy Walker.
“Is it true?”
and Grant getting calls
: Grant interview.
“The room was dark”
: Author interview with Darryl Phinnessee.
Mourners played “Heal the World” at hospital
: John Rogers, “Hundreds of Jackson fans converge on hospital,” Associated Press, June 25, 2009.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon cranking “Human Nature”
: Harriet Ryan, Chris Lee, Andrew Blankstein, and Scott Gold, “King of Pop Is Dead at 50,”
Los Angeles Times,
June 26, 2009, p. A1.
Teddy bears in Gary
: Michael McGuire, “Michael Jackson Mourned,”
examiner.com
, June 25, 2009.
Three hundred people at Hitsville
: “Fans gather where Michael Jackson’s career born,” Associated Press, June 25, 2009.
“it’s almost like Michael Jackson’s last concert,” Smokey Robinson devastated, “You try to find something”
:
Larry King Live
(CNN, June 25, 2009).
Berry Gordy numb and “musical god”:
“Reaction to Michael Jackson’s Death,” CNN Wire, June 25, 2009.
“Jackie Robinson of MTV”
: David Vigilante, “Commentary: Jackson Was the Jackie Robinson of MTV,” CNN Wire, June 25, 2009.
Four-thousand-word charity list
: Katie McKoy, “Thank You, Michael Jackson, for your Lifelong Charity Work,”
Atlanta Examiner,
June 25, 2009.
“Whatever else you might think”
: Craig Newman,
suntimes.com
, June 25, 2009.
“We lost a hero”
: “From Sydney to Bogotá, Fans Mourn Jackson,”
cbsnews.com
, June 25, 2009.
Fans lining up at Forever Young
: Chris Hawes, “North Texans Mourn Death of Michael Jackson,” WFAA, June 5, 2009.
“Although we had always played”
: Author interview with Skip Dillard, for
Rolling Stone,
2009.
Thirty thousand sales before death, 1.8 million after
: Ed Christman and Antony Bruno, “Michael Jackson Sales Surge Expected to Last Months,”
billboard.com
, July 3, 2009.
8.2 million copies in 2009
: Nielsen Soundscan.
Smith and Martinez interviewed Murray at the Ritz Carlton and other Murray claims about MJ’s death
: LAPD interview with Murray.
“We don’t use it for rest”
: Alon Steinberg testimony,
People vs. Murray,
October 12, 2011.
Times of Murray’s calls
: Edward Dixon and Sade Anding testimony,
People vs. Murray,
September 27, 2011 and October 3, 2011.
“I said, ‘Hello, hello’ ”
: Ibid.
“
Michael made young men and women”
: Virginia Byrne, “Fans Gather for Apollo Theater’s Jackson Memorial,” Associated Press, July 1, 2009.
Tito Jackson at Reggae Sumfest
: Author observation.
$
1.5 million memorial and AEG payment
: Patrick J. McDonnell, “AEG Announces Agreement to Pay $1.3 Million to Help Cover Cost of Michael Jackson Memorial,”
Los Angeles Times,
June 19, 2010, p. AA1.
“with orders that nobody was allowed onto the property,” Talon locking down Hayvenhurst and Vegas homes, Ron Boyd, La Toya and Jeffre Phillips, and “took out whatever they wanted”
: Author interview with Ron Williams.
“Grace, the children are crying”
: Maurice Chittenden and John Harlow, “Nanny Reveals Tragic Secret Life of Jackson,”
The Sunday Times,
June 28, 2009, p. 1.
Phillips gave Taj Jackson two computers and one went to the estate, Williams password, and Prince’s bedroom closet
: Taj Jackson testimony,
Katherine Jackson vs. AEG,
July 11, 2013.
“They backed up trucks”
: DiLeo interview for
Rolling Stone,
2009, courtesy of Claire Hoffman.
$400 million in debt
: Zack O’Malley Greenburg,
Michael Jackson Inc.: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of a Billion-Dollar Empire
(New York: Atria, 2014), p. 227.
Branca rehired June 17
: “Jackson’s mother loses control of son’s estate,” Associated Press, July 6, 2009.
DiLeo’s request
: Johnnie L. Roberts, “A Superlawyer Returns, a Pop Icon Dies—a Will Is Discovered,”
thewrap.com
, December 9, 2010.
“full power and authority” and details of MJ will
: “Last Will of Michael Jackson,” signed July 7, 2002.
“The Scandalously Boring Truth”
: Zack O’Malley Greenburg, “The Scandalously Boring Truth About Michael Jackson’s Will,”
forbes.com
, August 17, 2012.
Janet condo meeting, including McMillan on the phone and “big fraud,” and Katherine Jackson backing off
: Author interview with Adam Streisand.
Katherine saying Streisand talked her out of contesting the will
: Sullivan,
Untouchable
, pp. 471–73.
Objections to MJ will, including
“violations of fiduciary duties,” and “in a fraudulent deceptive manner”
: “Joseph Jackson’s Objection to Appointment of John Branca and John McClain as Executors of the Estate of Michael Jackson,” Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, November 10, 2009.
$24 million, including $15 million in advances
: Michael White and Adam Satariano, “Jackson’s ‘This Is It’ May Make $400 Million in Sales,” Bloomberg, October 26, 2009; Concerts West/AEG contract draft,
Katherine Jackson vs. AEG
discovery documents.
“I don’t think we’ve lost anything”
: Randy Phillips interview, for
Rolling Stone,
2009, courtesy of Claire Hoffman.
MJ’s debts and legal claims, including franchise tax board and Erle Bonner
: Greenburg,
Michael Jackson Inc.
, p. 225.
“Grab your camera and come in”
: Nancy Raskauskas, “On stage with the ‘King of Pop,’ ”
gazettetimes.com
, November 1, 2009.
Details of
This Is It
footage editing
: Author interview with Tim Patterson.
“It’s like the greatest show that never was”
: Ibid.
Estate received 90 percent of the movie returns
: Associated Press, “Michael Jackson’s Mother Sues Concert Promoter AEG Live for Fraud over Singer’s Death,”
cleveland.com
, September 16, 2010.
“No one can ever watch ‘This Is It’
again”
: @wingheart tweet, May 22, 2013.
$200 million gross
: Greenburg,
Michael Jackson Inc.
, p. 227.
MJ recording at Bel Air Hotel, eleven different vocal lines, and other details from
Michael
songs
: Author interview with Michael Durham Prince, for
Rolling Stone,
2010.
“It should have all stayed in the vault”
: “Quincy Jones: Lady Gaga is ‘Madonna, Jr.,’ ”
usmagazine.com
, November 22, 2010.
DiLeo brought the songs to Doelp
: Author interview with DiLeo, for
Rolling Stone,
2010.
Impersonator accusations, “I’m disgusted,” and estate response
: Steve Knopper, “Inside Michael Jackson’s Return,”
Rolling Stone,
December 9, 2010, pp. 13–16.
Damien Shields investigation
: Author interview with Damien Shields.
Michael
selling 405,000
: Keith Caulfield, “Michael Jackson: Two Years Since His Death, How Much Has He Sold?,”
billboard.com
, June 25, 2011.
2.3 million copies worldwide
: Michael Jackson estate spokesperson.
Estate earned $300 million and paid off MJ debt
: Mitchell Peters, “The Touring Afterlife of Michael Jackson,”
Billboard,
November 16, 2013, pp. 24–34.
Internal Revenue Service valuation conflict
:
Estate of Michael J. Jackson vs. Commissioner of Internal Revenue,
U.S. Tax Court, July 26, 2013.
Branca’s salary as Sony ATV adviser and “The Board is awkward”
: Internal Sony e-mail, April 1, 2014; posted at wikileaks.org/sony.
“His passing—unfortunately—allowed a separation”
: Author interview with Matt Forger.
“The most artistic was Paris”
: Author interview with Mark Lester.
Prince as an extrovert, Blanket dancing, Paris as a daddy’s girl, and “She is tough”
: Confidential source.
Reasons for MJ family insisting kids look like him
: Sullivan,
Untouchable
, p. 441.
“They are [Michael’s] children”
: Martin Fricker, “Michael Jackson Is the Father of His Children—and Blanket Is Just Like Him, Says Tito Jackson,” mirror.co.uk, July 16, 2009.
“Once [I donated] to a sperm bank”
: Mark Seal, “The Doctor Will Sue You Now,”
Vanity Fair,
March 2012, pp. 218–39.
“I’m not interested in that”
: Lester interview.
Rolling Stone
and Sullivan reported MJ died without a nose
: Claire Hoffman, “The Last Days of Michael Jackson,”
Rolling Stone,
August 6, 2009, p. 44; Sullivan,
Untouchable
, pp. 220–21.
“Absolutely false” and tattooed lips and hairline
: Author interview with Ed Winter, and case report, Department of Coroner, Los Angeles County, June 26, 2009.
“over-treating him to make money” and Demerol accusation
: Seal, “The Doctor Will Sue You Now,” pp. 218–39.
“He would put the time of the clocks forward” and twenty nose procedures
: Arnold Klein interview on
tmz.com
, November 5, 2009. Hoefflin has denied all the accusations. Hoefflin declined an interview request; Klein’s representatives did not return messages.
MJ’s facial surgeries
: Joan Kron, “The Final Cut,”
Allure,
September 2009, pp. 198–201.
“My entire approach”
: Alan Duke, “Conrad Murray from Jail: ‘I Was in the Wrong place at the Wrong Time,’ ”
cnn.com
, April 3, 2013.
“I could not find a single shred”
: Ian Halperin,
Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson
(New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2009), p. 227.
“People can admit it”
: Author interview with Henry Gradstein.
“Jermaine’s gonna be upset” and reality-show conflict
:
The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty
(A&E, 2009).
Hayvenhurst problems, including Joe “watching” Paris, and Rowe conditions
: Sullivan,
Untouchable
, pp. 452, 488.
Alejandra Oaziaza, “Anytime Grace would say, ‘Do your homework’ ”
: Ibid.
“My dad didn’t like her”
: Paris Jackson deposition,
Katherine Jackson vs. AEG,
March 21, 2003.
Jaafar’s stun gun and Buckley School
: Sullivan,
Untouchable
, pp. 452, 488.
“It’s not like it was with her father”
: Author interview with Brian Oxman.
Katherine’s $3,000-per-month stipend and $115,000 vacation
: Sullivan,
Untouchable
, pp. 452, 488.
2002 will “fake, flawed and fraudulent” and “mini-stroke”
: Alan Duke, “Michael Jackson’s Siblings Attack Estate Executors,”
cnn.com
, July 19, 2012.
“I am going to clarify right now” and “hello dear FAMILY member”
: @parisjackson tweets, July 18, 2012.
Katherine Jackson at Miraval and Perry Sanders in Tucson
: Author interview with Perry Sanders.