Gavin Avizo first became known
to the public in Martin Bashir's 2003 documentary, Living with Michael Jackson.
In one extraordinary scene,
the pop star is seen holding hands with a 13 year old Gavin,
a former cancer sufferer who spent a lot of time at Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
When challenged by Bashir about his
admission to sleeping in the same room, and sometimes in the same bed as children
unrelated to him, Michael Jackson professed quote, It's not sexual.
We're going to sleep. I tucked them in.
It's very charming. It's very sweet.
As a result of this,
the controversial documentary caused an intense public scandal against Jackson,
reigniting speculations over allegations that were made a decade before.
With many in the public eye disgusted by Michael Jackson's casual admission
to dangerously inappropriate behavior with minors, leaving the children involved,
and himself, vulnerable to lured assumptions by the worldwide press.
In just a few months,
Gavin Aviso would make his own allegations against Michael Jackson,
and in November 2003, the King of Pop was charged with partaking
in lewd and salacious acts against a child under the age of 14.
What followed was the infamous court case
turned media circus in which Gavin and his younger brother testified that Jackson
showed them ***, gave them alcohol, *** in front of them, and then *** Gavin
on several occasions. However, Jackson was cleared of all
charges in the criminal trial, causing the Arvizo family's legal action
against pop star to fall apart as a result.
But what happened to the then 15 year old
boy after he was the center of the biggest court case of the century?
Did his time in the limelight cause Gavin to spiral out of control?
Or has the now 32 year old man been able
to rebuild his life in the shadows of the international scandal?
Here's the detail.
In the immediate aftermath of the high profile criminal trial,
it was proven that Gavin Arvizo's mother, Janet Arvizo, had committed welfare fraud
as a direct result of the legal investigations.
This was committed after she collected
$18,782 in welfare payments, claiming that she was destitute while
failing to disclose the fact that she had gotten $152,500 settlement from JCPenney,
a settlement she received based on a fraudulent claim that also came
to light during the trial, and that she had $30,000 in her bank account.
Therefore, on August 23rd, 2005,
only a little more than two months after Jackson's acquittal,
Janet Arvizo was charged with five counts of welfare fraud and perjury.
The mother of three pleaded no contest
and was eventually ordered to pay a fine and do community service time.
After she complied with it,
her felony judgment was reduced to a misdemeanor in 2007.
Once all the Arvizo's court proceedings ended, the family decided to rebuild their
life away from California and relocated to the state of Georgia.
It was here that Gavin went to Georgia Military College and after
graduating, enrolled in Emory University in Atlanta, studying a double major
in History and Philosophy. It has been said that during this time,
Gavin worked two to three jobs at a time (in restaurants and landscaping), won
partial scholarships to attend, made the honor roll,
participated in moot court, was president of the student union
and still found time to volunteer at his local Church.
It was at this time that Gavin started
dating trainee school teacher, Shelby Lynn Drake.
According to her Facebook timeline,
the couple got engaged on April 7th, 2013, and planned their wedding to take place
at the bride's suburban Atlanta Baptist Church on Saturday, November 30th.
Her father, Bill Drake,
was an ordained minister and a well-known Christian musician and singer.
Drake, along with Catholic priest,
Kevin Hargaden, performed their wedding ceremony, with the intention that going
forward, the Catholic Gavin Arvizo would worship in both churches.
Gavin is a lifelong friend of mine.
I was at his wedding and he was at mine, said Louise Palanker. An Arvizo family
friend and legal witness during the Jackson court proceedings, who shortly
after married the trial's prosecutor, Ron Zonen.
Palanker reported that a vicious Jackson fan discovered Gavin was about to get
married to a preacher's daughter and urged other fans to inundate the Church
with menacing calls questioning Gavin's integrity.
How many guests in the Church that knew about Gavin's background is unknown.
Palanker said that Gavin's family was
in attendance and she had no issues with his mother, Janet,
who through marriage eventually became the same name as Michael Jackson's sister,
Janet Jackson, after marrying a man named Army Lieutenant Colonel Jay Jackson.
At the wedding reception,
it was reported that an unknowing DJ played a Michael Jackson song,
The Way You Make Me Feel, which as a response, Gavin just smiled,
grandly shrugged his shoulders and went back
to celebrating his and his bride's big day.
After getting married, Gavin supposedly had all the intentions
to go to law school, having remained friendly with those
that assisted him during the Michael Jackson trial.
Former Santa Barbara senior district
attorneys, Ron Zonen and Thomas Snedden, who presumably would have opened doors
to the former accuser and set him up for a high powered career in the legal field.
In 2013, The Daily Beast said that he was
working as a paralegal, preparing to take the L-SAT test
and applying to more than a dozen law schools.
His dream was to go to Harvard.
He works in sales right now.
He's been a teacher in a Catholic school
for a while, said wedding guest Louise Palanker.
Quote, he's very interested in business
and also in law school, but they would like to start a family.
Although it's unclear whether he made it
into law school, Gavin Arvizo reportedly has never addressed the allegations
publicly again, believing a man's actions speak for themselves.
The only time he is forthcoming about the infamous trial is when applying for jobs.
As he knows, potential employers will probably Google his name.
So as the interview comes to a close, Gavin would interject quote,
there is something I would like to tell you, and reveals information about the time
when his life collided with that of Michael Jackson's.
The same year as Arvizo's wedding was also the same year that dancer
and choreographer, Wade Robson, who stood up in court and professed
that the singer did not abuse him as a child, undermining Arvizo's accusations,
came out publicly with his own historic allegations against Michael Jackson.
Robson, who later became one of the two men in Leaving Neverland,
contends in the documentary that Jackson told him to lie as part of the trial,
and so he did.
The Dan Reed film caused widespread controversy and burst wide open
speculation over Michael Jackson's past allegations against children.
Louise Palanker once again spoke to the press saying that the HBO
documentary, Leaving Neverland, was monumentally important because it clearly
laid out the seduction of children and the family.
It's so important that people watch this
film so that they understand how this happened, she said.
Quote and it happened on a grand scale.
At the same time as stating the importance
of the film, Palanker also confirmed Gavin's eagerness to remain uninvolved.
He doesn't really want to talk about it right now, Palanker said.
Quote, he just wants to become a man and have a family and a career and not
have this be the standout portion of who he is.
He doesn't like it when Michael Jackson
comes up in the news. Reporting that he has avoided countless
requests for interviews and the money that no doubt would come from speaking.
The director of Leaving Neverland, Dan Reed, told a British website, iNews,
that he tried to contact Arvizo while filming but he never heard back.
Quote, I wrote Gavin a very long and carefully worded letter.
I'm still very much hoping to hear from him, but he never replied.
I did a little bit of sleughing to try and find him but decided not to push it
any further as it appears that he wants to stay hidden for now.
Today, Gavin Avizo lives with his wife schoolteacher, Shelby.
A quiet life far from the speculation
and media turmoil that surrounded him all those years ago.
Not much of a social media user,
glimpses of the life he leads can now only be viewed through the numerous clips
and images his wife posts on her numerous platforms.