Very sad news about the passing of Michael (Mike) Laperruque reached our team today.He was Michael's personal assistent/ bodyguard.......... We all are heartbroken, because Mike not only wrote a great contribution to our charity book project "A life for L.O.V.E." but was just one of the kindest and sincerest persons one could meet. In 2013 when our team travelled to California to do several interviews and investigations for our then upcoming book project, Mike, who had already given us a great interview through a dear friend of ours who lives in LA (Thank you Gina!), yet wanted to meet with us personally as he heard about our trip to California. He invited us to have breakfast with him and there we sat, talking about our memories of Michael, exchanging experiences about him and even crying together when talking about his passing made us feel as if we had been friends for a long time. We could feel and see that Mike was not only an employee but one of Michael's very few real friends who missed him just as much as we did.And one of the very few people who openly defended Michael against the accusations. We feel blessed to have had the chance to meet him and spend some time with him! Mike had a really big heart for others, which reminded us a lot of Michael and he certainly will be missed a LOT! We would have loved to welcome him in Munich one day and return the favor to invite him! Well, enough said by us, let us listen to Mike's own words once again:
"As a security agent, especially when you really like your client, you not only want to protect him physically but I found myself wanting to protect his feelings from being hurt. You want to protect him from certain jealous people, bad business people and from the media. I often found myself wanting to kick someone's ass for looking down on him or belittling him, knowing he would have never judged them the way they judged him. Never. When the accusations against him came up in 2003 and the investigators came to my house, I told them: "Look guys, the charges are fake! I know this, because I was with him 24/7. And with my experience, having been a police officer for 22 years, I certainly would know if any of this occurred!" I was one of the first people who publicly stated in the press that Michael was innocent of the charges against him. Standing up for the truth bartered me a lot of criticism but I knew this was the right thing to do and upfront I let them know that I would fight for Michael and would do anything I could possibly do to help defend him. It speaks for itself that the Prosecution did not let me testify for him. I believe the Santa Barbara District Attorney had a personal vendetta against Michael. I told them that all he was doing is nothing but waste the tax payers money and that he will not win the case. And that is what happened because it was all based on lies. But this terrible time haunted Michael because he knew there were still people out there that thought: "Oh, just because he was not found guilty does not mean he did not do it" or that he has paid himself out of it. But these people did not see and get to know the person I knew. They were not with him 24/7. They did not see all the people and children he helped. They did not know his heart Thank you for those life-enriching moments that gave me more good memories in such a short period of time, than I could have ever made in my whole life. But most of all, thank you for molding me into the person that I am today, so I can exemplify my children and other people what you taught me about tolerance and being charitable.” Now, I am the one when I see someone needing help, I stop, or give a bit of change to a homeless person begging for money. I always feel Michael's spirit whispering in my ear saying: “Mike, be nice!"
(excerpt from the book "A life for L.O.V.E. - Michael Jackson stories you should have heard before" ,
www.mjjbook.com)
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