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September 11 Attacks

Date confirmed on National Archives (archived)

 

Bea Swedien, wife of studio engineer Bruce Swedien, “My Life as a Studio Wife: A Lifetime of Love and Music with Bruce Swedien” (August 11, 2025)

I had the TV on that morning when the horrible news started coming in. It was absolutely unfathomable. I called Roberta [Swedien] in New Delhi where it was already Tuesday night. She was watching the news there too, in shock and disbelief, as was the whole world.

What we didn’t know was that Michael was supposed to be at a meeting at the World Trade Center that very morning. But he missed the meeting because he overslept after a late night talk with his mother and siblings. She called him the next morning to see if he was okay and he told her he was because of her keeping him up late the night before! Imagine. The whole thing was such a tragedy.

 

Björn Asplind, friend of studio engineer Bruce Swedien, from Bea Swedien’s (wife of Bruce Swedien), “My Life as a Studio Wife: A Lifetime of Love and Music with Bruce Swedien” (August 11, 2025)

[At about 9:45AM], Bruce [Swedien] came and told me that Michael Jackson had called. He was completely horrified. He was in a hotel in New York and all the flights were down so he couldn’t leave. Michael’s team had tried to book a helicopter but there was a total no-fly zone across the US. What is going on? Will there be a war? A thousand thoughts ran through my head.