1977:: Stephanie Mills
December 1, 2009
Boy Scouts of America, 1989
Interview talking about her friendship to Michael prior to 2009
Stephanie talking about sharing the same bed with Michael and defends him, 28th Nov, 2009
1977
1979
1989 Boy Scout of America Awards
Stephanie Mills, May, 1976
Stephanie explains that her signing with Motown came about through Hazel Gordy, Berry’s daughter and the wife of Jermaine Jackson. “Hazel and Jermaine had come to see the show and wanted Suzanne de Passe from Motown to meet me. We all met up at a party for the Jackson Five here in New York and it’s always been one of my dreams to be with Motown – Diana Ross is truly my idol! At around about the same time, Burt Bacharach had seen the show and expressed an interest in working with me, so when I went out to Los Angeles to meet with Berry Gordy, and he asked who I’d like as producers. I went for Bacharach and Hal David.”
The Plaza Hotel, New York City, February 1977:
For a photo session, Michael wears a blue sweater, blue pants, a white shirt, and, for some reason, an E.L.O. (Electric Light Orchestra) pin. His bodyguard and a friend/publicist are with him, and when it comes time for photos, the publicist calls him into another room to tell him to take off his undershirt; when he comes back, Michael says that he could have been told that in front of us. He’d arrived late the night before and is staying an extra day so he can go see The Wiz starring Stephanie Mills (there were rumored publicity attempts to drum up a fake romance with her to calm down Michael’s black female fans who were upset he was never seen with a black girl). “I’ve seen [The Wiz] three times already,” Michael says. There is a discussion about birds—Michael had spent the morning at the Bronx Zoo visiting the birdhouse; he says he likes the exotic birds and used to have some, but they made a lot of noise, especially during the mating season, and usually at night, and the neighbors complained, so he had to give them away. It was his first trip to the Bronx Zoo. He asks if Coney Island is still any good, or if they have taken all the good stuff out. He talks about Disneyland—which he’d been to lots of times—and Disney World: “Disney World is better,” he says. “It’s more of a world, like they say. It’s a resort; they have everything—golf, tennis, hotels—it’s all fantasy time.”
MJ: Do you know Stevie Wonder?
AW: I met him once when he was playing with Mick Jagger at Madison Square Garden? He’s really great. I gave him a camera for a present and he was taking pictures with it but I don’t know if he ever, ahh . . .
STEPHANIE MILLS: C’mon, Michael, let’s dance.
MJ: Let me watch.
SM: Oh, c’mon, Michael, please . . .
MJ: It’s just I’m not used to dancin’ if . . .
SB: If he’s not paid for it.
SM: Michael, Michael . . .
MJ: I’m going to watch. I don’t like to be put on the spot.
CATHERINE GUINNESS: If a young lady asks you to dance, you can’t refuse.
SM: Michael, please. Michael, Michael, Michael . . . [MJ agrees to get up and dance.]
Michael Jackson: “Unauthorized”
After the Jacksons shattered box-office records at the Nassau Coliseum, Michael went out on one of his rare dates with the opposite sex. After seeing The Wiz for the fourth time, he escorted the musical’s tiny, Merman-voiced teenage star, Stephanie Mills, to the chic Park Avenue nightclub Regine’s for dinner. Throughout the meal she flirted with him, brushing his hand with hers, bumping his knees under the table, eve, for one fleeting moment, laying her head on his shoulder. With each touch Michael became rigid. And as his discomfort became more and more obvious, their unlikely chaperon for the evening, Andy Warhol, did what he always did best in such prickly social situations. Nothing.
Ellensburg Daily Record, 23rd Jan, 1978
Ellensburg Daily Record, 3rd Nov, 1978
Reading Eagle, Dec 28 1979
One of Mills’ dissappointments, although she’d rather not talk about it, is the fact that Diana Ross got the movie role in “Wiz,” a role that she wanted very, very badly.
“I visited the Wiz set,” Mills is saying, trying to sound cheerful and not succeeding, “and Diana asked me if I was bitter that she was there and I was just passing through,” she recollects. Ross, by innuendo, made her feel even worse. “She told me that if she didn’t get Wiz that Melba Moore or Lola Falana were next in line.”
JET 24 Jan 1980
Toledo Blade, 15 Aug 1980
EBONY Feb 1982
Rock & Soul, 23 March 1983
Though many questions about Michael’s personal relationships have been raised, very dew have actually been answered. When Rock & Soul asked Stephanie Mills about the rumours that she and Jackson were sweet on each other, she put them to rest immediately. “Just friends,” she said emphatically.
Michael Jackson Discharged, Boston Globe, January 29, 1984
Superstar Michael Jackson, hospitalized with burns from fireworks that ignited his hair during filming of a commercial, was quietly discharged from a hospital yesterday against his doctor’s recommendation. Dr. Steve Hoefflin said he believed it was best for Jackson to stay at Brotman Memorial Hospital burns institute, but reluctantly agreed to his release at 3:30 p.m.
(EST). Hours earlier, he had told reporters Jackson would be hospitalized “for several days.” He said Jackson may require reconstructive surgery. Nurse Pat Lavalas, the burn unit supervisor, said Jackson was in good spirits yesterday morning and he received many telephone calls, including get-well wishes from singers Teddy Pendergrass and Stephanie Mills. “He sang a Stephanie Mills song in the bathroom.He stayed in bed and opened telegrams, and he got a big kick out of one from a fan that said, I know you’re hot, but this is ridiculous,”‘ the nurse said.
Stephanie Mills, March 1984
She hopes, however, to get a chance to work with one of the other star of the Wiz movie-Michael Jackson.
One of these days I’m going to pin him up against the wall,”Mills said of Jackson. ”I think we’d sound great together.”
Billboard Special Honoring Michael, 21 Jul 1984
When that meeting took place at CBS headquarters in New York, I was only nineteen years old. I was carrying a heavy burden for nineteen. My family was relying on me more and more as far as business and creative decisions were concerned, and I was so worried about trying to do the right thing for them; but I also had an opportunity to do something I’d wanted to do all my life – act in a film. Ironically the old Motown connection was paying a late dividend.
Motown had bought the rights to film the Broadway show known as The Wiz even as we were leaving the company. The Wiz was an updated, black-orientated version of the great movie The Wizard of Oz, which I had always loved. I remember that when I was a kid The Wizard of Oz was shown on television once a year and always on a Sunday night. Kids today can’t imagine what a big event that was for all of us because they’ve grown up with videocassettes and the expanded viewing that cable provides.
I had seen the Broadway show too, which was certainly no letdown. I swear I saw it six or seven times. I later became very friendly with the star of the show, Stephanie Mills, the Broadway Dorothy. I told her then, and I’ve always believed since, that it was a tragedy that her performance in the play could not have been preserved on film. I cried time after time. As much as I like the Broadway stage, I don’t think I’d want to play on it myself. When you give a performance, whether on record or on film, you want to be able to judge what you’ve done, to measure yourself and try to improve. You can’t do that in an untaped or unrecorded performance. It makes me sad to think of all the great actors who have played roles we would give anything to see, but they’re lost to us because they couldn’t be, or simply weren’t, recorded.
If I had been tempted to go onstage, it would probably have been to work with Stephanie, although her performances were so moving that I might have cried right there in front of the audience.
Not only did Mills speak on how she managed and coped with the hectic life of a performer, she also managed to briefly clarify the relationship between her and the king of pop himself, Michael Jackson.
“Michael was definitely my boyfriend back in the day,” said Mills. “But I don’t know if I was his girlfriend,” she said over loud bursts of laughter from the audience.
Mills then began to talk briefly about the friendship that grew between her and the late Jackson, and also went on to adamantly proclaim how genuine of a person he was.
Stephanie Mills, 28th November 2009
“Michael and I were friends for a very long time. I used to stay with him – actually – we used to sleep in the same bed, when he was shooting the Wiz movie. You couldn’t have told me I wouldn’t be Mrs Michael Jackson.
Stephanie Mills, Monique Show, January 2010
Monique: So… you’re on Broaday.
Stephanie: I’m on Broadway.
Monique: You’re doing The Wiz.
Stephanie: I’m doing The Wiz.
Monique: And in walks Mr Michael Jackson.
Stephanie: (screams)
Monique: Tell us about it, baby.
Stephanie: I gotta scream now. (laughing)
Monique: How was that?
Stephanie: Oh girl, at that time I was what, 15, 16 years old and every girl in America wanted to be Mrs Michael Jackson and I just knew that I was gonna be Mrs Michael Jackson. Now, I’ll say this, he was truly my boyfriend and I don’t know if I was really his girlfriend, but he was my boyfriend, okay? And we spent a lot of – I got the chance to spend a lot of time with him. Especially when he came back, well, he would come to the show almost every day and sit back and watch and I got a chance to go to the house. So we became really, really good friends. And I was really in love and I just knew I was going to be Mrs Michael Jackson.
Monique: That brother is the greatest. He is the greatest.
Stephanie: The greatest. (cheers, Steph claps)
Monique: The greatest to walk the face of the Earth.
Stephanie: You know there’s some people that, like I won’t let anyone say anything bad about you ’cause you’re my girl and I won’t let anyone say anything bad things about people that I love.
Monique: Now, you believed that you was Michael’s girlfriend.
Stephanie: I was! I was washing his clothes. I stayed with him at Sutton place. I made him rice one day and he said the rice was really runny – but I can’t cook, I don’t profess to cook. But he ate it.
Monique: Well, Miss Stephanie.
Stephanie: What? I was trying to cook for him!
Monique: (laughing) So you was washing his clothes?
Stephanie: I was washing his clothes.
Monique: And then you cooked?
Stephanie: And then I cooked.
Monique: Now that sounds like an over night visit. (laughs, Stephanie winks at the audience) Did you go to Never Never Land?
Stephanie: Yes! (cheers, Monique laughs) You know, I’ll say this, I’ll say this… I did spend a lot of time with him. I did spend the night. I did. I spent the night. I spent the night.
Monique: Mind your damn business! She ain’t going furthur than that, she spent the night.
Stephanie: But you know Michael was so sweet and so innocent. I don’t think the world was ready for the kind of person he was.
Monique: He was love.
Stephanie: He was love.
HERE I AM Blog Talk Radio, 22 March, 2010
About not getting the part of Dorothy in The Wiz:
“I am a big fan of Diana Ross so it really didn’t bother me at all ’cause, honey Michael was coming to my dressing room every day and I wasn’t thinking about The Wiz. I went to the set with him when they were filming so I didn’t think of it like it was devastating.”
WUNC Radio, April 2 2010
Host: Well apparently one of the people who saw that commercial was Michael Jackson who showed up every night and you developed quite a friendship Tell us about that.
Stephanie: Yes, yes, yes you know back then every little black girl wanted in America wanted to marry one of the Jackson Five. I got the chance to meet him because he would come to the show all the time. We developed quite a friendship. A friendship that lasted many years.
Host: I understand that you may have thought more of that relationship than he might have but you’ve kept that in your…
(laughing)
Stephanie: (laughing)I definitely thought that he was my boyfriend. At that time he was definitely my boyfriend. At 16 and 17 when you have a crush on a guy he’s your boyfriend.
Host: But it was more than that. You did sort of develop a relationship with him after that and get to know him personally after that.
Stephanie: Yes absolutely. I absolutely did. Yes we did.
Host: How do you access his career and his contribution?
Stephanie: Oh my god. He’s the biggest entertainer ever. He sold more records than anyone. His accomplishment is just unbelievable. But Michael was very disciplined and he loved to perform and dance and his fans. He loved the fans. That’s what he lived for and it showed in his life.
Mills and Jackson shared a bond earlier in their careers because they could relate to each other as child stars; the duo in fact dated for awhile in the mid-1970s. She admits that she was “madly in love” with Jackson and signed with Motown records at the time, in part, because she felt like she was “getting closer and closer to being Mrs. Jackson, because every little black girl in America wanted to marry one of the Jackson Five.”
News Observer April 9th 2010
“Well, Michael and I were really great, great friends,” she says. “We dated in the early ’80s and the ’70s, and we were good friends.” Mills insists she’s not only paying her last respects to the King of Pop on the song, but she’s also paying tribute to deceased friends and collaborators Teddy Pendergrass and Robert Brookins. “I really kind of relate it, or you can relate it back to when I recorded ‘Home.’ And when, you know, a lot of my friends had passed on with ‘Home,’ and I wanted people to remember their spirits and how wonderful the music was. It’s the same thing.”
Releases a cover of Yesterday, dedicated to Michael April 2010
<a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtY3lUpwAzQ&feature=player_embedded”>Video here</a>
Philly Tribune, Friday, 21 May 2010
As for her own music, Mills is excited about the summer release of her new album titled “Breathless,” recorded on her own label, CJ Entertainment. She plans to tour in support of the project, which is produced by Josiah Martin.
“‘Breathless’ is, I think, some of my best work — really writing and me really expressing myself,” said Mills. “Some of it’s personal experiences that I had, and it’s just an album full of relationships and love and different scenarios of how I like men and all that, but if they want to find out more about me, they can go to my Web site, http://www.stephaniemillsmusic.com.”
The diminutive diva explained that as a tribute to the late Michael Jackson, “Breathless” will include her interpretation of the Beatles classic, “Yesterday.”
“We had such a wonderful friendship in the late ’70s, early ’80s, and I just wanted to sing something from the Beatles catalog because I love the Beatles, and I know that he loved the Beatles’ catalog, and ‘Yesterday’ was one of my favorite songs,” Mills explained.
Actually, she admits to having a bit of a romance with the legendary entertainer, and recalled, “I was in love with Michael! I was really in love, and I thought I was going to be Mrs. Michael Jackson, but he was so slow! I was ready to become a bride! Oh my God! We were maybe 18-years-old. I got to know him as a person, as a friend and he was really all about our love — very affectionate, very loving. He was really all about love.”
La Cienega Just Smiles 
Ooooh… That “Unauthorized” snippet has me wanting to s.t.r.a.n.g.l.e. the writer. yesitdoes. After getting the Edie Sedgwick story and some yuckiness in connection with Michael, I’m REALLY not feeling Andy Warhol. Andy’s getting a serious posthumous side-eye from me. And Michael, too. Michael!
Considering she ended up spending nights with him… either the author was missing some MJ signals or MJ was playing really hard to get. 😉
I had a close relative who understudied a major role in the The Wiz for the original run of the show. One weekend day in 1977 before going to perform in the show, she was discussing how Michael Jackson was at the theatre almost every night watching the show and then he and Stephanie would leave together each time. I was 10 years old at the time and I had seen the show about 10 times myself and met Stephanie through my relative, but when I overheard that news it was just so exciting to be in the know about it and it just made sense. She was his match in talent and power at the time, being the two most talented young African American artists at that time, it only made sense that they would at least gravitate toward each other, for whatever reason. It really is a shame that they never collaborated musically, I’m glad Michael at least expressed a desire to work with her.
hey, thanks for sharing! 😀 did they look close?
Unfortunately I didn’t see the 2 of them together but from what my relative was implying, it was obvious that they were a couple. What I find to be most fascinating is that when I look at these photos of Michael with Stephanie, he looks more intimately intrigued by her than he does with any other woman I’ve seen him photographed with. Almost every picture he took with Lisa-Marie is staged and slightly awkward except for a few. You just don’t feel a connected energy. With Tatum, you do see it, but in the picture here where Michael is looking at Stephanie and she’s looking at him, his arm is always around her even when her arm is not around him. That is rare in photos of him with women. He looks extremely relaxed with her and he looks extremely proud to be sitting with her, like he’s claiming ownership and by now we all know that was incredibly rare for him, especially because he was INCREDIBLY SHY. My relative did mention being shocked at how painfully shy Michael was. Fascinatingly, as much as Stephanie says that she was the aggressive one, she only has her arm around him in one of the photos above. Even in the video of them at the Boy Scout Award ceremony, he reaches out for her, he initiates the kiss and initiates the hug with her. Even though they were not a couple at that time, I love the bonded relaxed energy they have between them. He even takes the time to involve her by jokingly handing her the heavy award. People seem to forget how magical SHE was. How could he not be mesmerized by her talent, everyone else was. I love that he saw the show so many times. I can imagine him being strongly infatuated with her, even if it didn’t last, but they were young and that’s how life is. Thank you for your research in this blog, you’ve done a lot of work and referencing.
Thanks for the proof. I hear so many haters stating MJ would never hookup with stephanie. I knew he liked black women too.
There is another black women that claims to have been engaged with him during the time he dated Brooke Shields. Do you have info on her?
Romonica Harris? She lied, she didn’t actually have a relationship with him.
But Mike has dated a lot of black/mixed women like Steph, Shana Mangatal, Marva King, the older woman from the tapes, Diana Ross (according to every insider I’ve met), and he’s rumoured to have dated a dark skinned celebrity in the last couple of years too. He also had porn about black women 😉
They would have had some pretty children with voices from out of this world! They look so cute together at the boyscout awards. She is so petite.
Two things I found out about Stephanie Mills!
1) She did an interview on the Mo’Nique show about a month or two ago, you might want to put a link to it.
2) I’m listening to a song she released on her 1983 album Merciless – it’s called “His Name Is Michael”
If you read the lyrics, I think it kind of alludes to MJs overlapping nature when he was younger LOL.
Mo’Nique:
His Name Is Michael (with Peggy Blue):
Also I don’t know if you know about this one:
I think the white women was for the public image (crossover power) or something. Michael always loved the sistas. Always felt ‘at home’. =D
I wish they would have stayed together. I wonder why they broke up. Stephanie never ever says why and I don’t think they saw each other much after they broke up.
It’s funny how people claim Romonica Harris is lying yet, there was a news conference with the family, and she was there. hmm.
LOL his family was the reason she spoke up. They thought it would help.
I know for a fact that she wasn’t involved with Michael.
well ok , I’m corrected. the darkskin celebrity, please say it was Naomi Campbell. Those two were so sexy together. I, especially loved them at the WMA, MJ must have forgotten that he was on camera, cuz he was doing major flirting, rubbing her stomach and whispering in her ear.
So rumored dating an black actress is not actually factual, right? so how can you confirm a rumor? How would that help MJ image, when they could have easily have one of his real girlfriends stand with the family and make interviews.She was at the press conference this week, and has spoken out against Grace. I’m going by factual information not insiders who aren’t big enough to come out and state something as fact.no offense.
BTW: Ola Ray is spilling the beans now that MJ is gone. I’m luvin her revelations. I think it’s true, while others say that lie.
Where did you get that he was even dating a black actress in that time period?
He was seeing other women then but not Romonica (who was 15). Like I said, Romonica offered herself up to the family, she did not get engaged to him or any of that kind of stuff LOL She met him once either when he was doing JW work or when he would wander the streets like he said he would. But he met her with a group of teen girls. He had Bill Bray take them shopping once. It wasn’t a love affair LOL!
No, I thought you said that MJ was dating a black model a few years before he passed. Sorry, I misread your quote.
Ohhh yes, he was dating a caramel skinned woman. I don’t know any more details than that at the moment.
It’s one of the women the Bodyguards have been talking about. It sounds like they’re gonna be talking about her in their book and hopefully we can try and suss her out. She’s supposed to be famous 🙂
Famous and pretty.
Hopefully we get some details about her. I thought you meant he was dating a woman in the 80s, I was so confused. 🙂
oh sorry, i meant dark skin celebrity, is she American or foreign. Old or younger? Is it someone really popular? please give some kind of hint.
Could it have been Shana Magantal.
I knew he had a black girlfriend in the last couple of years, because MJ was stepping up his swagger in the last years of his life. He just had a vibe poppin from him, that a man has when he deals with a sista. lol.
Did he ever date Grace Rwaramba?
Did he have a crush on Kelly Rowland like David Gest said?
Did he try to holla at Toni Braxton, or did he just call her to be nice as a fan?
He’s always been dating black/mixed women… don’t believe the media. It wasn’t Shana, definitely. Firpo Carr just put to rest any “secret girlfriend” stories about her.
I don’t know anything specific about Grace but I personally something happened at some point, but I don’t think they were ever in a serious commited relationship (unless it was a reaaaaally open relationship)
I wouldn’t put it past him to holla at Toni and I think he had a crush on all of DC LOL! He definitely had a crush on Beyonce.
reeli? MJ tryed 2 holla at toni braxton xx wow!!xx 😀 x can i just ask how do u kno tht ?x i mean ive heard tht he liked kelly x buh i never knew he tryed 2 holla at toni braxton xx
is it true that mj told the director to tell naomi campbell to stop flirting and telling him things. or is that false?
susan etok claims that firpo carr said that mj wasn’t attracted to dark skin women, is that true?
was mj attracted to classy and sophisticated women like he said in the tapes, or was he attracted to women pariod?
I think so, in a new book someone talks about it. Naomi was saying she wanted to give him a blow job while they were filming, it made MJ uncomfortable so he told the director to tell her to stop LOL! I guess you can tell why it made him uncomfortable… but the next day they went back to filming and it was fine and they had a cream pie fight.
Susan Etok is a liar, please ignore everything she has to say about everything. She knows nothing, she’s never met MJ. MJ was definitely attracted to dark skinned women.
It seem he idealizes classy women – like Liz Taylor, Princess Diana, but in reality he tends to go for women like Diana Ross/Lisa Marie. They’re not exactly classless but they’re not the prim proper women you’d imagine. Heck, he called Foxy Brown up to tell her she was pretty, classiness doesn’t seem so important huh? LOL
Rock, where is this about foxy brown?
He called her sometime in the late 90s to tell her she was beautiful, called her foxy. The interview isn’t online so I don’t know what he exactly said, but a lot of people remember hearing her talking about it.
do you know about kai chase, do you think the whole flirting thing is true, and do you think she’s not telling everything about how big of a flirt he really was. Cause she seems to be really sweet about it. like keeping it classy and not trashy.
did mj and whitney houston ever date, or was that just his homegirl?
how did mj react when Chili from TLC admitted to having a crush on him, and did he ever talk about the kiss she gave him?
I don’t know if you or anyone have seen this, but from TLC’s ’99 Mtv appeared to promote “Fan Mail” album they did their top 25/50 fave videos & @ that time they just saw MJ very recently (in ’99). Chilli says now like on Lopez Tonite it was durin’ her time dating Usher-but that is not true-she was w/Dallas Austin-whom MJ has worked w/by then. Chilli didn’t date Usher til like ’00 or ’01-a whole ‘nother yr. or 2 later! Anyways, durin’ this Mtv appearance, TLC shared how they recently (@ the time) saw him in McDonald’s Children Fund Rasor & once they noticed him. He walked over & spoke w/’em & told ’em how much he loved their message & etc. He shook Left-Eye’s hand & kissed T-Boz on the cheek. When he got to CHili (just like she shared on her Dating show & w/George Lopez on her 2nd kiss from MJ) he came up to her & grabbed her face, sayin’ he knew this face & kissed her right on the mouth! BUT her “original” story she said on Mtv she said that he slipped his phone # & whispered to her, ‘Call me’. Then blow a kiss to TLC & waved goodbye. Chili was all hyper during their appearance on Mtv & was wondering if she needed to go ahead & call him-she was nervous. Im assuming she must’ve never gotten to speak w/him & obviously nothing developed b/w she & MJ. But I do very well remember this & wished more people got to see that cuz many think I just made that up & didn’t! This was 100% factual & I wish she would tell it exactly the way he happened! She told it the most closely exactly it happened on her Dating Show on VH1 on her girls’ slumber party. But she still no longer talks ’bout gettin’ his phone # though? & I don’t know why?! 😦
the whole Foxy Brown thing, do you think he called her to be nice or was there more behind the call. I always thought that Foxy Brown appealed to him as a person and not to the King of Pop. That would have been a great collab.
I don’t know anything about Whitney or Chili, sorry
I’d love to know why he called her, she’s not exactly the kind of person you’d think he’d collaborate with, you know? Maybe he’d heard she’d said some nice things about him or that she’d wanted to meet him. It’s fun that he kept telling her she was beautiful and calling her “Foxy” 😉 MJ was a flirt.
So with the incident with naomi campbell he was really upset about that, like disgusted. or was it that he couldn’t keep focus on dancing and singing? or was it because he didn’t like women being forward?
What happen between MJ and Beverly Johnson was it just a date or more?
did he date the leading lady from You Rock My World, I read that he dated her?
No, I think she was dating the director for that video! It seems he did like Blasians though.
so that was the thing in hollywood that mj had a thing for blasians, because ;
1. naomi campbell is like 3/4 blasian
2. foxy brown is like 1/2 blaisan, or blasian
3. Kai Chase looks blasian but actually native american, creole, and something else can’t remember.
4. angela bassett whom he said was pretty, because his only request for the American Dynasty was that the mother had to be pretty.
5. and judith hill is blasian, and he was flirting with her in the movie.
However, he personally selected Mekia Cox as the lead female dancer, and I don’t believe she’s blaisan.
Other Blasians:
Older woman he talks about on Glenda tapes
June Chandler
Yuko Sumida
Kishaya Dudley (YRMW)
Giselle Samson (got invited to NL)
Isn’t Shana blasian too?
On the whole Kishaya Dudley thing, all I really wanna know is how it was found out that she was dating or married to MJ’s director for YRMW-in no way Im tryin’ to say I don’t b’leve those who said that they were together-its just that I am very curious & never got to hear that news-that’s why I am askin’ now to know & understand.
I remember this time period and how sprung Stephanie seemed to be about MJ. I can imagine that she might have seemed way too eager – talking about marriage much too early in the friendship and as young as they were. I don’t think he ever had her level of enthusiasm. When things didn’t work out between them, she settled for Jeffrey Daniel, who had been a regular on Soul Train in the 70’s and was then most known for his big pretty afro (like MJ’s) and his somewhat lame imitations of MJ’s dancing, which included pretending to hold a microphone and acting like he was lip-synching when Jackson songs were played on the show. I thought these imitations were annoying, but Steph must have thought they were cute. After Jeffrey joined the group Shalamar with Jody Watley and Howard Hewitt, it seemed like he mostly just did the same thing, since he wasn’t a lead singer like Jody and Howard. (When I hear some of the later stories about how Jeff taught MJ “how to dance” I chuckle and say only after MJ taught Jeff how to dance first). During their brief and volatile marriage, I think Jeffrey pushed Stephanie out of a car. I wish she and MJ would have worked things out later in life.
Shana has said in two different emails to one, a poster who posted the email on Susan Etok website and a letter to Firpo Carr, who writes for the L.A.Sentinel that they weren’t dating, she wasn’t his secret international girlfriend, and that she spoke to E.T. during the allegations to help her friend. So, the fans really should stop bringing that up, because obviously they never dated, or atleast dated in his last years. This is what irritates me, since the internet isn’t regulated people can post anything, without recourse. And then the minute Michael’s personal friends that knew him on a tight intimate level comes out with the deal, the fans who never spoke to MJ or his family or close friends say that they are lying. The fans didn’t know MJ, he was the complete opposite of what he put out there. And insiders really should give their names and how they are related to MJ. MJ close friend Serpian and bodyguards, photgrapher have said that MJ was dating Grace , yet his fans deny that. Like how do they know, were they there in MJ house? do they know who MJ took out on dates, or travelled with? No.
Like some people hate on Ola Ray and say that she is lying. How do they know, were they there in the trailer, were they there listening and watching their every move.People hate on her, yet her story can be validated by the director and a reporter who was there. And just because MJ didn’t talk about Ola doesn’t mean that he didn’t have a friendship with the woman.
MJ was not some sort of pristine man that didn’t have private time with women, entertainment was his job.
I think he and Stephanie looked cute together. I also wonder why it ended, and when. It confuses me how Michael hardly mentioned her though, apart from the brief bit in Moonwalk. She was a celebrity at the time just like Tatum and Brooke, had money of her own and was obviously keen on him. They had both won Apollo talent shows when young and both been signed to Motown. Oh well, obviously it just wasn’t meant to be, perhaps Michael felt he was too young to marry which is what Stephanie seems to have wanted.
mj didn’t write moonwalker, he actually had a ghostwriter and jacqueline Onasis was the editor and publisher of the book. mj was maintaining his brand, and writing about stephanie mills would have been pointless in the grand scheme of things, his target audience wasn’t black girls at this point but the international market. he couldn’t afford to openly discuss his black girlfriends. remember during that time black youth were into rap and r and b mainly. he had became a brand in europe and china, so he had to be palatable to their mindset. this era was in the 70s-80s the world was a different place.
So true, so true. He would have lost a lot of those fans if he stated who he was REALLY dating. Unfortunately, he lost alot of his black fans b/c of the fact he DIDN’T state who he was really dating.
Thanks again, as always, for your updates! Love the one from the philly tribune where she discusses (again) how affectionate he was:
“I got to know him as a person, as a friend and he was really all about our love — very affectionate, very loving. He was really all about love.”
She’s very consistent in how she speaks of him and that time.
What do you make of her saying in the New Observer (4/9/10) that they dated in the early 80’s and 70’s?? Was there more interaction between them after the wiz??
I’ve heard they would meet up whenever each of them was in NY/LA up until 1980 when she got married to Jeffery. Then they met again in 1989 at the Boy Scouts but she was married to someone else by then LOL
She’s the only woman so far with a consistent story about him! I think the Wiz shoot was about 6 months long so they spent a lot of time in the same bed together…
6 months *is* a long time! I was thinking about this last night (I’m a nerd, lol!), that she specifically said they slept in the same bed (something I couldn’t remember until I read your stephanie page again **THANK YOU**). I *do* believe her when she says that they didn’t sleep together (she seems sincere with everything she’s said) but… if I had to put my vote down, I’d say something is real likely to have gone on below the belt. It’s *real* hard to make out with someone, sleep in the same bed and just “shut off”.
I mean the things that she’s said; she’s seen him in his underwear, he’s “very much a man”, very “affectionate – they slept in the same bed! I don’t think they “shut off” at kissing and above the waist touching if they slept in the same bed together. So… food – for – thought! lol
Oh yeah… I absolutely agree that something happened beyond kissing. Being giggly about something that happened over 30 years ago kinda confirms that. Maybe they got naked together? Getting naked together without it turning sexual can be the hotness.
I think people who want to deny the fact that something happened between mj and stephanie are delusional. you can tell by the photos and her interviews that they cared deeply for each other.
who knows what stephanie is keeping mum about? lol. write a book stephanie.
I read mj interview on billy jean, and in a way i feel bad that i wanted to believe that he knew billy jean. there was no billie jean in his life, but women his brothers “knew”, lol.
I feel so bad reading these new segments. Stephanie was so in love with him but honestly he just wasn’t focused on marriage and kids at 18. It’s understandable that he was not like his brothers. He really wanted to focus on his career first and foremost. Maybe if Stephanie would’ve stuck around instead of getting married so soon she would’ve been able to have had another chance with Michael. But I can tell she really wishes she could have married him at some point in her life.
what did michael do to these women? it’s been a ages and women are still in love with him. this goes to show, don’t believe the hype. mj was a pimp.
I was listening to the “His Name is Michael” record…it’s LOL funny. A commentor on youtube drew a comparison with that song and “The girl is Mine” from Thriller. Any opinions? Also I have been curious about Steph’s “Something In The Way U make me Feel” and Mike’s “The Way U Make Me Feel.” I mean were they playing off each other’s music or what?
Will someone post Foxy Brown’s comment about Mike complimenting her? I can’t find it:(
Thank you
Stephanie’s and Michael’s relationship always leaves me confused, as do most of his relationships. lol I’ve never understood why he never publically said “we dated” at the very least. He didn’t have to say he was in love with her(since he probably wasn’t), but he still could’ve been clearer about them having dated. It makes me feel a little sorry for her, really. She’s never denied their involvement, yet he always danced around it and stopped short of confirming it. As much as I’d like to believe that it had nothing to do with race, I really do think that it did. I love Michael A LOT but he was forever publically proclaiming his white girlfriends as his big loves(other than Diana). I don’t think it was coincidence. Someone on another site suggested that Michael may have glossed over his relationship with Steph in “Moonwalk” because he was associating with her (ex?)-husband Jeffrey Daniels at the time, and had been since the early 80’s. Maybe he would’ve felt awkward talking about her a lot in the book and decided not to out of respect for Jeffrey? Still doesn’t explain him not talking about some of the other black women he may have dated, like Jody.
Aside from all of that, I really would like to know what exactly went down between him and Stephanie. Considering some things that I’ve recently heard about him and Diana, there was probably some overlap going on during the Sutton Place days, or Stephanie could’ve been a cover for him and Diana, hence him not really feeling as strongly about her. These are just a couple of thoughts that I’ve had.
yet he always danced around it and stopped short of confirming it.
He’s never done that, he’s never been asked about her.
There’s a reason why Steph says “He was my boyfriend, but I’m not sure if I was ever really his girlfriend” = translation, I wasn’t the only one staying at Sutton Place. 😉
Ok, I get that b/c Jeff Daniels was instrumental in Mike’s dancing and videos. Mentioning Steph…tension.
Or Jody Watley.
I agree Mirage that Stephanie was likely a cover for him and Diana in NYC. I can remember that whole set of pictures at the top of this page being published and widely seen in ’77, so their “relationship” was not any kind of secret. If he had acknowledged any kind of romantic relationship with her, it would not have been new information at all. The whole point of the pictures released at the time seemed to have been to make people think they were having a romance (to counteract Black fans’ annoyance with the Tatum O’Neal business and for Steph’s publicity).
However, the picture release seemed staged and I don’t think people generally bought them being a couple.(Unfortunately, I remember alot of unkind things being said about Stephanie’s appearance at that time, which was before she got glamorous for her music/video career in the mid 80’s with her cosmetic surgery/hair weave/body sculpting, etc.
Despite the publicity generating photo release about the two of them, I have never heard MJ acknowledge Stephanie as a date or girlfriend or anything like that in TV/published interviews or in the leaked tapes of his private conversations or in his book. (LaToya’s book mentioned Steph as a friend that LaToya spent time with in NYC when not accompanying her brother to The Wiz set.)
Unfortunately, I think MJ really only had eyes for Diana, ESPECIALLY during this period of time. Stephanie was probably like most of us Black girls who grew up dreaming about marrying MJ and got WAY ahead of herself with discussing marriage after knowing him only a few months. That was probably the furthest thing from his mind, since he was living away from home for the first time at only age 18/19. She played herself, cooking and washing his drawers and complaining he was “too slow” with the marriage business. Of course he let her do all that for him, but I don’t think he shared her romantic feelings.
He came right out and told interviewers, unprompted, that he wanted to marry Diana. Steph probably would have been the best woman for MJ though and I’m sure MJ wouldn’t have pushed her out of a moving car and abused her like Jeffrey Daniel is rumored to have done. Too bad.
Sorry! I accidentally posted that twice.
Oh, I get that he was never asked about her. 😉 On the flip side, the point I was making is that he never volunteered anything romantic about her either, you know? By “dancing around it”, I was mainly referring to his quote from “Moonwalk” where he says he became “very friendly” with her. Why not just say he dated her? I mentioned the whole possible awkwardness with Jeffrey being one reason some believe that he didn’t talk more about her in the book, but I don’t know. There are still other contexts in which he could’ve mentioned her.
As for the overlap @ Sutton Place. 😀 What are you thinking? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’m really starting to believe that his and Diana’s involvement began earlier than I originally believed. The story about her staying with him a couple of nights during the filming of “The Wiz” IS true, right?
He only volunteered info about women the public knew about, nobody had ever caught him making out with her at the Playboy Mansion and she hadn’t invited herself along to the Grammys or anything with him. Stephanie even denied any notions of a romance between them sometime in the early 80s. He’s never confessed to dating anyone unless forced to. Nobody knew about Lisa Marie as a reality until 2 months after they’d married. The only time I’ve ever seen him volunteer info on romance has been with Diana Ross who he liked to randomly bring up as a crush/love as randomly and often as possible LOL
I don’t know about the Wiz thing, it was published in an article and I can definitely see Diana getting jealous seeing Mike spending time with Stephanie and wanting to make sure his attention went back to her… Do you think Stephanie was the only girl who visited Sutton Place? (Not talking about Theresa either) Maybe she wasn’t…
Is the article that published that story about “The Wiz” and Diana’s staying @ Michael’s for a couple of days a reliable one? I can’t remember if it’s on Diana’s page or the rumors page here, or where it came from originally. That’ll help me decide again if I should believe it. 😉
And lol I’m just intrigued overall about Michael’s Sutton Place days. But I can’t pinpoint any other possible female visitors he may have had there other than Steph, Theresa, and Diana(even if she didn’t stay overnight, I’m pretty sure she at least visited to check on him since they were so close). And Tatum and Janelle were also during the same general time period, though I don’t think either of them ever visited him there or anything(def not Janelle). Even so, that’s five different females(that we know of) in the same period of time so a lot of potential for overlap; two of whom we know stayed overnight @ Sutton. Michael was a trip!
Well, Theresa’s a liar. LOL I don’t even consider her.
The Diana story is from an article published in People in 2000, it was rumoured he also stayed at the place she was staying during filming.
Tatum was in LA and he’d invited her to the set but she wasn’t able to make it, I 100% believe if she had then the story she would have told people later would have been different, as would have his story. 😉
But there were others…
lol I almost qualified that statement with “even though Theresa is lying” but I forgot. But I know she’s a liar but I still counted her simply b/c she’s a female who stayed overnight.lol Unfortunately I don’t know any of the unknowns, but “there were others”, huh? I figured, which is why I said those are the five that we KNOW of. Are you in a sharing mood? 😀
Hmm, the Diana story came from People? Interesting.
lol about Tatum. That’s probably true. Never thought of it that way before. 😉
Toya knows the deets. 😉 If I could get that woman drunk I’d make her spill every detail about every night of the 5-6 months or so he spent in NYC.
lol! As if she doesn’t like to talk enough already. You’re right though,she probably knows much more than what she’s told, and for that I’ll give her a teeny tiny bit of credit. I feel the same way about Diana, Teddy Riley, and a few others too. If I could just corner them and get them drunk one good time I’d find out a bunch of stuff! 😉
Which reminds me, do you think anyone credible will ever confirm Michael’s and Diana’s romantic relationship or is it a lost cause at this point? I’m still trying to figure out if people have kept mum out of fear, loyalty/respect, or both.
And a few other questions(I’m on a roll!)
What do you know about Michael and Caroline Kennedy? I heard he went out with her a couple of times around this same time period(more overlap). I’m sure you probably have it on the site somewhere but there’s so much info that I can hardly keep up!
What about Irene Cara? I have a vague memory of hearing that they dated back in the day(early 80s)? But I could be wrong.
Which reminds me, do you think anyone credible will ever confirm Michael’s and Diana’s romantic relationship or is it a lost cause at this point? I’m still trying to figure out if people have kept mum out of fear, loyalty/respect, or both.
David Gest’s upcoming documentary which keeps getting pushed back sounded like it was hinting at it, here’s part of the synopsis:
Gest took care of Michael Jackson through a number of Jackson’s plastic surgeries and the special delves into the details of Jackson’s obsession with his appearance, desire to follow in the footsteps of Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy as businessmen, his first sexual experience with a well known older woman at a young age, the terror he went through when his hair caught on fire whilst filming a commercial for Pepsi, the tragedies that followed in later life including Michael’s dependencies on pills as well as his disgust with the rumour mill. The special also looks into his relationships with Debbie Rowe and Lisa Marie Presley.
I’m reaaaaaaaaally hoping something definitive like love notes/pictures will some day surface about them, ’cause nobody will believe it otherwise and Diana sure as heck won’t admit to it.
I think someone in Magic/Madnes said he was after a date with Caroline but I don’t remember if he actually managed to score one LOL I heard he had a crush on Irene Cara, but was too shy, but he gave her a two cheeked kiss at the Grammys
Which Caroline? & which JRT edition talk’d ’bout this? Do you guys mean, Caroline Kennedy?! or ‘nother Caroline? & one more thing, who is Kai Chase’s hubby? I’ve never seen him, when did they married & etc. I was told by one person that she said she was married on some morning news show while talkin’ ’bout MJ. I still never seen that?!
I’m hopeful about the Gest documentary too, though I have very mixed feelings about Gest himself. Like many who received fame/opportunity from saying they knew MJ, Gest seems to exaggerate how close they were(especially after MJ moved out of Hayvenhurst). However, I do think Gest remained close to Tito, who hopefully let David in on MJ’s personal life (and who recently said as far as he knew, MJ “had more sex than I did” — Thanks Tito!) Unfortunately, Gest’s account of things isn’t likely to be widely accepted as truth, because of all his tall tales and unbelievable stories. If you look up David Gest in the urban dictionary, pulling a “David Gest” has come to mean being an uncontrollable liar.
Just a thought,if Mike had hooked up (wedded and created a family) with Halle Barry, we’d all be happy huh? LOL!
rockforeveron: Wow! Thanks for the David Gest documentary info. I haven’t really been following any information about or when it was going to be released. Gonna have to research more about it. Sounds good overall.
lol I don’t think I’ve ever seen that gif before of him with Irene. But that could be where some of the rumors started.
I wish I could remember where I read about him and Caroline.
JUST RE-READ THIS SECTION, SO MJ AND STEPHANIE WERE DATING DURING THE TIME HE WAS CREATING THRILLER. WOW! INTERESTING. SO MJ WAS A PIMP. HE WAS HANGING WITH BROOKE TAKING HER TO PUBLIC AFFAIRS BUT IN THE BACKGROUND BEING SEXY COOL WITH OLA RAY, AND THEN CONTINUING TO DATE STEPHANIE MILLS. WOW, MJ WHAT DID YOU DO TO THESE WOMEN: OLA RAY ON 20/10 TALKING ABOUT HOW SHE NEVER BEEN IN LOVE BEFORE MJ, AND HOW SHE’S STILL WAITING FOR THE CALL TO MEET IN LAS VEGAS. THE WOMAN HAS A SHRINE TO HIM AT HER HOUSE, AND STEPHANIE MILLS DATING HIM IN THE LATE 70S AND EARLY 80S, SINGING LOVE SONGS SO PASSIONATELY. HIS NAME IS MICHAEL, I BET HIS NAME WAS MICHAEL. LOL. MICHAEL HAD THESE WOMEN MIND OPEN. LOL. I BELIEVE THAT WHATEVER HAPPENED BETWEEN MJ AND STEPHANIE MUST HAVE BEEN BEAUTIFUL BECAUSE SHE NEVER DOGGED HIM OUT AND WENT TO BAT FOR HIM IN THE MEDIA, WHEN IT WASN’T POPULAR TO DO SO. AND OLA RAY, SURE SHE MAY HAVE SUED HIM, BUT SOMETIMES TO GET A MAN’S ATTENTION YOU DO THINGS TO GET HIS ATTENTION. JMO. I’M WAITING FOR OLA RAY, STEPHANIE MILLS, GRACE RWARAMBA, TO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT MICHAEL.
STEPHANIE KNOWS, WHEN SHE SINGS, YOU PUT A RUSH ON ME, IT’S ABOUT MICHAEL.
AND BECAUSE MICHAEL WAS SO OVERTLY SECRETIVE ABOUT HIS LIFE, NOONE WILL NEVER KNOW HOW DEEPLY HE FELT FOR HER. AND BTW: JUST BECAUSE MICHAEL DIDN’T MENTION THEIR RELATIONSHIP IN MOONWALKER IN DETAIL, DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING, ONLY PEOPLE WHO KNOW STEPHANIE IS THE BLACK COMMUNITY.
BUT I WANT TO KNOW WHO WAS LIBERIAN GIRL, AND HOW DID SHE CHANGE HIS WORLD? LOL.
MICHAEL SHOULD HAVE WROTE A BOOK ON HOW TO KEEP WOMEN SPRUNG FOR A LIFETIME. LOL. THE MAN WAS A PIMP IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD.
They were dating during the WIZ not Thriller.
Anywho, Stephanie recently did another interview and guess who’s name popped up again.
She spilled more details then last time.
She said they dated for a “good little while”
She also said “I was ready to get married and he wasn’t ready to get married.”
I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN HAPPY IF MICHAEL HOOKED UP AND MARRY HALLE BERRY, I WOULD HAVE BEEN HAPPY IF MICHAEL WOULD HAVE MARRY ME AND HAD BABIES, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN CONCEIVED ON EVERY CONTINENT. LOL. ONE WOULD HAVE BEEN NAMED: AFRICA MICHAEL JOESPH, ASIA KATHERINE JACKSON, EUROPE MICHAEL JACKSON, NORTH AMERICA JACKSON, ETC, ETC.LOL. THE MEDIA WOULD HAVE HAD A FIELD DAY. LOL.
I THINK THAT SINCE MICHAEL WAS A SENSITIVE MAN BY NATURE, COUPLED WITH HIS NATURAL CHARISMA, CHARM, AND ARTISTC GENIUS ALLOWED HIM TO HAVE AN UNNATURAL DEPTH THAT HAD THE ABILITY TO DRAW WOMEN IN, AND FALL FOR HIM, THE MAN WAS OBVIOUSLY IRRESITABLE. IT’S A KNOWN FACT THAT WOMEN LOVE ARTISTS,AND THE FACT THAT HE WAS ABLE TO CREATE SUCH TIMELESS SONGS AND DANCE CREATING HIS OWN SYMPHONY OF WORDS AND DANCE, DREW THE WOMEN IN. AND THE FACT THAT HE WAS SO NAIVE TO ALOT, PROBABLY MADE HIM ADORABLE. AND THEN ADD THE FACT THAT UNDERNEATH ALL THAT MICHAEL WAS OFF THE CHARTS SEXY. NO WONDER MICHAEL MASTERED THE ART OF CONTROLLING HIS SEXINESS, HE PROBABLY COULDN’T DEAL WITH THE AFTERMATH OF WATCHING WOMEN BECOME TWISTED OVER HIM. WHAT ASAME? HE PROBABLY SAID, TO SAVE THESE WOMEN FROM MY FORCE, I’LL JUST GO AHEAD A PLAY THE CHILD-LIKE ASEXUAL MAN, MY AURA IS LETHAL. LOL.
Love those rare pictures of Michael with Stephanie.
I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN HAPPY IF MICHAEL HOOKED UP AND MARRY HALLE BERRY, I WOULD HAVE BEEN HAPPY IF MICHAEL WOULD HAVE MARRY ME AND HAD BABIES, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN CONCEIVED ON EVERY CONTINENT. LOL. ONE WOULD HAVE BEEN NAMED: AFRICA MICHAEL JOESPH, ASIA KATHERINE JACKSON, EUROPE MICHAEL JACKSON, NORTH AMERICA JACKSON, ETC, ETC.LOL. THE MEDIA WOULD HAVE HAD A FIELD DAY. LOL.
LOL
Michael, is still the man ! I believe he has always
been a real man to all of
these women… Most of
them have undying love…
I need to meet a man so
simple and true like him…
I would love to know your take on stephanie’s song “His name is Michael” is it just a coincidence or do you think in between the lines lies some truth there.
I really wish Latoya will write about what really went on with Steph and Mike together, in her new book 😀 like some intimate details. 😉
and Steph mentioned that they would sleep together in the same bed so i know she definitely felt *IT* its impossible because aint no way they did not cuddle! Mike was young and havin fun. the both of them in the room together. they like eachother. its pitch black. im sure they had some fun 😉
and i love how steph gets all giddy everytime someone would bring up Mike name lol. she’s really good at defending him too! I love how she speaks.
case stephanie mills is so ugly during the wiz time period. ugh she didnt have a neck. lol i dont know why im so evil but at least she loved him. michael was a playa playa. and am i the only one who heard that latoya caught them on the couch in the living room. mj was ahem…using his fingers…lol thats so dirty. ad she keep doing these interviews talking about their relationship. i dont even care cuz i know something went on and its only a matter of time before all mike’s shit on the street. shiiiit she said he was all man or some shit like that. then she starts laughing about something that clearly happened 30 years ago. “hes very much a man hee hee” . cuz you wanna crack up! UGH! SHE GON’ KILL ME! i do however want to know more on him and diana. and i want theresa gonliar to jump her fat ass off the fucking face of the earth….shiiiiiit…..shes such a fucking loser.
livelifeoffthewall:
He may have found a soul mate in Ms Mills. At the end of the day, it is not about looks that hold a couple, u have to be spiritually compatible and in tune with each other. Don’t forget, folks made fun of Mike’s looks during his teenage years (fans,family). This lead to his insecurity; then they loved him again when off the wall came around. So you have to be careful. I remember reading in the Glenda tapes that Mike was in love with some chic, but he dogged her and messed the relationship up. Can’t remember where this was but maybe he thought the chic was unattractive; but maybe she could have been the one he found peace with.
JMO
latoya didn’t admit to catching mj doing anything sexual with stephanie. that was a rumor that someone posted online but couldn’t and didn’t give a source. if it didn’t come out of latoya, mj or stephanie mills mouth, how do we know if it’s true or not? People shouldn’t believe anything online based on heresay. Anything can be said without recourse.
MS. appeal: True, True… MJ Fan: i dont believe evrything thats on the internet. and i read it in rumors,so obviously i know there’s a chance its not true. People shouldnt be so SERIOUS about what they read on the internet either but u got that down dont u? so imma need u to go home.
Apparently, Michael told a photographer that Stephanie wasn’t his girlfriend. I found this article :
==========
Story by Bettina Cirone (a photographer from NYC)
When I first met Michael Jackson at a New Jersey amusement park this unassuming sweet kid was so humble that I thought he was the boyfriend of the gal who played Alice in The Wiz on Broadway.
He told me sweetly and without rancour “I am not her boyfriend.” I later learned he was playing the role of The Scarecrow for The Wiz Movie and he was part of The Jackson Five.
A few months later, he approached me and asked me to photograph him with Caroline Kennedy and her Mom, Jackie O. I told him it wasn’t a good picture and I would ask them to pose with him. He declined shyly and assured me that the photo I took was fine.
Years later Jackie had approached him when she was working for Doubleday for a book she wanted to edit about his life story (MJ’s autobiography— Moonwalk). At this time at the Rainbow Room she may not have been aware of his existence.
(source: Bettina Cirone Remembers, 2009)
edit: (I think Bettina meant to say Dorothy instead of Alice)
The photographer sure did make it her business to say michael said stephanie was not his girlfriend – what was her point? That was nothing but an underhanded jab at stephanie. It certainly was an agenda behind it. If michael wasn’t worried about it why was she? I swear some of these white women act as if they are going to have a nervous break-down everytime they hear a black woman’s name mentioned in the same sentence as michael it’s not that serious. Everytime a black woman is linked to michael they step out of their way to disrespect her but highly glorify the white women he was linked to. Damn really? Some of you forget the man was black none of us knew michael on a personal scale the man also lived his life off camera. Stop dragging black women everytime their name is mentioned in the same sentence as michael – You white women act as if you can sleep better at night by hearing stories of michael shunning black women. The key word “STORIES” which are based on HEARSAY ..GET OVER IT!!!