Children who were Michael's friends

InvincibleTal said:

Sorry here are the pictures with Lala Romero

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When we went to restaurants, people would get up and leave, so they wouldn’t have to sit anywhere near me. Even in church, no one would shake my hand.


Panic spread all over town. Lots of times kids flattened themselves against walls when I walked by. I heard kids telling Ryan White jokes. And grown people passed along lies about how they’d seen me biting people, or spitting on vegetables at the grocery store. I never did and I never would.


When I finally did get back into class, after a judge said the school was wrong, an awful lot of people still wanted me gone.


….AIDS can destroy a family if you let it but luckily for my sister and me, Mom taught us to keep going. She said, ‘Don’t give up, be proud of who you are and never feel sorry for yourself.’


…The one day Michael Jackson called me. Wow! I didn’t know why he had, except maybe because he’s from Indiana too. He was in his car, he said.


“If I lose you, man, I’ll call you back,” he told me.


So I told him what I was doing, what movies I’d seen, what school was like, how John and I had been window-shopping for stereo – stuff I’d talk about to anyone. I said I was playing his albums.


I liked “Man In The Mirror” the best. Michael's not flaky or weird, like you read in those newspapers you can buy in the supermarket. He’s real quiet and softspoken. Sometimes he takes a while to say things. He’s just kind of gentle and peaceful. He was a nice new friend for me to have. “Next time you’re in L.A., we’ll get together and have some good old fun,” he told me. Well, I couldn’t wait.


…On the day we were going to spend with Michael, a limo picked up Mom, Andrea, Heather, and me very early at our hotel. After we climbed in, we were told that we couldn’t take any cameras with us because we weren’t allowed to take pictures. About three hours later, about ten in the morning, we drove up to the entrance of Neverland, Michael’s ranch.


Michael was wearing black pants and a red and black jacket and a black hat. He always wears my favourite colours. He showed us around the main house. Just like me, his dream is to have kids, so the house had a bedroom for a little boy and one for a little girl, plus a playroom with all kinds of toys and arts and crafts – even a miniature merrygo-round.


At lunch – chicken, corn on the cob, and pumpkin pie – we met Michael’s monkeys. His famous one, Bubbles, wasn’t there, but the others made up for him. They all wore diapers and T-shirts in different colours. They have their own babysitters, and they go to school every day to learn manners. Their manners were pretty good! They hoped around and played with our shoelaces while we ate. Every now and again Michael fed them a treat. I never wanted to say goodbye to them.


I felt very comfortable around Michael because I could see he was just as shy as I am. He seemed like a regular person to me. I certainly could relax with him.


….At lunch there was juice and Pepsi. Mom asked if there was any Coke. Then she remembered Michael’s Pepsi commercial. She really thought she’d blown it.


Michael smiled. He knew what she was thinking. He said that Mom was just like his mother. So Mom got up the nerve to ask a mom-type question. “Michael,” she said, “is it true that you sleep in an oxygen tank?”

That’s something the tabloids have said about him.


Michael laughed. “Now Jeanne,” he said, “You know all the stuff that’s been written about you and Ryan.”
“Oh gosh,” Mom said. “I understand!”


…After lunch Michael asked me if I’d like to ride around part of the ranch in his fourwheeler. “Yeah!” I said. Andrea was going to try his trampoline, and Heather and Mom were checking out his outdoor hot tub that had a video screen on one side.


Michael and I set out over the ranch’s dirt roads. I was at the wheel and he rode in the back. I took off and Michael yelled, “Slow down, Ryan!” After we’d gone a few miles he asked me if I could find my way back to the house.


“Sure,” I said. I listed a few landmarks.


“Good for you!” Michael said. “But now let me drive!”


…When we caught up with Mom and the girls it was getting late. We had homemade pizza for supper, and then it was time for us to drive back to L.A. I told Michael that I really, really wanted a photo of us together. So he sent someone out for a Polaroid camera, and drove down with us to the ranch’s entrance. Mom got some good shots, and then we said goodbye.


…As the limo headed for the highway, Heather covered her face with her hands, shook her hair back and forth, and started laughing and laughing and laughing. “I just can’t believe it! I just can’t believe it!” she cried. “We spend the day with Michael Jackson. I can’t believe we were with Michael Jackson.”


On bad days I had to rely on the phone for social life. Michael called to say he was busy working on an album. “We’ve got to get together and goof off again,” Michael said. He wanted to know if I could come back out to the ranch after Christmas.


Well, when Michael invites you, you don’t say maybe. Dr. Kleiman knew I wanted to keep going, and that trips to California kept me going. I could count on him to get me on that plane. So I told Michael, “You can bet on it.”


…The drive took about three hours. The limo dropped me off at Bungalow Three for the rest. Michael said, “See you at seven.” That was suppertime. I was worried. My stomach ached and I was having cramps. I called Mom.


“I shouldn’t have come,” I told her. “I don’t want to be sick here with Michael.”


“Well, you haven’t eaten in a while,” Mom pointed out. I usually needed at least a snack every couple of hours or so. She said, “Why don’t you see how you feel after supper?”


I took a nap and went up to the main house for supper – chicken, beer ribs, and baked potatoes. Then Michael and I went to his private theatre and watched two and a half hours of Three Stooges reruns. We ate popcorn from the theatre’s own machine, and had pizza delivered from the house. I felt a lot better and had a great time. Now I was glad I had come.


…”I like your jacket,” Michael told me, “but I want you to have a heavier one.” So the two of us drove to a nearby town in Michael’s Bentley… The best part was, the man in the shop didn’t believe that Michael and his credit card were for real! Michael gave him the ranch’s security number, and he called to clear the card and the doublecheck that Michael was who he said he was.


…I was very happy that dinner turned out to be tacos. Afterward I showed Michael a video that Mom, Andrea, and I had made for him of our whole house – every room, every poster and decoration we have on the walls.. “When you come to visit now,” I told him, “you’ll know your way around our house.”


…The night we watched the new Indiana Jones movie, The Last Crusade. How lucky can you get, I thought. The lines were too long to get in at home, but I was getting a private screening.


…The next day Michael had business meetings. When Michael was free, we went back to town to pick out some presents for Mom and Andrea. I got Mom a great big Santa, and magic stuff for Andrea.


..At dinner on New Year’s Eve, Michael gave me a wonderful watch. It chimes every hour and has a builtin alarm. It tells you the day of the week, the date, the month, and the year.


“Thanks!” I said.


“I have to leave early tomorrow – before you go,” Michael said. “I’m sorry I won’t be around. And I’m sorry I don’t have the autographed photo you wanted. But I’ll mail it to you.”


When we hugged goodbye, Michael said, “Never give up. Do it for me.”


… New Year’s Day: my last day at the ranch. I played with Max, one of Michael’s pet monkeys. I was glad to see him again, and he was glad to see my shoelaces. I puckered up for a kiss, and Max gave me a big one.


I called Mom to tell her I was on my way home.


“There’s a big box at the ranch entrance for me to take home,” I told her. “It’s driving me crazy. What do you think it is?”


It was a whole new stereo system and disc changer. A few days later I got a photo of Michael signed, “To Ryan.” He was wearing red, black, and white. Thanks, Michael!


…For the next week Ryan remained unconscious, in critical condition in the intensive care unit of Riley Hospital. Dr. Kleiman told Jeanne he was sure Ryan was not in pain. But Ryan’s chances of pulling through, he said, were only ten percent. (&#8230


When Michael Jackson called, he would have two minutes to speak. “Ryan,” Elton John said, “you can’t turn down a superstar like this. I’m grade B compared to Michael.” He held the phone to Ryan’s ear so Michael could encourage him. (&#8230


At about one o’clock Sunday morning, Michael Jackson called again from Atlantic City. When Jeanne told him Ryan was not expected to live, Michael declared he was flying to Indianapolis right away.


… Ryan is dying. “I feel terrible,” he says. About 1 A.M. on Sunday, Jeanne takes a call at Ryan’s bedside from longtime family friend Michael Jackson. Michael bought Ryan a red Mustang about a year ago, and the Whites have been frequent guests at his California ranch.


Michael wants to come that minute. He is in Atlantic City.

“How long will it take you, Michael?,” she asks. Jeanne looks at a nurse wearing goggles. “Two hours?” she asks the nurse.

The nurse shakes her head.


“Michael, don’t come, honey. Ryan isn’t expected to last two hours. We know how much you love him.” Jackson says he’ll be there in-the morning, and he is.

As soon as Michael Jackson arrived, he went straight to the Whites’ home in Cicero. He was very upset that he hadn’t gotten there before Ryan died. He went up to Ryan’s room, which was full of his collections, posters, and souvenirs, including his director’s chair from the movie set. In the closet was the heavy new leather jacket Michael had wanted him to wear.


Michael sat quietly looking at everything for a long time. Jeanne offered him anything he liked there as a keepsake, but he asked her to leave Ryan’s room just as it was.


In the Whites’ front yard sat the red Mustang Michael had given Ryan. Now it was covered with flowers and Easter eggs, gifts from children. Andrea took Michael out to show him the car and they sat in together. When Michael turned on the CD player, Ryan’s favourite song, Michael’s “Man In The Mirror,” began to play. Michael smiled proudly. He knew it must have been the last song Ryan had played.


… Ryan died at 7:11 A.M. on April 8, 1990. It was Palm Sunday.

Source

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When Michael returned to Hungary in 1996 with his History our, he met with Bela again. The boy then said to him: “You are like my dad. Thanks to you, I was born for the second time.” Michael laughed and answered: “Then you are my son.”
Michael's second meeting with Bela in 1996

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They stayed in touch until Michael’s death. Michael sent Bela cards, birthday and Christmas gifts, and Bela answered with drawings and photos. When Michael passed away, Bela cried as if he had lost his dad.

Bela is 24 now, and in February 2014 he became a father of a healthy newborn girl. He says the doctors predicted he would not live past his 18th birthday, and here he is at 24 still doing well. He will always be very grateful to Michael. “If I could,” admits Bela, “I would ask him, ‘Of all children in that hospital, why did you choose me?'”

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CaptainEoLove85 said:

Great idea for a thread

Bela Farkas

http://en.michaeljackson.ru/bela-farkas/

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analogue said:

It's great to see lots of girls being mentioned in this thread. I hate it how the media makes it look as if MJ was only friends with boys

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CaptainEoLove85 said:

Great idea for a thread

Bela Farkas

http://en.michaeljackson.ru/bela-farkas/

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In Hungarian they put the last name before the first name.

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Behind the Mask
The Private Life of Michael Jackson
As Told to Stephanie Wilson by Alvin Malnik

I first met Michael about nine years ago. I was told that he had heard about me and was interested in meeting, and in particular wanted to request a tour of my house in Palm Beach. Michael was an architecture buff, and he had admired the property from afar. He was in L.A. at the time, and expressed interest in discussing several different business ideas and plans. He finally asked [director] Brett Ratner, whom I refer to as my 11th son, to call me and ask to meet with him. I initially said no because I was not a fan, so I really didn't see the point in inviting him to come over and entertain him.

When I told my wife Nancy about it, she raised holy hell! She said, "Are you kidding? Michael Jackson! I grew up with him! His posters were on my wall! You have to let him come over, I want to meet him." So to please her, I invited him to the house, and from that first meeting we all developed a beautiful friendship.

Throughout the past decade or so, Michael would come and stay at the house quite a bit, sometimes with the children, and sometimes alone. It was an extraordinary time. Michael was an amazing houseguest because he really didn't require any attention. He liked to clean his own room and make his own bed, and he taught his kids to do that, too, much to our amazement.

Michael soon became close friends with my son Shareef, along with Brett Ratner and Chris Tucker. The four of them spent a great deal of time together at our house, always having a ball, filled with a lot of laughs. I also have triplets that are around the same age as Michael's two older children, Prince and Paris, who are 12 and 11 now. We would travel often with Michael and the family, going down to Acapulco or other family vacation spots. We also have fond memories of our times out at Neverland Ranch. The most important bungalow there is called the Elizabeth Taylor suite, which is where we stayed. The first night, he had Elizabeth Taylor herself call me, welcoming me to her suite at Neverland Ranch! The kids, of course, loved Neverland; they went around with Michael's children and saw the zoo and rode the train. It was such a magical time.



One year, at a birthday party that Nancy was having for the triplets, Michael came to the theater and surprised not only us, but the birthday guests as well. Everyone thought it was a Michael Jackson impersonator. They couldn't believe it was really him! Come to think of it, some of the people may still think it was a lookalike.

All of our children spent a lot of time together, and Michael's children especially enjoyed it. When they were with us, they were able to go out with Nancy and I and our family and not be haggled. They didn't have to wear their veils because no one knew who they were. When they spent time with us they got to experience normal situations that were lacking in their daily lives, like visiting St. Andrew's school or going to the movies. When they were with my family, they literally were able to take off the masks and no one bothered them. Michael was able to do the same. We worked to create everyday experiences for him, like going shopping. One time we rented out a Publix supermarket so that he could do what ordinary people do on a regular basis.

Michael was able to relax when he was with us and let his guard down. We live on the beach, and he and I would go down to the water together after the sun went down where he was just an ordinary guy, kicking his feet in the surf.

When it comes to my history with Blanket, Michael asked me to be Blanket's godfather when the boy was a year old. My relationship with Blanket is limited, because he was just a baby at the time, and I did not really participate in his upbringing. But I think that in the event something happened, Michael really wanted me to be a sort of safety net. He wanted to know that I would be willing to raise Blanket as though he were one of my own children, and that's what the legal document says.


I haven't spoken with the family since Michael's passing. I am not used to being in the media spotlight so when the stories came out, I was shocked. I know if I go to the funeral, the press will besiege me again. So instead, our family will just pray for Michael, and wish him bon voyage from this Earth. Our family loved Michael very much, and we will always be respectful, and always extend our hand of friendship to any of his children, should they ever need our help.

Michael had such an amazing energy and such talent. He was always composing new songs and singing them a cappella. One day, he was walking around the house in his pajamas, singing some new pieces that he was working on. He was walking up one set of stairs, and then down another. I asked him, "What are you doing?" He said, "I'm doing two songs at once! I am walking up this set doing one song, and when I walk down the other, I do the other song." He could write a song in five minutes, it was unbelievable.

I know he did end up recording some of these new songs. He planned on making his comeback by doing an outrageous concert tour, starting in Europe and ending in the United States. At the same time, he wanted to simultaneously publish some of the new albums that he had been working on while he was staying at our house-all new, never-been-heard stuff.

He was so excited to do this tour, so prepared for it. One of our friends who had seen his rehearsal one or two nights before his death, called me and said, "You ought to come out and see Michael before he does his concert. He is unbelievable. It's like you have never seen him before." I did have the opportunity to see him perform before, at our house. While visiting, he asked if we could get him a portable dance floor, so of course we did. When I saw him move around on that floor, I was wowed. I had never seen anything like it. I knew he was unbelievable, and it's nice to know that five years later, he was equally impressive.

It was great fun in those days, but we also shared some hard times. I helped Michael out financially in a lot of different areas when he needed it. At that time, we managed to resolve all of his financial problems. After that period, which was shortly after I was requested to guarantee his bail, I felt it was not in our best family interest to spend all of the time that was required to get Michael on the right track again, because at that point he had capable people around him. And, of course, geography was a big problem because Michael's business interests are essentially in California or out of New York or Europe. I really just didn't have the time to continue to devote myself to trying to resolve the many considerations that were in his life. The last time I saw Michael was right before his trial, although we spoke many times after that. He was a bit meaner at that time; he was so furious and so disappointed at the charges being hurled at him. He swore to me that he was absolutely innocent of each and every charge that was made against him. And that's the way it turned out.

I think the legacy of Michael Jackson will endure for many years to come. Ultimately, the negativity surrounding him in the press will dissipate. He will be more acknowledged and respected for the musical genius that he demonstrated, and that legacy will survive our decade and the ones to come. Our children will rediscover Michael Jackson again many years from now, and be amazed that he created the music that he did, the style of dancing that he did, and more importantly, the wonderful charisma that he generated. His death is another piece of history that we are all experiencing right now, and unfortunately, it's taken his demise for us to have a wake-up call about the real importance of Michael Jackson.

http://hauteliving.com/2009/07/behind-the-mask/5395/3/

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InvincibleTal said:

Omer Bhatti. I wonder why is he often overlooked as he's one of the children who were there for a long time and he's still a good friend Michael's children & the Jackson family and he has always done MJ tributes.

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respect77 said:

This is such a great thread because it's so horrible that Robson, Safechuck and all those other vultures try to turn MJ's generousity and kindness into something dark and sinister. To me there is hardly anything lower than that.

I think it's important to show to people that MJ wasn't just kind and extremely generous and giving with his accusers and that these acts weren't acts of "grooming" for molestation. He was simply like that with everyone: man, woman, girl, boy.

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TinnyandOdd said:

I would definitely say he's not overlooked. If anything he has received the most attention for years because the rumor of him being MJ's kid has never gone away, plus everyone always wants to hear his life with Mike story. Since he basically refuses to talk about any of it, and in my opinion has been one of the few people who has kept his relationship with MJ private along with Prince, Paris, and Blanket, I commend him for that.

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InvincibleTal said:

I agree. I think Michael was a very generous person and spoiled people of all ages with gifts to make them happy. How many expensive gifts he gave Elizabeth? He obviously liked doing whatever he could to help people with gifts and using his connections to get them whatever they needed, be it a job or living arrangements, be it cancer treatments or organ transplantation. It's heartbreaking and digusting they look for something that simply was never there :sad:

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InvincibleTal said:

I have always wondered if the prosecution tried to reach him for their sick reasons.

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respect77 said:

They did. We know he was interviewed by the police from one of Robson's current motions. It was about the discoveries and that they sent out noticies to people about wanting to have access to their interviews with the SB police and it was mentioned that Omer Bhatti replied back that he does not give them permission. LOL.

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respect77 said:

Does anyone remember that quote from Katherine that Michael was always so very giving since he was a child?

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InvincibleTal said:

I was thinking about it too but I can't find it anywhere! Did she tell it to Oprah? It's an old story, maybe it's from "My Family".

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His most famous friend, of course, is Michael Jackson. Kieran was specifically named in Martin Bashir's world-exploding documentary as one of the kids who slept in the pop kook's bed.
"I have slept in a bed with many children," said *****, with not particularly hilarious consequences. "I slept in a bed with all of them when Macauley Culkin was little. Kieran Culkin would sleep on this side, Macauley Culkin was on this side, his sisters in there. We all would just jam in the bed, you know. We would wake up at dawn and go in the hot air balloon."

"Have you ever been in a balloon?" smiles Kieran today. "It's ****ing cool! When you're up you can see everything so clearly, it's exactly like flying, and you can go so low you can see the expressions on people's faces ... "
Kieran has never talked about his relationship with Michael Jackson, or Martin Bashir's documentary, and he's not about to today. Through a series of cat'n'mouse questions, mostly unanswered, a nod here, a grimace there, this is what we glean: he's loyal, he'd like to defend his friend, but he can't because if he did, it would become a balloon-sized media event, flying around the world in a day.
"I'd like to talk about it," he says, pulling his hair so high it's now vertical, "but it's kinda weird as I haven't spoken with Michael for over two years."
He doubts if Martin Bashir will ever be granted an exclusive interview again. He saw journalistic deception, and he wasn't surprised.
"I've just always been totally sceptical, obviously," he says, suddenly ageing 10 years, suddenly becoming battle-hard Igby, "from a really young age. I read stuff all the time in newspapers that I know for a fact is bullshit. And people believe it all. So I don't even read any of it any more."

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/jun/14/features

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barbee0715 said:

^i remember the one where he gave all his mothers jewelry to his grade school teachers. Ha.
But not sure if that was a book or interview.

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I asked that question regarding some of Michael’s other personality traits as he was growing up. There was the matter, for example, of his generosity. Occasionally it went too far.

One day when Michael was in the second grade I couldn’t locate a piece of my jewelry. “What happened to my bracelet?” I finally asked the kids.
Michael looked up and replied nonchalantly, “Oh, I gave it to my teacher.”
I didn’t punish him because I thought it was nice for him to want to give. But I didn’t instruct him: “Don’t do it again.” But Michael didn’t listen, and more of my jewelry disappeared.

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