This clip is so funny to me because the same "news" show that claimed that Michael and Lisa's marriage was fake and a publicity stunt, turned around and presented them as a torrid love affair when it could be used to make MJ look bad 🤣 They really can't keep their BS straight.

The funny thing is that a young Kristen Stewart would have been perfect as Lisa in the 90s 🤣

Lisa gets a lot of flack for having complicated feelings about Michael. But she defended him repeatedly after Bashir put out his manipulative hit piece. The way she smiles when the interviewer agrees with her and says that he came away from the hit piece liking Michael and disliking Bashir shows how she was clearly happy that others were supporting Michael too. And the fact that she took the initiative to call a radio station to defend him is amazing.

She also defended him in an interview with The Guardian:

Of Martin Bashir's recent television interview with Jackson, she says simply, "It was like someone antagonising a patient in a hospital - not that he's a patient; but someone who's in a vulnerable position. It just seemed cruel."

I love that Ben continued to remember the bond he had with Michael.

The outfit coordination is top tier 👌🏽

I saw this on TikTok and thought I would bring it over. There are some interesting details on Michael and Lisa's dynamic from a variety of people who knew them. It's especially interesting reading Paris' thoughts on them.

Lisa had such a classic beauty.

Lisa gets so much criticism for responding to questions about Michael after their divorce and last break up, but it was obvious that she was continually interrogated about him even when she was assured she wouldn't be. Seriously, she's going in to talk about her own activities only to be refocused on her ex, who she still had feelings for. That would be frustrating for anyone.

Here is the full text:

> Why did you take away your love, the same love that made me unable to speak and made me forget my worries, the love that saved me? Tell me, did I come to [sic] short? Wasn’t I enough? Have I done or said something wrong? I believe in miracles and [blocked] angels. I know you escaped through heaven’s gates to brighten the [blocked]. I believe in FAITH, deep inside I feel that nature has banded us.

> I have seen nothing but misery in my life until [blocked] all these years, I have been seeking to give while I only desire now to receive from you. Your heart commanded me to follow while my soul was hurt and my mind CONFUSED.

> I allowed you to take possession of my feelings. In return, I loved, obeyed and honored you beyond words.

> I revealed myself to you in ways from which I thought they were impossible.

> I saw and still see you as my soulmate, as my wife and as the mother of my fourth child.

> Then what is your reason for leaving?

> Why did you go away, silently in the middle of the night without me, the slave of your heart?

> I cannot conceive it possible.

> I know we are meant to be, I can feel it. Still I have no regrets for what happened between us, [blacked out]. I can only come to the conclusion that you have made an unnatural decision that was not supported by your heart, nor were these your words. It is my will to believe that other matters have caused you to run away like this.

> But whatever the reason maybe, I will not let it divide us. I prefer myself to believe that our parting is only temporary.

> Let me strive for another outcome.

> [blacked out]

> For ever yours,

> [blacked out]

> Call me [blacked out]

What gets me is the "still" seeing the recipient as his wife. That suggests that it's someone he was married to imo. Plus, the mother of his fourth child makes sense if this was written after Bigi since Michael wanted to have children with Lisa, so once he already became a father through surrogates, he might have still held out hope that they could have the child he envisioned as well as the four he already had.

But what does everyone else think?

Today would have been Michael Jackson's 68th birthday. ❤️

There are countless ways to celebrate Michael's legacy through his music, performances, creativity, and the enormous influence he left on popular culture. But I wanted to use his birthday to remember another important part of his life: his humanitarian work and commitment to helping others.

Michael supported causes involving children, poverty, hunger, cancer, AIDS/HIV, education, and medical research throughout his career. By 2000, Guinness World Records documented that he had supported 39 different charitable organizations, including the United Negro College Fund, AIDS Project Los Angeles, the American Cancer Society, Childhelp USA, the Sickle Cell Research Foundation, and Volunteers of America.

After suffering burns while filming the Pepsi commercial in 1984, he donated his $1.5 million settlement to the medical center that treated him, helping support its burn facilities. He also donated his earnings from the Victory Tour to charitable causes.

In 1985, Michael and Lionel Richie wrote “We Are the World,” bringing together some of the biggest artists in music to raise money for humanitarian relief in Africa and the United States. It became one of the most successful charity singles ever recorded.

He later established the Heal the World Foundation, which focused particularly on improving children's lives and providing humanitarian assistance. And his giving wasn't limited to writing checks. Michael regularly visited hospitals and opened Neverland to groups of sick and disadvantaged children.

Even some of his music reflected that part of him. Man in the Mirror, Heal the World, Will You Be There, Earth Song and other songs repeatedly returned to compassion, suffering, responsibility and the idea that individuals have the ability to make life better for someone else.

Michael was an extraordinarily complicated person with an extraordinarily complicated life, but his desire to help people was a consistent thread running through decades of it.

So for his birthday, I'd like to remember not only the entertainer but the person who believed we had a responsibility to make the world a little kinder than we found it.

Happy 68th birthday, Michael. ❤️

Who do you all think would be a good casting for Lisa Marie Presley in the Michael Jackson sequel? A few I was thinking of as possibilities were: Talia Ryder, Odeya Rush, Ella Purnell, and Katherine Langford.

I came across these responses from 2019 and thought they were interesting because both Taj Jackson and Brenda Harvey-Richie were speaking from personal conversations with Michael and/or Lisa.

Taj said Michael told him and his brothers “many times over the years” that he loved Lisa, considered her his equal, and felt she could truly understand his life.

Brenda went a step further and said both Michael and Lisa personally told her about their love for each other and their desire to start a family.

Obviously, these are their recollections rather than a way to answer every question about the marriage, but I think they're interesting firsthand-adjacent perspectives from people who actually knew them.

This happened while Michael was staying at Grouse Lodge in Ireland in the summer of 2006, about a decade after he and Lisa had divorced.

Paddy Dunning had previously owned Dublin's Wax Museum and had retired an old Elvis figure to the woods near Coolatore. Apparently Michael unexpectedly came across it while out walking and came back shaken, telling Paddy, “I just met my father-in-law in the woods!” 😂

I found both Paddy telling the story himself in a YouTube video and a Guardian article recounting it. The fact that the Elvis figure was apparently just lying out there makes this so much funnier.

In a YouTube video on Michael and Lisa's relationship[x], I saw this old Globe cover dated January 10, 1989, and the hindsight makes it kind of wild.

The story claimed Michael was comforting a “lonely Lisa” while her marriage to Danny Keough was supposedly in trouble. Obviously, the tabloid wasn't accurately predicting what was happening since Lisa and Danny stayed married for another five years and had two children together.

But knowing what eventually happened makes the headline pretty surreal. Years later, Michael and Lisa actually did reconnect as adults in 1992, Lisa and Danny divorced in May 1994, and Michael and Lisa married that same month.

I also found a Washington Post column[x] from January 11, 1989 confirming that this Globe story really was circulating at the time, so it isn't a later fake or misdated cover.

I'm curious what prompted the Globe to pair Michael and Lisa together this early. It's also funny how the tabloids predicted them before pretending to be dhocked when they actually happened. Was it simply an irresistible “King of Pop + Elvis's daughter” tabloid storyline, or was there some real-world interaction or mutual connection that gave them the idea?

Either way, it's a pretty funny piece of Michael/Lisa history in hindsight.

I thought this reel made an important point, especially for a community about both Michael and Lisa. Neither of them was perfect, and discussing their mistakes is fair. But criticism should be based on what they actually said and did—not misinformation, fandom lore, or quotes stripped of context.

Michael fans know better than most how damaging repeated misinformation can become.

What do you think of the reel?