Throughout his life, the late Michael Jackson was connected to many women.
Apart from marrying Debbie Rowe and Lisa Marie Presley, he allegedly dated Diana Ross and
Madonna, but that was never confirmed.
However, in 1993, Michael Jackson revealed that he was dating former child actress Brooke
Shields, and he confessed his love for her to the world.
He was to become the King of Pop; she was a controversial teen actress whose face was
known worldwide.
Brooke Shields and Michael Jackson first met when she was just 13- years old, and he was
20.
Despite their age difference, the pair had an instant connection.
Shields shared, "From the day we met, we saw something of ourselves in each other."
The daughter of an actress and a business executive, Brooke first rose to fame as a
child model.
Shields then found her breakthrough acting role in the 1978 film 'Pretty Baby' where
she played a child prostitute at 13 years old.
The young actress was cast into a whirlwind of controversy over the role.
It didn't take long for Shields to become one of America's best-known teen stars.
While mixing with the rich and famous at awards ceremonies and parties, she first came across
a figure who would become a major part of her life; Michael Jackson.
In a 2014 interview with Larry King, Shields recalled this life-changing meeting, sharing,
"I was 13, I think, when I first met him, and we were fans of each other.
And we just immediately hit it off, we laughed so hard… we just started hanging out."
Perhaps it was that both Michael and Brooke grew up with life under the spotlight; the
pair soon formed an almost inseparable bond.
However, over the next few years, their friendship started to garner a lot of attention.
Everyone wanted to know, was there something else going on behind the scenes?
Were Shields and Jackson a little more than just "good friends."
Considering she was underage when the pair first met, Brooke described the beginning
of their relationship as intimate but innocent.
"People want sordid details or they want big blowups, and the truth of the matter is … we
understood each other and became very good friends.
And that was it, we didn't need to make it into anything else."
From the very beginning, the actress insisted that what she shared with Michael was nothing
but platonic.
On the other hand, Jackson was open about having an enormous 'crush' on Shields, going
back to before they met.
Michael remembered every moment of their first encounter – and he was attracted to Shields
from the start.
Perhaps surprisingly, it was Jackson who was starstruck by Shields, not the other way around.
According to Jackson, the pair first met at the 1981 Academy Awards, when Shields was
15.
At 22 years old, Jackson was one decade into his solo career, and he had just recently
been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Jackson recalled how Shields approached him that night, introduced herself, and invited
him to dance with her at the afterparty, to which he enthusiastically agreed.
The singer admitted that Shields had been his "celebrity crush."
He also confessed to having posters of the young actress all over his bedroom.
But throughout his life, Jackson claimed he was shy around girls and was uncomfortable
making advances, sharing that he'd never asked a girl out in his life, and they would have
to be the ones to ask him.
After spending the evening with Brooke, Michael shared, "We exchanged numbers and I was up
all night, singing, spinning around in my room, so happy, you know?
It was great.
We dated a lot, we went out a lot…
Her pictures were all over my wall, my mirror, everything."
Shields has also painted a lively picture of their relationship, saying, "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."
As the years went by, the pair were often evasive in interviews about how many dates
they went on and over how many years.
But one thing is for certain, Jackson and Shields formed a lifelong bond.
At one stage, it was rumored that Jackson had even proposed to Shields, but she had
turned him down.
Michael later confessed that his love for Brooke was incomparable to any of the loves
he'd had in his life.
He said, "That was one of the loves of my life.
I just wished she loved me as much as I loved her, you know?"
Meanwhile, during the height of their relationship in the 80s, Shields was spotted with a spectacular
ring while dating Jackson.
However, the actress insisted that it was nothing more than a "friendship ring."
She shared that when he gave her the ring, he said, "It sparkles and you sparkle."
As it turned out, when Jackson had raised the topic of marriage to her, she responded,
"You have me for the rest of your life, you don't need to marry me."
The actress explained that Michael feared losing her and the idea that she might move
on with her life without him.
But Brooke always reiterated to her friend, "You'll always have me," Which eased the singer's
anxiety over losing someone that was so important to him.
When the Romanian orphanage crisis hit the headlines in the late 80s, Jackson was deeply
moved by the children's struggles.
He suggested that he and Shields should marry for the purpose of adoption.
Shields has recalled, "He would sort of say, 'Why don't we adopt a child together?
The way your heart works is what I want in my life."
However, she turned the offer down once again.
As the pair grew into their friendship, Brookes told Opera in 1993, "I think we both had a
crush, and both still do have a crush on each other…
We have a lot of fun together.
It's a love on a different level.
I feel closer to him than some of the boyfriends I've had."
The actress denied rumors that Jackson had ever proposed to her seriously.
In fact, she said that Jackson was horrified at the idea of leading a 'normal,' settled,
and married life.
In fact, when Shields got engaged to her first husband, Andre Agassi, in the mid-nineties,
Jackson was shocked by her desire for marriage and a somewhat "normal" life.
She explained, "When I told him I was getting married, he just didn't get it.
He was like, 'What; you can't do that!'
And I said, "I've got a chance!…
I want a chance to be, quote-unquote, normal.'"
It seemed as though the idea of a "normal life" was something that neither Jackson nor
Brooke could agree on.
The singer went on to have two short-lived and unsettled marriages to Lisa Marie Presley
and to Debbie Rowe during the 90s.
On the other hand, Shields has remained married to her second husband, Chris Henchy, since
2001.
Shields shared that their relationship was rather unconventional and consisted of countless
dinners and long phone calls together, which continued for the rest of Jackson's life.
However, they tried their best to keep what happened between them as private as possible.
They knew that no one would really ever understand the connection that they shared, so they wanted
to keep what they shared to themselves.
Michael explained, "We try not to just be everywhere and go everywhere.
It's mostly at home.
She'll come over, I'll go to her house because I don't like going out in public."
Brookes also shared, "We understood that the other person had no agenda.
I wasn't trying to get anything from him.
We'd go to obscure restaurants and could just sort of commiserate and say 'Aren't people
crazy?'"
The actress also explained that the innocent nature of her relationship with Michael was
unbroken as they grew older.
Brooke admitted that Michael became "more asexual" to her.
She explained, "We just found each other and we didn't have to deal with our sexuality."
Brooke went on to reveal that Michael "insulated" himself from the outside world and from relationships
and sex.
She added, "As I grew up and started having boyfriends, I would share with him, and he
was like a little kid who talked about the bases."
The actress explained that she would speak to Michael about "What first base was, what
second base was," and she was aware of how "very odd" it might have all sounded to someone
on the outside.
But between the two close friends, she understood that Jackson "never really left his bubble,"
and he was curious about what happened during her own romantic relationships.
She added, "He was like this kid who would ask you about dating and romance.
Nobody was telling him and nurturing this stuff and I think he was terrified.
He was terrified and sort of juvenile.
I think there was an arrested development."
Overall their years together, Jackson and Shields became a lifelong support system to
each other.
Sadly, Michael tragically passed away in 2009.
Following his death, Michael's mother, Katherine, asked Brooke to speak at his memorial.
The actress admitted that the "magnitude" of Katherine's request was unbelievable and
that she was concerned and mainly focused on Jackson's children, mom, and sister.
Brooke spoke about the impact he had made on her life and the incredible friend he had
always been to her.
She shared, "He was the first person to call me when my dad got sick.
When I had postpartum depression, he sent me flowers…He was consistent to the end."
Toward the end of her speech, Shields read two passages from the book "The Little Prince,"
saying that although he was called the King of Pop, he was always a little prince to her.
She read, "Here is my secret.
It is very simple: One sees well only with the heart.
The essential is invisible to the eyes."
After sharing that Jackson's favorite song was "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin, she quoted
that song and then added in her own words, "Michael saw everything with his heart.
Today, although our hearts are aching, we need to look up where he is undoubtedly perched
in a crescent moon, and we need to smile."
At the service, Shields encountered Jackson's father, Joseph.
Aware of Jackson's claims that his father was abusive, Shields had long hated Joseph
and described him as "the devil."
But on this occasion, she overcame her dislike to speak with him cordially.
She told Joseph Jackson, "I'm gonna thank you for your son, because he changed the world
and he was my friend."
It seems as though Michael's relationships were a lot more than what the media made them
out to be to the public.
Although Brooke denied that their relationship was ever romantic, it's clear that what they
shared was incredibly meaningful to both of them.
Perhaps what really happened behind the closed doors of Michael's personal relationships
will never be fully understood, but it's clear that he and Shields shared a very special
bond throughout his life.