An insider has claimed revealed he was molested as a child - but 'normalized' the experience as 'playtime.'
Showbiz
Michael Jacksons Friend Alleges Childhood Abuse Claims
An insider has claimed Michael Jackson revealed he was molested as a child - but 'normalized' the experience as 'playtime.'Jackson's legacy has fallen under ren...
Advertisement
Jackson's legacy has fallen under renewed scrutiny in recent years because of the long-running allegations that he sexually abused underage boys.
Although he was acquitted of the claims in court in 2005, the accusations about the late King of Pop have down the decades, including in the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland.
They cropped up again this year in reaction to the smash success of the gushing new biopic Michael, which was backed by his estate, stars his nephew Jaafar and stops in 1988 before the explosive charges emerged about his sexual proclivities.
Now Emmy-winning producer Geoffrey Mark has added another layer to the story, saying Jackson was himself the victim of the of which he stood accused.
Mark maintained that Jackson never told him the name of the alleged perpetrator of the 'tragedy' that befell him, according to the New York Post.
Advertisement
The Daily Mail has contacted Jackson's estate for comment.
An insider has claimed Michael Jackson revealed he was molested as a child - but 'normalized' the experience as 'playtime'; pictured in 1973, the year he turned 15
Jackson is pictured in 2005 attending arriving at court for his child molestation trial, in which he was acquitted of the charges against him
According to Geoffrey Mark, he and Jackson shared close conversations at a string of Los Angeles parties in the late 1990s and early 2000s hosted by the late Dr. Arnold 'Arnie' Klein, a top Hollywood dermatologist nicknamed the 'father of Botox.'
Klein, who , hinted multiple times in public that he was the actual biological father of the Thriller singer's two elder children Prince, 29, and Paris, 28.
Jackson's legacy has fallen under renewed scrutiny in recent years because of the long-running allegations that he sexually abused underage boys; pictured 1988
Jackson 'had been conditioned that this was normal and natural,' said Mark, adding that 'it did happen a lot, it was a part of his growing up and was normal.'
The revelation was apparently prompted by a dinner table conversation about fathers at one of the soirees Klein hosted in his mansion in Hancock Park.
Jackson had publicly discussed being but never came out with any allegations of sexual abuse by him.
Advertisement
Meanwhile his sister La Toya Jackson purported in her own memoir that Joe molested her, but she later retracted the claim, saying she had been induced to include it by her allegedly abusive then-husband-cum-manager Jack Gordon.
Geoffrey Mark said that when the topic of fathers came up at the Arnie Klein dinner 'I shared that I really couldn’t chime in because my father had both sexually molested and physically tortured me. And Michael found that revelation to be strange.'
Mark added: 'He almost sort of cocked his head like a dog, like he was not understanding.... It was something he thought was normal and natural, and did not understand why, when it happened to me, I was upset about it.'
They cropped up again this year in reaction to the smash success of the gushing new biopic Michael, which stars his nephew Jaafar (left); Jackson pictured (right) in 1983
His own theory is that Jackson was 'not evil' but had lost his capacity to distinguish 'what was right and wrong' because of the trauma of his own upbringing.
Advertisement
'If I thought that Michael was evil or a predator, if I thought there was evil intent on his part, I probably wouldn’t be talking about it,' said Mark. 'Michael, to the best of my knowledge, thought that he was entertaining children the way he was entertained.'
Mark would never go as far as to call Jackson a pedophile, noting he 'can only react to what I saw and heard. I was not in the room when Michael was with the children.'
Jackson died at the age of 50 in 2009 from a cardiac arrest he suffered after having the powerful anesthetic Propofol administered as a sleep aid.
His estate-approved biopic Michael, helmed by Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, was released last month and proved to be a roaring box-office triumph, becoming the second-highest-grossing biopic of all time behind Bohemian Rhapsody.
Advertisement
Advertisement