Michael Jackson’s bodyguard has revealed his thoughts on the singer’s child sex abuse allegations and what he thinks really killed the King of Pop.
Bill Whitfield said the legendary singer, who would have turned 66 today, was ‘sad a lot’ before his death in 2009 after he had come away from facing a set of serious trials.
Speaking to The Sun, Jackson’s former and latest bodyguard revealed the popstar was hurt by the serious allegations being made against him, and said ‘he would never hurt a child, this isn’t the man I knew’.
Bill had become Jackson’s bodyguard in 2006, not long after the Billy Jean singer had been cleared of abuse allegations.
But after spending countless hours with Jackson and becoming a ‘very good friend’, the security pro said he believed that if the claims had been true, the situation would have revealed itself.
Bill Whitfield (left) was Michal Jackson’s final bodyguard before he died from an overdose in 2009
Bill became Jackson’s bodyguard in 2006, just after the singer had been cleared of his spate of sexual abuse allegations
Michael Jackson pictured rehearsing for his This Is It concerts just two days before his death
He admitted to paying close attention to the star’s actions and behaviors, and after reading stories of the allegations, would even watch how Jackson interacted with children.
After working with the pop icon for several years, Bill finally came to believe that the accusations carried no weight.
‘It wasn’t his character. You had to be around him to know him and I was there. So no, that wasn’t him. And so it just still surprises me when I hear things like that,’ he told the newspaper.
Bill heartbreakingly said that the popstar died before he was given the opportunity to tell his side of the story and revealed the singer once said he would ‘slit his wrist’ before hurting a child.
Jackson began being investigated by the LAPD in 1993 after allegations that he molested a 13-year-old boy, Jordan Chandler, arose.
But police found no incriminating evidence at the singer’s Neverland ranch, nor at his Los Angeles home.
In 2003, police then booked Jackson on child molestation charges, but did not immediately disclose details of the charges or identify the victim.
Then in February 2005, Jackson was tried over the claims of child sex abuse.
The victim, identified as Gavin Arvizo, claimed on the stand that Jackson masturbated him before his brother corroborated his claim, saying the singer gave them alcohol and showed them pornography.
In June 2005, Jackson was ultimately acquitted of all criminal charges.
The Thriller singer was left shaken and distraught by the four-month-long trial and decided not to return to Neverland before refusing to perform at any major concerts.
Just four years later, however, Jackson made a bombshell announcement that he was planning on returning to the big stage for his This Is It tour from July 2009 to March 2010.
But Bill revealed it was during this time the star became ‘a little more frail than normal,’ – claiming all the rehearsals leading up to the residency had been taking a toll on Jackson’s health.
In the same year, the popstar faced more allegations by British man Terry George of masturbating on the phone when he was aged just 13 in 1979.
The Billy Jean singer was left ‘hurt’, ‘frail’, and ‘shaken’ following the allegations made against him, according to his bodyguard. Pictured: Michael Jackson attends the 2006 World Music Awards at London’s Earls Court
Jackson died on June 25, 2009, just three weeks before his This Is It tour was set to begin. Pictured: Michael Jackson performs We Are The World on stage during the World Music Awards, 2006
Tragically, just three weeks before This Is It was set to kick-off, on June 25, 2009, the King of Pop died from an overdose.
Jackson had been rehearsing into the early hours of the morning when his personal physician Conrad Murray found him unconscious on his bedroom floor at 2:26pm.
Bill admitted to wondering whether his ‘very good friend’ could have been killed intentionally, but ultimately believes ‘a lot of everything, and includes a lot of us’ is what killed the pop legend.
‘There were so many people that wanted not only to be near him, but there were so many people who wanted something from him. And that can be overwhelming. He was definitely stressed out. And stress kills,’ he said.
In 2019, Bill revealed on Today, that he likes to remember Jackson as a father and stressed that many people did not get the chance to see the popstar the way he di.
‘I certainly believe that the level of stress that he had been going though on a personal basis as well as business certainly played a part, I really do,’ he said.
He also said he believes those who came forward and claimed they had been abused by Jackson were ‘liars’ as he hadn’t seen any evidence.
Sexual abuse allegations against Jackson continued to emerge for years after his death, with Wade Robson, now 41, and James Safechuck, 46, long claiming that the late King of Pop sexually abused them when they were young children visiting his Neverland ranch in the 80s and 90s.
Robson (left) claimed he was abused by the late singer starting when he was about eight, from 1990 to 1996, and Safechuck alleged the sex abuse took place between 1988 to 1992, starting when he was about 11 years old
The men allege that horrific sexual abuse took place at Jackson’s Neverland ranch
James Safechuck, now 46, (left) and Wade Robson, 41, have rebuilt lives away from the spotlight
Both men say the alleged abuse – which continued for seven years in Robson’s case and four in Safechuck’s – left them mentally traumatized.
Despite their happy new lives, the specter of Jackson remains a presence for both men thanks to the ongoing court fight with the singer’s companies MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures.
Robson and Safechuck say MJJ Productions staff are complicit in the abuse they suffered because they knew Jackson was grooming and abusing children and helped him cover it up.
Both men are now battling to have the trial on the matter brought forward to this year and ahead of a flattering new biopic in which Jackson will be played by his nephew Jaafar, 27.
Immediately after Jackson was found dead, Murray had tried to revive him for around five to ten minutes before calling paramedics.
Following an hour-long resuscitation attempt, Jackson was pronounced dead at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre.
During an autopsy a day later, it emerged the popstar had died from a drug overdose after taking a combination of drugs including propofol and lorazepam.
The coroner ruled Jackson’s death as a homicide before Murray was sentenced to four years behind bars in November 2011 for involuntary manslaughter after he gave Jackson propofol for two months to help treat his insomnia ahead of his tour.
Murray ended up serving just two years of his sentence before being released in October 2013.
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