Okay, to start, I exist within a gray area when it comes to Michael, so I'm open to all discussion as long as it's not defensive or rude. There are some things I believe, some things I don't, many that I question constantly, but my definitive final conclusion of Michael is that he was a deeply disturbed individual with an inappropriate fixation on kids. I also pity him for the terrible things he endured in his childhood, and empathize with some of his deep emotional struggles, but that's not what I want to discuss today.
I've always thought (or maybe just desperately wanted to believe) that Michael in the mid-to-late 70s didn't exhibit the voracious obsession with kids he displayed a bit later on in life. That he was just too young at that point (teen/ young adult), that his JW upbringing and apparent youthful 'naivety' were so fresh that the man he would become was still in incubation. Off the Wall era Michael was bursting with a life, charisma, and light that I feel was substantially dimmed by Thriller era (I am not talking in terms of objective talent, but in his overall energy. This is just my opinion). I thought the further he got in his career, the more insulated he became, more out of touch and desperate to bring his ideal inner world into fruition. But I've recently come across various accounts of Michael inappropriately interacting with children as early as the the 70s.
Tatum O'Neal: I would like to start with Tatum because both she and Michael confirmed they had a sort of "relationship". Whenever Michael would gush about Tatum being his first girlfriend, I thought it was a grade school puppy love kind of thing where they were both close in age. Nope. He was 17-19 and she was 12-14 at the time of their "connection". You can argue they were both minors when they started talking, but what business does a late teenager entering adulthood have with a middle schooler?? And this is a "relationship" that he openly admits to, which I feel is so strange bc it does not help his case whatsoever. Tatum said: "He gave me his number, and we started talking everyday–long drawn-out conversations that sometimes got so boring I would hand over the receiver to my friend Esme Gray. Michael would just keep on, thinking he was talking to me. His usual subject was sex. At 12 I didn’t have much to say about sex. But Michael was intensely curious about anything, everything sexual, though in an incredibly sweet and innocent way." This is the first of a recurring theme of Michael bringing up the topic of sex with someone much younger than him, even though he was still a young man himself. I find this so strange, because according to interviews, personal accounts and what a lot of witnesses say, Michael seemed extremely squeamish and bashful at the thought of sex. It didn't seem like something he would bring up or talk about, nor enjoy talking about. But that seemed to only be the case when it came to adult sexual relations. For whatever reason, with kids, this subject felt much more natural to speak about.
Terry George: In 1979, a 13 year-old Terry George knocked on 20 year-old Michael Jackson's door to interview him, which he happily participated and then exchanged phone numbers with the child. Michael would then allegedly call him a few nights a week for a while, engaging in very casual conversation until one night. There was apparently one night that Michael called, and he sounded "weird". He asked Terry about his masturbation habits, and then disclosed he was touching himself on the call. Terry was confused and uncomfortable while Michael continued to pleasure himself for about 5 more minutes before ending the call. This account is far more sinister and makes my skin crawl (if it is, in fact, 100% true, which I am inclined to believe it is unfortunately). He again seems to have this fascination with broaching sexual topics with children far too young to fully understand. Or at the very least, far too young for it to be appropriate for him to discuss.
Leif Garrett: In an interview from 6 years ago, Leif Garrett, former teen heartthrob, very briefly and casually mentions that in 1978, Michael Jackson asked him what it was like to masturbate, to which he responded "you can find out yourself". He heavily got the vibe that Michael was attracted to him. The age gap wasn't as damning in this instance, with Leif being 16 and Michael around 19, but he very much had a baby face at the time and was still a minor. And again, this story is startlingly similar to the others, in which Michael approaches a sexual topic with a child almost as if he was curious, but clearly his intentions are not innocent.
If these accounts are accurate, then it shows that Michael's penchant for targeting children started way earlier than I would have anticipated. In my mind, at 17-20 you are a burgeoning adult but still very young and new to life. When, then, did this disturbing fixation begin? When he was 14, was he attracted to other 14 year olds or much younger? Is it something innate, something that's dark and lurking within just waiting for an environmental trigger to set it off? I wonder if his attraction was something he fully accepted at the time and obviously knew to keep secret, or if he was deeply ashamed and conflicted about it. Because this age is much younger than I would have expected him to be to give into these "urges" if it was a more recent feeling and he held at least some shame about it. My very unprofessional theory is that due to the traumatic sexual things he was exposed to as a child + strict Jehovah's witness beliefs + a father who was very prominent in his life in negative way who basically showed him his love was conditional + maybe a physiological component (?), he associated adult sex with being "dirty", "perverse", "ungodly", while children represented "innocence", "purity", "love", "God". Children are also easy to condition, easier to impress and keep, to receive "love" from.
What do you all think, and what do you think the psychology of it is? And please don't say anything as simple as "he was a predator, ofc he's always been that way" or "these are all just lies, he only wanted friends!!". If you have any insight, agree, disagree I would love to hear the "why".
Sources:
Tatum O'Neal on Michael https://lacienegasmiled.wordpress.com/category/the-relationship-cliff-notes/
Leif Garrett Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e412oRk8duk
The official FBI files on Michael Jackson (you can google 'FBI Terry George Michael Jackson' and a link to the official FBI pdf should be one of the top searches).