A former maid who spent years working for Michael Jackson is claiming that his people threatened to kill her if she ever spoke about what she saw at Neverland Ranch.
Adrian McManus told 60 Minutes that she witnessed the King of Pop ‘kissing and petting’ young boys that visited Neverland, but was too afraid to speak out at the time.
‘There was a kind side to him, and yet there was a dark side,’ Ms McManus said.
‘They told me if I ever came up on TV that they could hire a hitman to take me out, slice my neck, wouldn’t ever find my body.’
Michael Jackson’s former maid has chosen to break her silence on what she saw while working at his Neverland Ranch
Ms McManus started work at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in 1990, and after three months was trusted to clean his private suite
Adrian McManus (pictured) was once a trusted employee at the King of Pop’s home, but she now says during her tenure she saw him fondling, kissing and predatory behaviour
In an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV earlier this month, McManus lifted the lid on the sick behavior she allegedly witnessed during the four years she worked at the Neverland ranch and is in no doubt her former employer was a ‘pedophile’.
She claims the star – who has been accused of serious sexual abuse in a shocking new documentary – brought a long line of young boys into his bedroom and that she saw many troubling things while cleaning up after him.
McManus, 56, claims she often fished Jackson’s and children’s underwear from Jacuzzi and baths at the home, and witnessed kids walking around barely clothed.
She says she found Vaseline and tampons next to Jackson’s bed and scattered around the house and recalls the singer having a strange obsession with photos of children.
‘There was a lot of Vaseline around Neverland, a lot in Michael’s bedroom,’ she recalls.
‘I didn’t question it, because he was my boss and you just do what you’re supposed to do, but I would wonder.
‘And they had it all over in the main house, there was a rose room, it was up there. They had it in train room, which was kind of like an attic; they had that up there. It was in every room, the soldier room.
‘It was in drawers. Sometimes it was on counters. Sometimes they would find it on the golf carts that Michael would take out to drive around.’
McManus would often have to clean up after Jackson had boys over for long weekends.
‘I found underwear that were in the back of Michael’s main room and one of the closets and it was in the back of the filing cabinets,’ she recalls.
‘They were very hard, and crunchy, and yellow, but I didn’t know who they belonged to.
‘When I would go in to pick up Mr Jackson’s bedroom, many times when there were his special guests there, little boys, they were taking baths with him in his Jacuzzi. He had a Jacuzzi in the bedroom and I used to have to let the water out of the Jacuzzi, so I had to put hangers together in order to get to the middle of the Jacuzzi to let the water out.
‘But Michael would have his underwear floating in the water and the little boys’ underwear floating in the water together. If they weren’t floating in the water, they were outside on the floor around the Jacuzzi. So I would find stuff like that.’
She added: ‘With all the little boys he would hold their hands and kiss them. And they would fight for Michael’s love. It was a strange environment to watch.’
From 1990, McManus spent four years as Jackson’s personal maid – one of just a few staff to have access to the star’s bedroom, bathroom and secret chambers
McManus’ claims come in the wake of the release of Leaving Neverland – an HBO documentary detailing Wade Robson and Jimmy Safechuck’s (pictured with the singer) allegations of long term abuse by Jackson
The maid claims she also saw books on masturbation in the bedroom and one time Jackson asked her to laminate photos of naked babies and have them put in his room for decoration.
But most disturbing was a large collection of VHS cassettes McManus believes contained ‘intimate’ footage the star filmed with children in the 1990s.
The maid believes the singer – who died a decade ago from drug abuse – hid the ‘damaging’ material from police by storing it in a movie projection theater away from the main house on the sprawling Neverland ranch.
Asked about the videos, she said: ‘I think they were of Michael with boys doing inappropriate things that had to be hidden, or they would have put him in jail. I think they were sex tapes.’
While McManus admits she never actually saw the contents of the tapes, she says Jackson’s behavior and the shroud of secrecy placed on the tapes has left her convinced of their more sinister nature.
‘After watching Michael with the boys and dealing with the way he was and what I saw and then hearing what I heard, I believe it to be true,’ she says.
McManus also points to the fact Jackson was obsessed with capturing everything on camera at Neverland and had a walk-in closet filled with expensive camera equipment and battery chargers.
‘He had a lot of batteries charging, the chargers always charging and cameras, a closet full of cameras and battery chargers, so they were always ready for him to use,’ she recalls.
‘And when that one died, next, but he always had a camera on him taking pictures of the boys, kids. It was always the boys. That’s all that’s really there.’
Her claims come in the wake of the release of Leaving Neverland – an HBO documentary detailing Wade Robson and Jimmy Safechuck’s allegations of long term abuse by Jackson.
Producers for the show also claimed they were made aware of potential tapes, but never found them.
From 1990, McManus spent four years as Jackson’s personal maid – one of just a few staff to have access to the star’s bedroom, bathroom and secret chambers.
She says that as details emerged that Jackson could face criminal charges when former child companion Jordan Chandler alleged abuse, the tapes were hidden.
‘I don’t know where they went, but I did hear that one of the nephews of the man who ran the theater had got a hold of a lot of the videos and hid them,’ she recalls.
‘The rumor was the projectionist said that they were very damaging to Michael.
‘I had heard that the man who ran the theater, he had mentioned that his nephew had come over there once in a while. His nephew would run the theater when the older man wouldn’t. And rumors were that he packed them up in the trunk and took them off the ranch.’
In 1993, 13-year-old Jordan Chandler brought charges of sexual abuse against Jackson that ended in a reported $20 million cash settlement.
And a 2003 criminal case spurred by 13-year-old cancer survivor Gavin Arvizo’s accusations led to Jackson’s arrest, trial and 2005 acquittal.
McManus’ claims of the existence of videos were in part supported by Leaving Neverland producer Dan Reed, who says Safechuck was aware of ‘sexual’ videos Jackson had filmed.
In an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV, McManus lifted the lid on the sick behavior she allegedly witnessed during the four years she worked at the Neverland ranch and is in no doubt her former employer was a ‘pedophile’
Speaking to Rolling Stone, British award winning creative Reed said: ‘James mentioned to me at one point, “You know, Michael had a video camera and he recorded a sexual act.” But he didn’t go into detail. And then Jackson was like, “Oh, what did I do?” and taped over it.
‘I have all the evidence that I need. And there was no video recording that exists of Michael having sex with [these] children.
‘There was no flagrante delicto with these guys. We don’t have the tapes.’
McManus, like Reed, is in no doubt that the superstar singer was a child molester – a claim which is yet to be proven.
These days she works as a carer in Nipomo, California, and says she ‘is at peace’ with branding her former boss a sex abuser, despite still suffering with anxiety and panic attacks as a result of the experience.
She adds that she was not shocked at the claims made by Robson and Safechuck, who were regular private guests in Jackson’s bedroom during her years working for him
‘I’m not shocked. I already know what he is. I live with it. I know the truth. It wouldn’t shock me. It is kind of what it is, what it was. I think it would be devastating to his fans, who are blindfolded by the reality. That’s what would hurt.’
She has previously claimed that she recalls Jackson accuser Safechuck being cajoled into playing dress-up with the King of Pop.
She says she always wondered about Jackson’s relationship with Safechuck in early 1990s.
‘Michael would be obsessed with Jimmy,’ she said. ‘They would go into the bedroom and play dress-up. Jimmy would take his clothes off, and Michael would let him wear his personal shirts, pajamas and famous black fedora hat.’
She said Safechuck was a regular guest at Neverland and his relationship with Jackson ‘didn’t feel right.’
She recalled how Jackson would get Jimmy alone and ‘lock him away’ for days at a time.
‘He was always cuddling him, holding his hand or being amorous towards him more like a girlfriend than a friend,’ she said.
McManus tried and failed to sue Jackson along with other employees in 1994 for their treatment during their employment.
Melanie Bagnall, Kassim Abdool, Ralph Chacon, McManus and Sandy Domz said they were harassed and threatened by security guards and fired or forced to quit in 1994.
In their depositions McManus and Chacon spoke about the singer’s alleged sexual abuse of minors.
McManus was also called as a prosecution witness in his 2005 criminal trial.
The former maid says Jackson got away with the abuse for so many years because of the regime of fear and intimidation he ran.
She claims Jackson’s private security team would issue death threats and intimidate staff and children to stay silent about what they saw in Neverland during the early 90s.
And the King Of Pop himself issued threats to staff who questioned his behavior.
‘I knew Michael very, very well, and I was told that what I know you just don’t say it, and that really concerned me.
‘I was threatened by Michael when I took over his bedroom, so I was already scared with that and I was afraid for my family.
‘At that point, I was thinking of my life and my family’s life; something could happen to me.
‘I was told by Michael’s bodyguards that they could hire a hit man to take me out, that they could have somebody slice my neck and you’d never find my body. So yeah, I was very concerned and it’s my life and I cared about my life.’
She continued: ‘Nobody knew what these bodyguards were, and everybody was afraid of them. They carried guns and they would tell you little things and pet their guns. These guys were wicked and scary.’
McManus recalls how Jackson himself used intimidation tactics, calling her at home on Mother’s Day in 1993, just as the pressure mounted around the Jordan Chandler case.
‘He called me at home and he said he wanted to ask me something and I said “yeah, go ahead.”
‘And he asked me continuously “what do you know?” “What do you mean?’, I said. “Michael I don’t know what you want me to tell you.”
‘I think he knew that I was on to him, and he wanted to see if I was stupid enough to say that.
‘He was concerned about what he was doing because after that the allegations popped up. He wanted to see how loyal I was to him.
‘Michael was a manipulator and I was scared of him. I was programmed not to ask questions.’
McManus believes the star’s staggering wealth – at the time an estimated $250million – meant the Bad singer felt untouchable.
Jackson spent millions of dollars on high profile lawyers and even employed notorious private detective Anthony Pellicano to protect his image – and muddy the names of any detractors.
McManus said: ‘I think anybody who came into contact with him (Jackson) has been destroyed, and they suffered, because there was something not right with him. He was a pedophile.’
She added: ‘I am happy the world is now questioning Michael, but there will still be unbelievers.
‘I hope people take off their blinders and realize that he was a man. People have urges. I wish more people would have spoken up, because maybe today Michael would have been alive if they put him in prison. Maybe things could have gone different.’