In light of the recent discussions regarding ‘Leaving Neverland’ and the ridiculous claims from Safechuck that Jackson ‘gave him jewelry and exchanged ‘marriage vows’ with him’, it reminded me of a chance encounter I had with a lady who knew Michael and the Jackson family when I was outside the Jackson family home in July 2009, a few days before Jackson’s public memorial in Los Angeles. I went back to my journal from the trip to find what I’d written about that day and the details of that encounter.
There was a lot happening outside the home with numerous media tents and tributes everywhere. As I can recall, there were maybe 200-300 fans gathered along the road and grassy areas either side of the main residence. The tributes took up the flower beds and trees on the left of the main gates.
There were pockets of people everywhere and I’d noticed a woman with long curly hair and really (really) long painted red nails. She was standing next to a guy who was flicking through a photo album and she was pointing things out inside. She was extremely animated and almost jumping up and down saying something to this guy, so I motioned to two of my friends and we went over to get a closer inspection of what’s going on.
We apologised for interrupting her and asked her if she ‘knew’ Michael as from what we could gather from her overhearing, it sounded like she did. She confirmed she did. We asked her how and she took the photo album off of the guy she’d be talking to.
She handed me the photo album and I began flicking through – the majority of her pictures were with Jackie Jackson who she described as ‘sexy’ and her ‘favourite’. There were pictures of her with Marlon, with Jermaine, with Rebbie and of course with Michael. But mostly Jackie. I asked her how she knew the family and she told me she lived on their neighbourhood growing up and they’d all been friends.
On one visit back, in between the Jackson family leaving Gary and moving to Los Angeles, the lady (just a young girl at the time) went over to see her friends (the Jacksons) before they left home, she recalls a young Michael being extremely excited and saying:
“We gotta pool, we gotta basketball court, we gotta garden now – You have to come over!”
Sure enough when the Jacksons were finally settled in Los Angeles, she came over to play. She recalled that it was like nothing she’d ever seen and for people ‘like her’, it was beyond what she could ever have imagined. She and the other friends who had been invited over, stayed the weekend.
When it was time to go, she cried and said to Michael that she thought that if he became ‘really famous’ she might never see him again.
He took one of the small metal forks from the barbecue into the house and bent it as best he could into the shape of a ring. He then wrote on a piece of paper, a small note that explained that this was a friendship ring and as long as she kept it, he promised they’d be friends forever.
He handed it to her and said that he promised her with that ring that she would always be welcome to his house or any of his concerts, for as long as they lived and all she had to do was show the friendship ring.
True to form, her photo album had pictures of her at numerous Jacksons’ concerts in the U.S and the Bad Tour along with pictures of her with Michael at his home. In each one she was with the ‘ring’. There was also a picture in the album of another lady, with a ring also. She explained that they’d met backstage at one of the tours and Michael had gifted this lady a friendship ring and a promise too.
“I thought I was special!” she said, but laughing, to us. “But her ring isn’t like mine!”
Sure enough, she stayed in touch with Michael until around 2004 early 2005 when she said his life became so chaotic for obvious reasons that he just wasn’t in the same headspace anymore. She only recalled one occasion her friendship ring didn’t gain her access when she tried to use it.
She also kept the ring and the note he gave her, a ‘vow’ that they’d be friends forever.
She mentioned that as he’d passed away, she’d love to replicate the ring as a symbol of Michael’s commitment to friendship, so that others would be able to enjoy its meaning – I’m guessing she never achieved this?!
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With regards to Leaving Neverland, I’ve no idea where that jewelry came from. I do not, for a second believe it was given in the context that they claim it was. But all the discussions about ‘rings’ and ‘vows’ reminded me of this story and I hope it can help shed light and context on Michael’s giving of jewelry and notes to his friends.
As a final side note – If anybody knows the lady, I’d very much like to connect with her again, so if you do know her, please get in touch.
Pez Jax
Follow Pez on twitter @pezjax
Thank you so much for sharing your memories with us. It’s a balm on these hard days.
What a lovely story and a lovely thing for Michael to do thank you for sharing this.