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Attending Andrea Bocelli Concert for Elizabeth Taylor's Birthday
Date assessed by the fact that, according to Arnold Klein (archived), the concert attendance was “when Liz celebrated her birthday… in 1999”, which would have been February 27, 1999.
Elizabeth Taylor, “Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry” 2002 autobiography
A year or two ago, Michael and I and a couple other friends decided to go to Las Vegas for my birthday. We stayed at the incredibly beautiful Bellagio, where we had dinner and watched the fountains. The whole thing was just perfect for me because I’ve grown tired of big-deal birthdays. At one point, I turned to Michael and said, ‘All right, where’s my present?’ Well he looked at the ground, he looked around the room, he looked at our friend Arnie Klein, but he didn’t really say anything. So I said, ‘Michael, I know they have great jewelry shops in the lobby. I can’t believe you haven’t noticed.’ Michael and Arnie start giggling. I continued, ‘This is really breaking my heart, Michael. I’m not sure I can go on.’ You know, I was really hamming it up. Finally, Michael and Arnie excused themselves and returned to the table some time later with a perfectly interesting-sized book. Any box can be interesting to me! I opened it and inside was some weird padded black wrapping, protecting the most exquisite titanium elephant evening bag. A saddle of rubies and pearls was dangling from its backside, and the dear little creature had huge diamond eyes.
‘Michael! Michael! I was just kidding around!’ I mean, this was the most unusual thing I’d ever seen. I was playing with the long dangling pearls, in part because I was so happy and because I was a little embarrassed that he had actually gone and gotten me something this amazing. But Michael and I do kid around a lot, and I knew I hadn’t really overstepped my place in our relationship.
When I got home, there in my front hall was a huge box, tied with a red ribbon. It was my real birthday present from Michael, the one had planned to give me all along – one of those superflat TV sets. Truly, the biggest one I’ve ever seen. I was an innocent in all of this, the most happy innocent. And Michael played it totally straight.
Arnold Klein, cosmetic dermatologist, “The Daily Beast” (July 6, 2009) (archived)
Dr. Klein not only counted Taylor and Jackson as patients but socialized with both. When Liz celebrated her birthday, for instance in 1999 at Las Vegas’ Bellagio Hotel, at an Andrea Bocelli concert, she only invited Michael, Klein, her hairdresser, and her then-boyfriend, a Beverly Hills dentist and his two sons.