Did Michael have close people around him in his final years/months? Where was his family and friends during This Is It?
It's true that MJ had some close friends and people he trusted throughout his life. Even though there weren't many, he had at different moments people around him who seemed to really care about him. Elizabeth Taylor, Chris Tucker, Brooke Shields, Diana Ross, Lisa Marie, Glenda Stein, Mccaulay Culkin... I know that he was no longer close to some of these people in the 2000s (Lisa, Brooke, Glenda I think?), but still, how come this man is at such a concerning health state, being inappropriately administrated dangerous painkillers for sleeping, surrounded by terrible people... And nobody tries to stop it? Speak up? Or just give him a call from time to time to see how things are going? It seems very sad to me, especially having 8 brothers and sisters.
And yesterday this video popped up in my feed. It's his bodyguard in MJ's final years, saying that he had Michael's phone and therefore knew who called him and who didn't. And he doesn't share specific names, but basically says that, apart from Michael's mother, where was everybody at? It seems that a lot of his ""close"" people who are today ""celebrating"" Michael's legacy, especially with the biopic going on, weren't at all interested in him. And he's so pissed off about this that he can't even watch the film. I absolutely get it, it must be truly disgusting knowing the truth. I feel like this is mainly about John Branca and everything related to the MJ Estate.
And I know that Michael was very focused on parenting during the 2000s, and he was almost entirely dedicated to his children and maybe wasn't very available for other people. But still... wasn't there anyone on his side during the dark days? No friend/relative worried about him? If I had a friend (or even ex-friend!) that I suspect could be near death, I would absolutely do something!
Even Karen Faye, his make-up artist since the 80s, was very worried when she saw his physical deterioration during the This Is It rehearsals. Karen and some fans, who were introduced to Michael thanks to her, decided to send emails to Michael's managers after seeing Michael and his health status, saying that he shouldn't be doing all of this, that he was way too thin, like a skeleton. One of them even said that if they don't do anything, he will die. You can see it in this video.
These kind of actions are what I'm talking about! And Karen was close to Michael but probably not as much as other friends or relatives may be, but she still decided to try to do something to save him. Imagine if more people expressed their concern about Michael and tried to stop his managers and the AEG live. Was it really impossible to put an end to it? Or convincing Michael to go to rehabilitation for stopping his addiction to the painkillers? Or simply to speak up about the filthy people trying to take advantage of him?