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Moving to John Reid's Home for Treatment / Chandler Settlement Finalized / Pepsi Sponsorship Ending

Date confirmed in “Los Angeles Times” (archived) (“Pepsico Inc. announced Sunday [November 14, 1993]”)

Moving to John Reid's Home for Treatment:

Michael Jackson, Adrian Grant’s “Making HIStory” book interview (February 13, 1998)

Adrian Grant: Blood On The Dance Floor is a very striking title. Is the song about AIDS?

Michael Jackson: No it isn’t, not at all. Actually I didn’t create the title, my engineer (Bill Bottrell) thought of the title, which I thought was cool, so I wrote the song around the title. And then I made a mistake, and I apologised, but they didn’t show it on TV. When I was in England - I hid in England at some time (1993), and Elton John let me use his house. He was so sweet and kind, and I thought I never thanked him. So I decided to dedicate a song to him, and that song was ‘Blood On The Dance Floor’. But after it came out, I said ‘Why did I dedicate that one, of all the songs, it could have been ‘You Are Not Alone’ etc…’ So I always thought that I wanted to apologise to him for that – it was just out of him being kind. He’s a wonderful person.

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

Elton John stepped in and coordinated [Michael’s] transfer to another rehab place—a private estate outside London that was much more Michael’s speed.

Soon after Michael’s transfer, he asked us to come and visit him in rehab. Thanksgiving break was beginning, so my parents gave the okay and Wayne brought me and Eddie to London for four or five days.

This new rehab was located in a house in the country, a warm, comfortable, homey place, complete with fireplaces. Michael was really happy to see our familiar faces. He gave us a tour, introducing us to the friends he’d made and explaining his routine—like a child showing off his school. Come to think of it, it was probably the closest experience to going to school Michael had ever had. The patients had a daily schedule, spending time playing games, reading, watching movies, and doing arts and crafts. Michael was kind of proud of the artwork he’d been doing. He showed us a dinosaur he’d made out of paper and beamed like a little kid.

During that visit, Michael was back and forth on the phone with the lawyer Johnnie Cochran. They were talking about settling the case—paying Jordy’s family a substantial amount of money to withdraw their accusations. Michael didn’t want to settle. He was innocent and saw no reason to pay people to stop spreading lies about him. He wanted to fight. But things weren’t quite that simple. The fact was that Michael was a money machine, and nobody wanted him to stop being one. If he took time off from his career for a two-to three-year trial, he would stop producing the billions of dollars worldwide that made him an industry. Because the legal fees of a trial would cost far more than any settlement, his insurance company, who would bear those losses, was determined to settle.

Johnnie asked him if he really wanted to go to trial, was willing to have his whole life exposed to public scrutiny. If he settled, Michael could call it a day: move on with his life and get back to doing what he did best. And so Michael agreed to settle for what I believe was something in the range of $30 million. As I would later understand it, he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. At the end of the day, the decision to fight it out in court or to settle out of court was in the insurance company’s hands.

The settlement was in the works before we arrived in England, and it was finalized while we were there. Michael was now free to return to the United States, and he was eager to come home. So, after only two days in London, Eddie and I joined Michael on a private jet to Neverland to finish our visit there.

“The Chicago Tribune”, RobMcgibbon, freelance journalist (1995)

Meanwhile, reporters had surrounded the clinic and it was decided to smuggle Jackson out to be treated at John Reid's house. Steve had to get all the nurses, ex-addicts, and doctors out, as well as Beechy and Jackson, so he could continue group therapy.

He disguised the staff as patients and throughout the day, they left through the front door on floor or in black cabs. They were collected by cars waiting less than a mile away at Lord's cricket ground.

Jackson left around midnight. Steve dressed him up in baggy tracksuit trousers, a long coat, scarf, and an old baseball cap.

Jackson went through an underground walkway to the building next door and waited in a basement until a message by walkie-talkie told him to walk.

Steve says: "Jackson was as cool as you like. He waited for my signal, then walked to the car just outside, and I drove off.

"He liked the disguise, but refused to change his shoes. It was daft, because they gave him away. He walked on his toes, just like Michael Jackson. If anyone had looked, they would have guessed. But no one did and we were gone within seconds."

...Michael Jackson went crazy with sleepless nights as he was weaned off his addiction to painkillers and sleeping pills.

Night after night, he was unable to sleep without being drugged up, so he spent hours trying to amuse himself in John Reid's mansion where he secretly had therapy under Beechy Colclough.

Steve Tarling, the minder who protected Jackson during his stay in Britain, was forced to listen to the superstar's melancholy singing. Often Jackson would wander downstairs to join his minder for a chat or a drink.

Steve says: "He had a terrible time trying to get to sleep in those early days. He wasn't used to crashing out without being full of pills.

"Long after everyone else had gone to sleep, Jackson would be wide awake.

"You could hear him playing music or singing at 4am. He had a portable tape machine which he sang into whenever he wanted to record a song.

"He seemed to be writing material all the time. The songs seemed sad and slow rather than fast dance numbers. Maybe that was down to his state of mind.

"He would spend hours on the telephone, too—the one luxury he insisted on. He would be on the phone in his room long into the early hours making calls all over the world.

"Some conversations would go on for two hours."

Humor

"He would also come down to chat to me and my colleague Andy. He was very concerned that we weren't getting any sleep either.

"We used to take him for walks in the grounds to get some fresh air.

"Once he came down and asked if he could have a cup of tea. We got the impression that he expected us to make it for him, but we said, 'Sorry, Michael, you'll have to do it yourself—it's all part of the therapy.'

"That was true. Beechy had instructed everyone to look after themselves—there was no star treatment.

"It was odd watching someone like Michael Jackson making himself a cup of tea. It was like a major exercise for him. John Reid's kitchen is massive and he was rummaging through loads of cupboards to find everything. You could tell he wasn't used to it.

"The tea he made looked disgusting. It was really weak—the color of chicken soup—and he piled in five or six sugars. God knows what it tasted like.

"Jackson really had a hankering for Hob-nob biscuits. He ate six or seven with that cup of tea and dunked them all in it.

"He didn't appear to mind making the tea himself. He seemed almost normal at times. He had a sense of humor, too. He used to call Beechy 'The Mad Professor'.

"One night when he came down late for a soft drink, we started talking about his dance routines.

"Andy mentioned the famous Moonwalk and jumped up to have a go. He tried to slide across the tiles, but was no good and made a real hash of it. Then I tried.

"We were just mucking about and Jackson was really giggling and said we had done all right. Then he said, 'Okay, guys—I'm sorry, I've got to go to bed'.

"With that he spun around and glided out of the kitchen backwards in a perfect Moonwalk.

"He was still giggling and had the drink in his hand as he did it. He was in his socks and he really floated across the tiles.

"It looked brilliant. You could tell he got a kick out of doing it for us."

Jackson's eating habits surprised Steve. The singer would eat in the large kitchen with Beechy and the other ex-addicts sharing therapy with him.

Everyone believes that Jackson is a strict vegan who doesn't eat meat or dairy products—but he likes chicken.

Relaxed

"I always thought he didn't touch meat", says Steve. "But he tucked into roast chicken quite happily. He only ate the white meat, not the dark. Generally, though, he ate very little and just picked at his food."

As part of the therapy, Beechy asked Jackson not to wear make-up. At first, he refused to wipe it off, telling everyone that it made him feel comfortable, but gradually he stopped tarting himself up.

Steve says: "Jackson actually looked a lot better without his makeup—more human and natural.

"He used to wear long false eyelashes as well as white face paint, which made him look ridiculous.

"He always used to wear a plaster over his nose. But as he became more comfortable, he relaxed. I think he felt he didn't have to hide behind make-up in front of us.

"He also stopped wearing his hat all the time. At first, he never took it off except when he went to bed.

"Then he'd leave it on the banisters and put it on when he came down.

"After a while, it stayed on the banisters all the time.

Jackson gradually began to muck in with the others. He vacuumed his bedroom and made his own bed.

When he was not in therapy, he liked to watch films in the small cinema in a barn at the side of the house, which Reid had converted into a games room and gym.

He also watched TV, but the programs were regulated so that he never got to see the news.

Steve laughed when he saw news bulletins claiming that Jackson was staying in London at the Charter Nightingale Clinic.

Steve says: "He liked watching films in the cinema. He loved 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane'—he watched that three times—and Uncle Buck with John Candy.

"But, most of all, he wanted everyone to watch his all-time favorite—'Gone With the Wind'.

"I was sent out to get a video of it. I drove for miles and went to a dozen video shops, but not one had it. The closest I could get was 'The Making of Gone With the Wind'.

"I thought he would get all uptight that I had failed, but instead he said, 'That's fine, Steve. Thanks for trying.' He was really well-mannered like that.

Amazing

Once he went on his knees and started playing the piano in the barn. He played a few notes and then began singing.

"It was a love song and sounded really good—and he had actually written it right there in front of me. It was amazing to watch. It took him about six minutes.

"When he got up I said, 'Did you just write that?'

"He said, 'Yeah, but I've forgotten it already.' Then he started to look for something else to do.

"No matter what his problems are, the guy is a complete genius."

Elton John, singer, “The Daily Telegraph” (October 25, 2010) (archived)

In 1993, having cancelled a tour in the Far East, Jackson was in London undergoing treatment for his addiction to the painkiller Demerol. Elton had only recently met Furnish.

'David was coming down to meet my mother, and he was frightened about that,’ Elton says. 'He arrived at 10 in the morning, and there was a message on my answerphone from my counsellor of the time saying, “Oh, by the way, I’m bringing Michael Jackson down to lunch.” And David was saying, “I can’t meet your mother and fucking Michael Jackson in one day.” ’

Jackson, Elton says, was 'charming, sweet, lovely – but damaged. He came down here and we closed all the curtains and had lunch. He said it was the first time he’d sat down and had a meal with people for 10 years. He would always eat on his own.’

Pepsi Sponsorship Ending:

“Los Angeles Times” (November 15, 1993) (archived)

Pepsico Inc. announced Sunday that it is dropping, at least temporarily, singer Michael Jackson as a promotional symbol, and the elusive superstar’s whereabouts remained undisclosed.

Amid media speculation that the 35-year-old performer may have checked into the exclusive Charter Clinic in London, Jackson’s publicist Lee Solters insisted that he did not know where the singer was.

Meanwhile, Jackson’s attorneys prepared for a much-anticipated news conference scheduled for today in Los Angeles.

Pepsico Inc. said it ended its on-and-off nine-year relationship with Jackson because he abandoned his world concert tour. The singer announced Friday that he ended the “Dangerous” tour to seek treatment for an addiction to painkillers that he contended was worsened by the stress of an allegation that he molested a 13-year-old boy.

Gary Hemphill, a spokesman for the company’s soft drink division, minimized the significance of Pepsi ending its relationship with the entertainer. “All we’re saying is that if the tour is over, as we understand from media reports, then that would end our sponsorship agreement because that would mean there’s nothing to sponsor,” he said.

Hemphill said Jackson has not appeared in Pepsi commercials in the United States since 1988. He said Pepsico is “certainly concerned and saddened” about Jackson’s difficulties, but added that no decision has been made on whether Pepsico will enter any new deals with the singer.

When Pepsico announced the sponsorship of Jackson’s latest tour in 1992, it called the deal the biggest sponsorship ever between a company and an entertainer. The company released no figures, but industry analysts put the value of the deal at $7 million to $10 million.

Pepsi’s sponsorship of Jackson dates to 1984, when it backed the “Victory Tour,” which reunited the singer with his brothers from the former Jackson Five. Pepsi also sponsored Jackson’s “Bad” tour in 1988.

The performer remained out of sight Sunday amid media speculation that he may have checked into London’s Charter Clinic.

Jackson’s attorneys, Howard Weitzman and Bertram Fields, have scheduled a 1 p.m. news conference today at a Century City hotel. Reporters are sure to pepper them with questions about the tour, about Jackson’s mysterious whereabouts and about a criminal investigation into the molestation allegation. Jackson has denied the allegation, saying it was part of a $20-million extortion attempt by the boy’s father.

Weitzman and Fields could not be reached for comment Sunday. Solters said only that the attorneys “will be answering questions relevant to the situation” at the news conference.

Photographers and camera crews staked out the drug rehabilitation clinic in London’s upmarket Chelsea district, but the center refused to say if the star was there.

Previous news reports portrayed Jackson as leaving Mexico City for London and, possibly, Switzerland, where his friend Elizabeth Taylor owns a chalet. The British news agency Press Assn. reported that the actress was aboard a Boeing 727 that touched down at Luton Airport, north of London, before traveling to Geneva. A spokesman for the private charter company Jet Aviation said Jackson was not aboard the plane when it landed at Geneva early Saturday.

The London Sunday Mirror quoted Los Angeles attorney Richard Hirsch, who represents the boy’s father, as saying Jackson has run out of excuses for staying out of America. “If he fled to avoid these charges, it is a very sad situation for everyone concerned,” Hirsch was quoted as saying.

The lawyer could not be reached for comment Sunday.

In a tape-recorded message released Friday, Jackson said he began taking the pain medication after “major reconstructive surgery on my scalp” several months ago for burns suffered during filming of a Pepsi-Cola commercial in 1984. He said he increased his drug intake when the molestation allegations surfaced.

Larry Feldman, the attorney for the 13-year-old boy suing Jackson, said the singer’s disappearance is irrelevant to the case.

“Frankly it doesn’t matter whether he ever shows up,” Feldman said. “I have enough evidence without him.”

But Feldman criticized the singer’s attorneys, calling the press conference planned for today a stunt to gain sympathy for the singer.

“They have done everything in their power not to handle this case in court,” Feldman said. “Now they’re trying to influence a jury by making these pathetic pleas.

“But if Michael Jackson claims he’s hurt by these allegations—and he’s used to the press—you can imagine what it’s like for this little kid,” Feldman said. “He can’t even turn on the television without seeing press reports that want to hold him responsible for Michael Jackson’s alleged drug addiction.”