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"L.A. Gear" Photoshoot

Jennifer Love Hewitt, actress for one of the photoshoot advertisements, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (September 5, 2018)

Jimmy Kimmel: I mentioned in your introduction that you've been working since you were a little kid, and this is a photograph I would love to get more information on, because this is something that you posted online.

Jennifer Love Hewitt: Yeah.

Kimmel: That's you and, obviously, Michael Jackson. Or is that a wax figure? Is that really Michael Jackson?

Hewitt: It's really Michael Jackson. I was 10 years old. I got to spend the day with him doing an L.A. Gear commercial.

Kimmel: L.A. Gear?

Hewitt: Yes, when he did--

Fallon Kimmel: I forgot about L.A. Gear.

Hewitt: All the shoes had the Michael Jackson buckle on them.

Kimmel: Oh, wow.

Hewitt: They just told me that I was going to shoot a commercial for the day with Michael, and I was like, "Okay, cool, like a fun, little kid named Michael. That will be great."

Kimmel: You didn't know it was that Michael?

Hewitt: No. And then I got there, everybody was, like, super serious, and it was all really hush-hush. They were -- there were protocols. I'm like, "Okay." Then it was Michael Jackson, and I was like, "Oh my God." And I--now, thinking back on it, if I'd been in my 20s, I probably would have pood my pants a little bit, like, "Oh my God, I'm about to work with Michael Jackson!" At 10, it was like, "Oh, he's so cool, this is going to be really fun." It wasn't a big deal. I was really excited about Bubbles the monkey.

Kimmel: The chimp was there?

Hewitt: I got to meet Bubbles.

Kimmel: Oh, really?

Hewitt: Yes! And it was super exciting.

Kimmel: Bubbles would come on commercial shoots?

Hewitt: Yes! He was just there, hanging out. it was amazing.

Kimmel: Did you pet him or touch him?

Hewitt: Of course, I high-fived.

Kimmel: You didn't get any pictures with Bubbles?

Hewitt: I did not.

Kimmel: Did you spend any time with Michael, talking with him?

Hewitt: We spent the whole day together, we were dancing together. He taught me to do his "go up on the toes" thing, which I can't do now. Anyway, it was amazing. At the end of the day--here's what I loved about him most. At the end of the day, I had to go to this charity function, and it meant that the commercial sort of had to be shut down at a weird time, then he had to go. He stopped at the end of the day, he was like, "You don't know how important it is that you're doing something that's special and important for other people." And he was like, "Never lose that, always be that person."

Kimmel: Wow.

Hewitt: And I was like, "Okay, yes, sir. Absolutely, okay", and he wrote a very big donation to this charity function that I was going to that night, and sent a check in my name on my behalf, which is not something that I would have been able to do at the time, sent it just to sort of button how important it is to give to other people, and to do that. And I just thought that was extraordinary, because he's Michael Jackson, you know?

Kimmel: Yeah, right?

Hewitt: He didn't have to do that, and he really took his time. And then I got to go to Neverland Ranch.

Kimmel: Oh, you did? So, you kept in touch with Michael?

Hewitt: Yeah, later, I got to keep in touch with him. My Mom and I went and--you know, when they would have big parties and stuff like that, we went a few times.

Kimmel: What parties did you go to?

Hewitt: It was amazing. We went on Thanksgiving one year, which was incredible.

Kimmel: Really? Wait a minute.

Hewitt: Yes!

Kimmel: You were invited to the Jackson family Thanksgiving dinner?

Hewitt: Well, it wasn't just them and me and my mom, "Pass the turkey." That would have been incredicray.

Kimmel: ...Wow, Michael Jackson, that's something else.

Hewitt: It was amazing. It was amazing. It was one of those big life moments where you're like, "Wow, this is extraordinary."

Kimmel: Did you have turkey at the Jacksons? They didn't like carve up a giraffe or anything?

Hewitt: There was a turkey. There was a giant candy store on the property that made fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, there was a ferris wheel--I mean, it was truly amazing.