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(2/7/03, 7 a.m. ET) -- A California lawyer has requested an inquiry into Michael Jackson's admission that he shares his bed with children. Jackson's comments were made public Thursday night (February 6) during 20/20's airing of the British documentary Living With Michael Jackson.
Attorney Gloria Allred has filed a written request to the child-welfare services division of Santa Barbara County, where Jackson and his three children live, asking the department to interview any "child who has been in Mr. Jackson's home and/or bedroom without the presence of their parents."
In Living With Michael Jackson, the pop star admitted to frequently having children sleep over at his Neverland Valley Ranch, often in his own bed. "Why can't you share your bed? The most loving thing to do, is to share your bed with someone," Jackson told interviewer Martin Bashir. The singer, who paid a multimillion dollar sum to settle a sex-abuse case in 1993--in which he was accused of assaulting a 14-year old boy--told Bashir he had no compunction about the appropriateness of his sleepovers. "It's very right. It's very loving, that's what the world needs now, more love, more heart," he said.
Child-welfare services personnel have declined to make statements to the press regarding the inquiry, except to say that each complaint received was first reviewed before deciding whether to proceed with an official inquiry.
This hoopla over Jackson's sleeping habits is the latest scandal surrounding Jackson and children. On Living With Michael Jackson, Jackson addresses the controversy that occurred when he dangled his newborn over a Berlin hotel balcony in November.
BASHIR: You've had a tough week this week haven't you? Because the media have been accusing you of being irresponsible with your children.
JACKSON: The media's wrong. I love my children, I was holding my son tight and strong. I didn't want...why would I throw a baby over a balcony? That's the dumbest, stupidest story I've ever heard. I love my children. They know I love them.
The conversation continues:
BASHIR: What do you say?
JACKSON: And two minutes before that they saw the baby, Prince did the same thing, I had him in my arms.
BASHIR: I saw that.
JACKSON: I've done it, you know, I got them strong.
BASHIR: Were you just overexcited?
JACKSON: No! They were chanting they want to see the baby so I wanted to show them the baby. I'm not going to let him fall.
BASHIR: But you didn't really show them the baby 'cause the baby was covered.
JACKSON: Yes they did, they got to feel his spirit. That's good enough and he was responding. He started like singing (baby crying noise).
On Wednesday (February 5), Jackson released a statement in which he said he feels "more betrayed than perhaps ever before" by Bashir's "misrepresentation" of his life.
"Martin Bashir persuaded me to trust him that his would be an honest and fair portrayal of my life and told me that he was 'the man that turned [Princess] Diana's life around'," Jackson said in the statement. "I am surprised that a professional journalist would compromise his integrity by deceiving me in this way. I feel betrayed that someone, who had got to know my children, my staff, and me, whom I let into my heart and told the truth, could then sacrifice the trust I placed in him and produce this terrible and unfair program. Everyone who knows me will know the truth, which is that my children come first in my life and that I would never harm any child."
-- Donna Robinson, New York, and Sofia Fernandez, Los Angeles |
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