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Dangerous Tour Cancellation / Flight and Check-In to Charter Nightingale Clinic (London, England)

Michael Jackson, tape of statement, LA Times (November 13, 1993)

In an audiotape released late Friday by his publicist, Jackson said he began using painkillers seven months ago after he underwent reconstructive surgery for a scalp burn suffered during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in 1984. "The medications were used sparingly at first," Jackson said, but increased after the child molestation allegations were leveled against him in August.

The rest of the statement tape, Lisa Campbell, author, “King of Pop’s Darkest Hour”

“As I left on this tour, I had been the target of an extortion attempt, and shortly thereafter was accused of horrifying and outrageous conduct. I was humiliated, embarrassed, hurt and suffering great pain in my heart. The pressure resulting from these false allegations coupled with the incredible energy necessary for me to perform caused so much distress that it left me physically and emotionally exhausted. I became increasingly more dependent on the painkillers to get me through the days of the tour. My friends and doctors advised me to seek professional guidance immediately in order to eliminate what has become an addiction. It is time for me to acknowledge my need for treatment in order to regain my health. I realize that completing the tour is no longer possible and I must cancel the remaining dates. I know I can overcome the problem and will be stronger from the experience.”

Frank Cascio, “My Friend Michael: An Ordinary Friendship with an Extraordinary Man”

At first, Michael was in a rehab hospital in London. My family and I talked to him on the phone every day for hours, passing the phone around among us to keep him company. It got to the point where we had to install what we called a “bat line” just for him. Line one was the house phone, line two was the fax, and line three was Michael’s dedicated line. He complained about how the staff at the hospital was treating him. The place was almost like a psychiatric ward, he said, and he knew full well that he wasn’t crazy.

One day he couldn’t take it anymore and made his escape, bolting down the street. Some orderlies chased him down and brought him back.

The Chicago Tribune, RobMcgibbon, freelance journalist (1995)

It was nearly 1am on a cold November night and and the runway at Luton Airport was deserted.

A private jet landed and taxied to a secluded spot near the perimeter fence.

Two rented minibuses, their windows blocked out with white sheets, drove to the tail section where a narrow stairway was being lowered.

Driving the first van was bodyguard Steve Tarling with one thing on his mind--to get Michael Jackson off the jet as quickly as possible.

Customs and immigration officials boarded the plane to check documents and Steve moved in. Nothing could have prepared him for the shock of seeing Michael Jackson. He says:

"He was sitting alone and seemed to be asleep. A red tartan blanket was wrapped over his legs and a black trilby was tilted over his eyes.

He was wearing a black shirt with a red collar and a big black cardigan with a belt around the waist. He had black loafers on which were really scruffy.

Elizabeth Taylor, her husband Larry Fortensky, and Jackson's personal doctor David Forecast were trying to tell him to get up.

Taylor shook him awake and said: "Michael, you have to get off now." He was completely out of it. He was so drugged up he was like a zombie. He just looked like a lost soul.

When his hat came off and I saw his whole face for the first time, I was physically shocked. I had this image of Michael Jackson, the performer, in my mind, but the sight I saw was nothing like that--he looked terrible.

He wore full makeup with smudged red lipstick and eyeliner. His face was covered in white paste.

...What shocked me most was the tip of his nose--it was jet black. His whole face was white, except for his nose, which was like a scab. It looked awfully painful.

I wanted to get him off immediately, because the longer we stayed there, the more vulnerable we were. It was pandemonium on the plane, security men and airport ground staff were unloading baggage, but Jackson was oblivious to it all.

Taylor had two dogs she wanted to take with her. It was impossible because of quarantine laws, but she still asked me to smuggle them off. I said no way, so she told Larry to stay on the plane with them. He looked fed up that he was being told what to do while Jackson was getting all the attention.

Collapse

The original plan was for Liz and Larry to stay on the plane and fly off to Switzerland to throw the media off the scent. But Liz insisted on staying with Jackson until he got to the clinic.

But when he tried to get up, his legs collapsed, and I had to hold him up. It was like he had drunk two bottles of Scotch and was so paralytic, he couldn't coordinate. It was a sad sight.

I held on to him and someone pulled the blanket up over his shoulders and covered his face with his hat.

I carried him like you would carry a tree trunk. He is very tall, so he was leaning over my shoulder. It was awkward going down the narrow stairway to the tarmac and I remember thinking: "My God, if I fall, he'll end up in hospital for other reasons, not his drug problem!"

As Steve laid Jackson in the first bus, another security guard pulled off an amazing decoy stunt. Hidden in the second bus was a Jackson lookalike wearing identical clothes.

As the singer was carried off, the lookalike was smuggled onto the plane and curled up on his seat pretending to sleep. The decoy worked, and as far as the passport control officers were concerned, Jackson had never left the plane.

The lookalike and Fortensky were to wait for Taylor to return, then fly to Switzerland as if the stop at Luton had been only to refuel.

Therapist Beauchamp Colclough--known to everyone as Beechy--was waiting in the first van. He began asking Jackson if he understood why he was there and if he knew he had a problem.

Beechy started explaining how the cure treatment would work.

Steve says: "Beechy was laying down the rules that Jackson would have to follow. He told him he would have to make his own bed, wash his own dishes, and generally do everything for himself.

"Jackson was mumbling his answers and kept saying he wanted to use a phone, but Beechy said that was not allowed.

"He told Jackson he would have to earn phone calls.

"Suddenly Jackson said very calmly and coherently, 'Excuse me, can you turn this bus round and take me back? If I can't use a telephone, I'm calling the whole thing off.'

"It made everyone realize that he wasn't such a spaced-out idiot after all. Beechy had to compromise and said he would allow him to make calls."

Taylor was in the bus, and she got angry when Steve revealed he had changed the plan.

Earlier in the day, he had checked out the Charter Nightingale Clinic in Marylebone, Central London, only to find photographers staking it out. He felt it was too risky to go there and had fixed up a stay at the £2 million home of John Reid, Elton John's manager, at Rickmansworth, Herts.

Steve says: "Taylor wasn't happy. She said, 'This is bullshit', and started asking about my credentials. As I drove around a roundabout, she screamed hysterically. Apparently, the movement had hurt her back.

"As I pulled up outside the house, a guard slid open the door, and Jackson fell out. He slumped out like a corpse. Thankfully, we caught him before he hit the ground, and carried him inside. He was all floppy and dead to the world.

"We lay him on a settee in the living room and surrounded him with cushions, then put his hat on him. I crossed his hands over his chest. If someone had come in then and seen him, they would have been convinced he was dead.

"His face was white, he was lying completely still and looked like he was hardly breathing. It was a bizarre sight.

Fear

"Before Jackson had landed, Beechy had been worried sick. He said he would be finished if he didn't succeed, but would be set up for life if he did. At one point, waiting for the plane, he was shaking with fear.

"As Beechy came in the house, I shouted out, 'Beechy, you can stop worrying now. He's dead.'

"It was a silly joke, but the whole situation was unreal."

Within an hour, Taylor insisted Jackson was taken to the clinic. She felt he would react better to treatment in a hospital environment and the doctors agreed.

Taylor returned to the plane which flew to Switzerland as other decoy stories to confuse the Press were released in Europe and America. Some papers said he was at a clinic in the French Alps.

Steve found it easy to smuggle Jackson into the clinic. He arrived at around 5am and the few photographers still there were asleep in their cars.

He drove in through the rear entrance and took Jackson to the top floor which was sealed off. But the singer locked himself in his room and refused to come out.

Steve says: "Jackson wouldn't come out of his room. He locked himself in and turned up his radio. His room was very barre and the whole building seemed outdated and uncomfortable.

"I knew he wouldn't put up with it for long and I was right.

"I left one of Elizabeth Taylor's bodyguards in charge while me and one of my men checked the ground floor.

"We were downstairs when the receptionist ran up in a panic shouting, 'Quick! Michael Jackson's trying to escape!'

"The bodyguard had been lying on his bed while Jackson had left his room and jumped in the lift. He had pressed No 1 thinking it was the ground floor--the numbers are different to American lifts.

"Jackson had been wandering around politely asking patients, 'How do you get out of here?'

"I felt really sorry for him. You could tell he was determined to get out and was ready to walk on to the streets of London in the freezing cold. Half the world's media were searching for this man and he nearly walked out into the open--on his own! Can you imagine if that had happened?

"I told my man to guard the back while I rushed to the first floor. Jackson was getting more frustrated and slapping his hand against the wall.

"He was saying in his high voice, 'I wanna get out of there right now. I don't like it here.'

"The nurse and I got him into the lift. I held on to him and he started to calm down."

Later that first morning, Jackson agreed to meet some ex-addicts.

Nurses were ordered to search the star for drugs. The first session of therapy lasted about three hours, but mainly concentrated on laying out the rules.

"I felt really bad when they searched Jackson's personal things", says Steve. "He had an old yellow bag with a tape machine and diaries inside. The nurses emptied it and found 13 bottles of pills, which they confiscated.

"The therapy session was weird, particularly when you haven't got an addiction problem yourself.

"Beechy made everyone introduce themselves and say what their problem was. Jackson was very friendly to me, because he knew I didn't have to be in there.

"He smiled at me when I said my bit which I thought was nice of him. Jackson didn't want to speak, but Beechy told him he had to. Eventually, he said very quietly, 'Hi, I'm Michael, and I'm addicted to drugs.'"

[Part Two of this article in the November 14, 1994 entry.]

Elizabeth Taylor, November 17, 1993 statement during Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center dedication, From “King of Pop’s Darkest Hour”

During the dedication of The Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, an AIDS center in Washington D.C., Elizabeth Taylor spoke of Michael and her efforts to help him:

I travelled to Mexico City, where I saw for myself that Michael was in desperate need of specialized medical attention. I have suffered and dealt with the same kind of medical problems now affecting my friend, Michael Jackson. Because of that and because of our friendship, when Michael's doctor called to ask if I would help, I was glad to intervene. Because of my own experience with addiction to prescription medicines, I was able to make a number of calls in search of the best and most appropriate treatment for Michael, and he is now undergoing such treatment in Europe.

She refused to say where Michael was receiving treatment, only that he was in Europe:

Because of my regard for him and my concern for his health, I will continue to be silent on these matters.

She also refused to comment on the molestation allegations:

As this is a matter now in the hands of lawyers it would inappropriate for me to comment on it and I will not do so. I will only repeat that I am a friend of Michael Jackson's and I love him like a son, and I support him with all my heart.