Throughout the film, we hear from both men (in, yes, graphic, explicit detail) about exactly what they say transpired between each of them and Jacksonand across four hours, we hear why neither of them came forward about what purportedly happened to them until adulthood. LIONEL RICHIE, MUSICIAN: That soul was huge. USHER, SINGER: Michael had an unseen magic to influence people, the music and the culture. "After the attention is no longer on this film, this is something I will be dealing with for the rest of my life," Safechuck told Oprah. I tried and tried and tried to get the message across to people that sexual abuse is not just abuseit is also sexual seduction." Wonderful., Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAS USA Edition, Sign up to EL PAS In English Edition bulletin, If you want to follow all the latest news without any limits, subscribe to EL PAS for just 1 the first month. Search the history of over 797 billion I suspect so. TOURE, FORMER CNN POP CULTURE ANALYST: The sound was incredible. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. LEMON: Can you sing it a bit please? And let's not forget that this wasn't just any man who was playing psychological tricks on pre-pubescent mindsthis was a global superstar, perhaps the most well-known name on the entire planet. He looked horrible. My father made me into a performance machine. LEMON: De Passe was just starting out at Motown, working with founder Berry Gordy. WINFREY: Would he -- did he ever beat you? USHER: He is everything to music. As Senior Director of Editorial & Strategy, I oversee all of Oprah Daily's digital content, from editorial to video to social media. LEMON: Michael Jackson was officially charged with seven counts of child molestation and several other felonies. Special effects? DE PASSE: I was asked to come to see this group. A child's understanding of "abuse". If you look closely, in the sequence where they walk together to the amusement park all the rides are moving, but theyre completely empty, he says. DE PASSE: I went back one more time, mustered up all my courage. BROCKMAN: I recognized that, you know, this is Michael Jackson. Months later, Jackson partnered with Lionel Richie on an effort that was more warmly received. Someone created a piano. When I saw that spectacle, I realized that my concerns about his frailty, about his physical issues, and emotional instability, were even more well-founded. The unprecedented live event, which took place before any allegations were made about sexual abuse, drew a worldwide audience of 90 million people. Click on the flashing balls to access the interviews Interviews TV Guide Interview (1999) Prime In March, 1988, Jackson finalized the purchase of a 2,600 acre ranch. For more stories from OprahMag.com, sign up for our newsletter. You look like a monkey. I tried to enhance the quality of. So when I heard about the new two-night HBO documentary Leaving Neverlandand the fact that Oprah was going to be interviewing Wade Robson and James Safechuck, the two men in the film who accuse Jackson of sexually abusing them as childrenI had a similar reaction to the rest of the world: Disbelief. Jacksons album Dangerous, which had been falling down the charts in the two years after its release, became a top-10 bestseller again. LEMON: Pain that dated back at least a quarter of a century. The Watch OWN app is free and available to you as part of your OWN subscription through a participating TV provider. TARABORELLI: The thing about Michael is that he does want what he wants, and he will find a way to get it. BERRY GORDY, FOUNDER OF MOTOWN: He was exceptional, artistic, and original. LEMON: It is Chopra's belief that prescription drug abuse was Jackson's downfall. DE PASSE: I saw these kids, and they were unbelievable. The interview with Jackson took place at his huge Neverland Ranch, complete with its own amusement park and zoo. He was like, "Someone created the drum, right? The album was a smash with songs like "Don't Stop till You Get Enough" and "Rock with You," reaching number one. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he spent a lot of internal time reflecting on who he was, where he'd been. Michael told Oprah that he was in a relationship with Brooke Shields. The production was very skillful because the images told of all [Jacksons] eccentricities. HIATT: I was looking in an old "Rolling Stone" article from a few years ago and someone said, you'll really know that Michael Jackson is broke when he announces a big European tour. He had the discipline at such a young age, originality, willing to try everything, a work ethic, all of it. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Hello, I'm Don Lemon, live from Los Angeles. Nobody says anything about that!, His physical appearance remained the focus of the conversation. LEMON: Jackson needed to put distance between him and the taint of Neverland. The interview aired on February 10, 1993, and it coincided with a crucial moment in Jacksons life. LEMON: Ten million dollars a year he could no longer afford. LEMON: Brian Monroe sat down with Michael Jackson in September 2007 for "Ebony Magazine." LEMON: Jackson, in his last interview with "Ebony." 10 best Oprah celebrity interviews of all time 1. The unprecedented live event drew a worldwide audience of 90 million people. Jackson was granted full custody of the children. Michael Jackson's place it's fresh candy and there's a the fragrance in his home is like a, a cross between chocolate and vanilla. LEMON: When we return, Michael on-stage the night before he died. He didn't exchange words with his lawyers very often. And the lead singer, Michael, was just so incredible. The author claims that Oprah promised not to ask him if he was gay. She kept her promise. But some wondered whether he could pull off a strenuous 50- concert tour. DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): From child prodigy to cultural icon. Not all are available yet, though Anyways, I hope you like them. She arranges the interviews in advance, and they are very prefabricated, but then she has the [gift] of naturalness, of making herself seem like one more member of the audience, even though she is not. LEMON: From his fans, an outpouring of love, grief, and fond remembrance. This is the first time I really had an opportunity to be completely alone with him. CNN has unearthed a 1993 Oprah Winfrey interview with Michael Jackson in which he addresses Pepsi's then plan to cast a white actor to play him as a child in his ill-fated advertisement for the . Meantime, the Reverend Jesse Jackson tells CNN the Jackson family wants answers. "He kept getting whiter and whiter and whiter, and nobody understood why," Oprah says. "I had no understanding of it being abuseI loved Michael," he told Oprah. LEMON: And with Neverland came the children. The hurt was so ingrained in each of these men, in fact, that neither of them were willingor ableto accept what had happened to them until they had sons of their own. That was the first time Jackson had given a televised interview since 1979. Brooke. Then he added, Ive always been in love with Diana Ross. Oprah asked if he would propose to Elizabeth Taylor. NORRIS: From the iconic look to the moonwalk to the glove, the red jacket and the zippers and glasses and the white socks. WINFREY: He did? He's not going to be able to get any weirder than this. LEMON: Jackson and his brothers would become preteen idols, appearing in commercials and on magazine covers. to Oprah is an American television interview special that was broadcast by ABC on February 10, 1993. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the greatest moment that disco has in its entire history. There wouldn't be BET. In the Michael Jackson interview, this is quite noticeable: she describes the artists disturbing environment with a naivet that makes Michael himself not feel attacked. It physically pains me to think about forever parting ways with "The Way You Make Me Feel," the one song that can cheer me up on even my worst days, or the fact that I will never again get to witness the way an MJ classic brings everyone together at a family party. Michael Jackson Talks . After all, much of my aforementioned childhood also included walking by the TV and seeing headlines with accusations against my favorite pop star, first in 1993 and later, a much-publicized trial in 2004. In this never-before-heard interview from 2012, Emmy and Tony-award-winning actress, Cicely Tyson explains the surprising story of how she found her calling, shares behind-the-scenes history of her most iconic roles and reveals the biggest life lessons she's learned. Are you a virgin? Michael sighed, laughed and replied, How could you ask me that question? Ultimately, he sidestepped a direct answer with an odd response. That is why to escape death, I attempt to bind my soul to my work. And the record company said, no, Quincy's too jazzy. They think Dr. Murray can answer lingering questions about Michael Jackson's death. On verdict day, he looked like death warmed over. These are victims whose lives were forever ruined by a troubled, sick person who had the access and power to manipulate them for decades, even after his deathbecause he was larger than life. I knew it wasn't appropriate. And that's what happened. Sometimes he would call me at 3:00 in the morning crying, terrified about what would happen to his children. I'm going to miss him. LEMON: Motown gave the group a record deal. In 25 years of the Oprah Show, I taped 217 episodes on sexual abuse. TOURE: It was quite obvious to all of us from the beginning that it was a sham, that it was a publicity stunt. Similarly, Safechuck recalls meeting Jackson while filming a Pepsi commercial; they developed a similar working relationship that morphed into sleepovers at the ranch. JACKSON: Yes. I mean, you couldn't stop them. The craze reached a fever pitch in 1984 when a Pepsi commercial gone awry sparked even more frenzy. Which when he first did it nationally, it was like, wait, is gravity being, like, messed with here? LEMON: Millions in mourning. Like what are we doing? The Oprah Winfrey-Michael Jackson interview 30 years later In February 1993, the talk show host landed the first live, televised talk with the singer in 14 years. Not that the trial was going to end badly, but that something would happen to Michael. The most incredible part of that whole thing was that on his being wheeled to the hospital, you know, he's waving to his fans with the glittered glove, you know, to the end a showman. BRIAN HIATT, "ROLLING STONE": Michael Jackson all but disappeared. So off he went to the island nation of Bahrain. And we started -- this is where we started. So an auction of his most personal items seemed like the answer. It was in the same league as David Frosts interview with Richard Nixon in 1977, Barbara Walters interview with Monica Lewinsky in 1999 and, outside the United States, Martin Bashirs interview with Princess Diana in 1995. Almost all of the most watched TV interviews are from the United States, except one from BBC One. It's happening in familieswe know it's happening in churches, and in schools, and sports teams everywhere. While never forgetting any of the sexual details that happened between us, but having no understanding that it was abusehaving no concept in my mind that anything about Michael could ever badeverything that Michael did was right to me for so many years." In 1987, his interest in the elephant man's bones, Bubbles the chimp, Liz Taylor, and an array of strange disguises set tongues wagging. Curiously, there was no mention of her personal connection to Jackson in particular, the famous 1993 live interview with him at Neverland Ranch, which took place just months before the first . That is when everything clicked for mewhen I had what Oprah likes to call an "aha moment." Not to mention the timing; Leaving Neverland just so happens to be coming out months after an explosive Lifetime documentary that may have played a part in R&B singerR. Kelly's recent indictment for 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The cost -- $19 million. ETHAN SMITH, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": After the trial, he had spent a lot of money on lawyers, and had very little coming in. Did he ever hit you? Yes. Why? He was very strict; just his look alone terrified me. Oprah Interviews Michael Jackson Accusers, Leaving Neverland Documentary Finally Convinced Me to Let Go of Michael Jackson, 30 Happy Songs to Play When You Want to Feel Good, Racial Bias in Healthcare Is a National Epidemic. They talked about James Brown, Jackie Wilson, the Bee Gees and Motown. Concerned about hunger in Africa, Richie and Jackson wrote the song "We are the World" and assembled a super group of 200 artists to perform it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty, OK. Around 62 million viewers in the United States and 90 million worldwide watched the interview live, although some estimates, such as the one offered by Winfreys biographer, Kitty Kelley, claim it was higher at 100 million. Tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, we'll talk to a member of Amnesty International about what is going on in Iran and how bad it has gotten. By the end of the documentary, I felt an unexpected emotion: numbness. on the Internet. However, Jackson's teenage years were awkward. LEMON: But Jackson was born to perform, and the show must go on. Jackson had never responded to anything, except through his songs. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people of the state of California, plaintiff versus Michael Joe Jackson, defendant, not guilty of a lewd act upon a minor child. His mistake is that he took it way too far, so that he stopped being a curiosity, and he started being a freak. LEMON: But behind the image of a happy family and their rags to riches story, there was something else -- incredibly hard work, and a father who pushed his children. He survived it with 14 acquittals. And he thinks he's being loving. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we have a personal doctor here with him, sir. There were dozens of lawyers and bodyguards and assistants. (I should note that for the record, Leaving Neverland was in production long before Surviving R. Kelly aired.). THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. I tuck them in. Oprah's interview with Michael is one of the most-watched TV events in history, with 90 million people tuning in to watch and more than 7.8million catching up on the interview on YouTube since . It was the last time the public viewed the artist not mired in disturbing allegations. And interestingly, he'd say to me every time, no, I wouldn't do that. Oprah interviews Michael Jackson, broadcast live around the world from his home at the Neverland Ranch. Followed by news helicopters and a convoy of cars, Jackson rushed from Neverland Ranch to the courthouse. You look like you're insane. LEMON: The shadow of drug abuse would follow him even into death. Who do you date? Right now, Brooke Shields. Oprah nodded and murmured Hmm. She comes to my house, or I go to hers, Michael continued. And it was just kind of disgusting and silly. Disfruta con nuestros Crucigramas para expertos! There he continued to surround himself with children in a make-believe paradise where he could relive his childhood. It just didn't seem possible. Watch full episodes and live stream OWN whenever and wherever you want. There are many people in the past who have done many things to themselves and they're not talked about like my brother is. Jackson Interview Transcript By Ellen Crean December 28, 2003 / 12:38 PM / CBS For most of his life, Michael Jackson has been in the spotlight, most recently because of what has been. He filled the property with an amusement park, a private zoo, and dubbed the oasis Neverland. We're going to sleep. This is really it. A year later, the couple had a baby daughter, Paris Michael Katherine. Instead, it is about the millions of people in this world who never got to have a childhood because of the sexual abuse they experienced before their young brains were even developed enough to know what was occurring. Get more inspiration like this delivered to your inbox, How well do you know the King of Pop? We may earn commission from the links on this page. It was a tense atmosphere, given that MJ didn't take part in an interview for 14 years. Nuevo curso 'online', Maestra en Ciencias Ambientales presencial en Benito Jurez, Licenciatura en Administracin de Empresas presencial en Benito Jurez, Maestra a distancia en Lingstica Aplicada a la Enseanza del Espaol como Lengua Extranjera, Licenciatura Ejecutiva en Psicologa Semipresencial. LEMON: On the very next morning, Jackson was found unresponsive in his own bed. And I'd see all the children playing, and they'd be rooting and making noise, and I would cry. LEMON: For pop music superstar Usher, it's the loss of a pioneer. LEMON: All silent at age 50. Oprah's interview with Michael Jackson in February 1993 is the most-watched television interview in television history, with a staggering 90 million viewers. Robson and his mother moved from Australia to work with Jackson, and as a child, he starred in music videos like "Black or White" and "Jam," gigs that he says led to spending more and more time with Jackson, including sleepovers at Jackson's Neverland ranch. THOMAS MESEREAU, LAWYER FOR MICHAEL JACKSON: It took a terrible toll. Oprah is the queen of this format (her 2021 conversation with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is the most recent great example of the show-interview). In a March 4 special, Oprah Winfrey interviewed the two men that detailed allegations of childhood sexual abuse by Michael Jackson in an HBO documentary. His next saying on the I won't grow up, I'm a lost boy, I'm Peter Pan. There's a lot of mysterious phases of Michael Jackson's career, but the last three are particularly mysterious. JACKSON: It's not sexual. As the trial progressed, he got weaker and weaker, including that one bizarre day when he called in sick and the judge said, come in anyway. It was his greatest blessing, but, I think, also his biggest curse. LEMON: Coming up, scandal rocks the gates of Neverland. So Jackson was almost doomed to implode somewhat anyway. Michael, a fiercely private entertainer, had refused to give an interview for 14 years. He felt almost abandoned, even though he was acquitted of the charges. Taking a cue from "Bad's" title, he became a crotch-grabbing tough guy, a far cry from his gentle, offstage personae. And a 14 week trial in 2005 found Jackson not guilty of charges that he had molested another 13-year-old boy, Gavin Arvizo. LEMON: But in 1993, disturbing allegations surfaced concerning Jackson's association with children. He sat there on a daily basis, watching accusations hurled at him, suggesting that he was an insensitive monster. I knew it wouldn't look right. I mean, everybody wants immortality. Stay up to date with the latest trends that matter to you most. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While we're on our way, did anybody see him? They just have that natural talent for dancing any of the new, hot dances. Where there is smoke, there is fire. LEMON: The soundtrack of a generation. And I know that it tore him to pieces. The interview went on to become the most watched in television history, thanks in part to the Thriller star's unusual openness, which saw him discuss everything from his relationship with his father to his skin condition, vitiligo. JACKSON: This one, this one -- CASTRO: Almost pathological in his spending ways. He could hardly smile. JACKSON: Yes. In an exclusive interview, Murray's attorney tells CNN his client is upset over Jackson's death and that he plans to cooperate fully. I was always crying from loneliness. With that, live in front of 62 million viewers, Jackson established the first great myth that would surround him from that moment on (and which his most diehard fans would use to justify his most outlandish behaviors): the kid whose childhood was stolen from him. I was like, "What do you mean?" On February 10, 1993, Oprah sat down with Michael Jackson for what would be the most-watched interview in television history. CRAIG HARVEY, CORONER'S SPOKESMAN: We know he was taking some prescription medications. And immediately I was up all night trying to think of the type of songs that would create excitement among people. And I remember going to the recording studio, and there was park across the street. But she's clearly like, whoa, what are you doing? me with them and I will put them on here. LEMON: An audition seen in this video from a documentary produced by Michael Jackson. LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The buzz over Michael Jackson's interview with Oprah Winfrey continued on several fronts Friday and included a statement from the pop star's dermatologist about Jackson's much-discussed skin condition. Have you ever had suicidal tendencies? Whats a 36-year-old man doing sleeping with a 12-year-old boy? Have you ever had sexual intercourse with a child? The rest of the story is familiar: Bashirs 2003 interview, in which Jackson again claimed to share his bed with children, prompted an investigation and then a trial for the sexual abuse of a young boy who appeared with him on the show (Jackson was found not guilty). Every day, Michael Jackson showed up in one of his Captain Crunch outfits. BEN BROCKMAN, ATTORNEY FOR MICHAEL JACKSON: I was trying my best to get him down. Michael showed Oprah his Neverland Ranch, and once they settled in the theater, he talked about his social work and his interest in helping children. LEMON: Saying "Beat It" to the competition, for 37 weeks the album sat at number one and is, to this day, the top-selling album in the world. NORRIS: There's a reason it's called "Neverland Valley." He felt betrayed. When I think about my childhood, some of my earliest memories are lying on my living room floor watching Michael Jackson's .css-9cezh6{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#E61957;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-9cezh6:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Moonwalker film over and over, and Sundays on the way to my grandparents' house, bellowing the lyrics to "Remember the Time" from the backseat of my Dad's cherry red Jeep.