I was 13, I think, when I first met him, and we were fans of each others and
we just immediately hit it off, we laughed so hard.
I didn't I wasn't trying to get a music career.
I wasn't trying to get anything from him.
And we just started hanging out, I think because we both grew up in this
in the same business and we had similar upbringings in the sense that we were
you know, we had to begin in this business at a very young age.
We learned a sense of we had defense mechanisms that we built up.
And I think once we met each other,
we realized that we didn't really have to be wary of one another and that just
that enabled us to build a friendship on a very different level.
If you wanted to pick up the phone and call Michael Jackson,
can you can you dial Pluto direct or would you reach him like other earthlings?
Yes, I could, because you mentioned you have been out on several dates with Mr.
Jackson.
Michael and I have been friends for years.
And I was like the the person that he would call because
these other famous people would sort of really like prey on them and want to be
like, I'm going to sleep with him, because that should be a thing.
I mean, people talked about his genius,
but I don't think they talk they don't really know how polarized his sort of life
was in so far as he was extraordinarily a genius and talented.
And he was there was an arrested development, I believe,
and he was sort of truncated emotionally as a little kid and as a child.
He was he was childlike,
but but in many ways and we were kids together, I think that there was
an arrested development to a certain extent with him in in that way.
But we we act like we acted like little kids together.
And I don't think either one of us in our
lives really had the environment to do that safely.
I mean, he's just he's a very articulate, a voice and he says I whole book.
And so he's always so happy to talk to you
and he wants to know what you know, what you're doing.
And but he's very so there is no but there's just
a very genuine innocence that he has,
that he is protected and sheltered himself so much that that's been maintained.
He has an innocence about him that just
enables him to revel and flowers and children and animals.
And and he's just I mean, he talks about his work a little bit,
but he really just talks about things that make him happy.
We have long discussions just about everything.
He's a regular person. He really is.
And he's, well,
regular in the sense that not regular in the sense that he's not jaded.
And I find that many people in this
business have a tendency it's easy to become jaded.
I mean, I remember saying this to him.
He he couldn't believe I was going to go to schools.
You couldn't live in the regular schools
that I was going to go away to college by myself, that I was going to.
Then when I told him I was getting married, he was he just didn't get it.
He was like, you can't do that.
And I said, I've got a chance.
I said, I've been going out in the world.
I'm not so isolated.
And I want I want this chance.
I want a chance to be, quote unquote, normal, you know?
And and he never really could trust a lot of people around him.
I want to know what the real deal is between the two of you.
Was there was there a romance going on? Were you all kind of romantically
involved? Was there like ever an exchange of, you know, rings or anything or.
Well, actually, I think right now,
let me say that I believe that we're closer now than we ever were.
I think we love each other more now than we even knew we did when we were younger.
We used to well, because we had fun when we were younger.
I mean, it was OK. We were sort of a source of relief.
This is a question.
Did you have a crush on him or did he have a crush on you?
I think we both had a crush and still do have a crush on each other.
I mean, I think part of having a crush on someone is admiring them
almost.
I mean, you have we have a lot of fun together.
I mean, it's almost unfortunate because we know each other so well.
But, I mean, he just he amazes me every
time I sit down and talk to him about something.
Does he feel and does he feel more like
a brother to you, though, than, say, a boyfriend?
It's hard to say.
I mean, I, I find it to love on a different level.
I mean, I feel closer to him than
the some of the boyfriends that I've had.
He gave me the most incredibly beautiful ring that you can ever imagine.
And of course, then people built that out
of proportion and they said, hey, we were engaged.
And it really it wasn't about that.
It was a friendship ring when you're in his presence.
And I don't mean it's tongue in cheek at all.
Is there something eerie about him?
No, it's not eerie in the sense of scary or weird.
He's so creative.
I mean, he's he borders on genius and I think.
When you are you have that much talent
and you are at the same time that sensitive a person,
you your conversation is going to be different with them.
And I think that that's where one might interpret it as a theory.
It's not. It's not, though.
And all it takes is
a joke or laughing or talking or, you know, saying, look, I'm here to,
in your hair, do the odd, unfortunate, nasty comments and criticisms about him.
Do they upset you? Make you upset me constantly.
I'm oh, I'm constantly upset by what people say.
I mean, first of all, people so many people really don't know
him and they don't give him a chance and they're so ready to criticize.
And I think what happens is when you see genius and when you see a talent that is
just unstoppable and untouchable, the first reaction people have is
to criticize it because it scares them, it threatens them.
And it sort of it in order to augment
their own self-worth, they feel that they have to belittle him.
And now he's a sensitive human being who
this this all of the negativity really it does affect him and it hurts him.
How do you recognize in between dates,
how do you know him?
Because he does look very different now that
he does look different.
We don't ever discuss any of that, actually.
We talk a lot on the phone, so it's usually his voice gives it away.
Do you find yourself biting your lip sync?
The man has a completely different nose.
And then you one terrific weather we've been having.
Michael, how do you avoid the issue?
It's not something that you just really want to talk about or dwell on.
But we actually. But not for the wedding.
We were I mean, it was really interesting
because I was there for all the way back to the wedding now.
But
like Segway. Yeah, we have a wedding
for Michael Jackson's wedding.
Now, I think you should ask Michael Jackson.
That's what gonna find out.
You know, he just he just always wanted
to be the absolute best, best, best, most superior performer that ever lived.
And to my mind, I mean, he was the best I ever saw.
You know, I don't think anybody came close.
And I think so much was imitation.
I think he was a one off for sure.
Did you remain friends throughout? Throughout.
He was the first person to call me when my dad got sick.
Wow.
He you know, when I had postpartum, he you know, he sent me flowers and he
drove all of these things even though we sort of hadn't
had our regular dinners that we used to have on a more regular basis.
But he was the he was consistent to the end.
And when it came time to his memorial,
I had been really out of the public eye with him for a decade at least.
And it was his mom who called me and said, I want you to to speak because I really
thought, oh, you know, this is going to be a cartoon.
I'm not going to I'm not going to be invited that I never like the dad.
The dad never liked me.
Well, he's not a human being.
He sees the devil.
And you just look in his eyes and it's just it's just listen, you know, maybe,
you know, you kind of look back and you think, you know, regrets.
Regrets.
I mean, his mom is was so lovely and he loved her.
But I do feel like it was unnecessary.
Unkind, you know, not he wasn't kind.
Did you speak to him at the funeral? No, I did.
I had a couple cocktails and I went over to him.
I don't know what possessed me.
I went over to him and I said, you know what?
You never liked me.
You never even pretended to like me.
I never liked you.
You always were mean.
And I said, You know what? You know what?
I'm going to tell you. I'm going to thank you for your son.
I said, because your son changed the world and was my friend.
He was just like and he just he tried to he was grossetête young women around him.
And Michael hate him.
I don't think you can truly, deeply hate your parent because you get one of them.
I think he was so hurt by him and I think he just couldn't believe it.
He couldn't believe how mean it was to him.
So I recently met Paris at the Calvin Klein show.
We are both re working with Calvin Klein.
And she turned to me and she said, So you're my dad's friend.
And I was so because I'd only seen her
when she was a baby and she didn't remember me.
And so I said, yes, I am.
And then I waited a while and I looked at her and I said, I really miss your dad.
And she looked at me and she I mean, she calls me too.
And it was just a pure moment.
And then we just had now we have our own kind of communication together.