Note: If
viewing Michael Jackson Ultimate Archive on archive.org
(Wayback Machine), please view the latest snapshot of this page for the most
up-to-date information and media.
Bubbles
Katherine
Jackson, mother, “Dateline” (June 25, 2010) (archived)
Dateline:
Remember Bubbles? Michael was in his early twenties and still living in the
family home when he adopted the pet chimp.
Katherine
Jackson: I didn’t know he was gonna bring him home
because he had talked about getting a chimpanzee, and so I told one of the
trainers I don’t want a monkey here. About a week or two later, Michael brought
him home and I was shocked to find out that they act so much like humans. He
would go and stand in front of you and hold his little hands up for you to pick
him up. Just adorable and everybody fell in love with him.
Rolling Stone (September 24, 1987)
Imagine
the banner headline if the National Enquirer got hold of the story:
Michael Jackson shares hotel suite with "Actor friend." The perennial
bachelorhood of Jackson – who at twenty-nine still lives with his mother – is
one of the many mysteries that have provided the media with abonanza
of gossip and speculation. But this time the story is true. Even Michael
Jackson's manager, Frank Dileo, confirms it.
When
Michael kicks off his first solo tour in Tokyo this month, he will be sharing
his two-bedroom suite with one of his closest friends, who is, indeed, an
actor. Michael has even helped get an agent for this actor; you may have seen
him in Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School. Michael's friend is a three-year-old named Bubbles.
Bubbles
is a chimpanzee.
Bubbles
is just one of the many real-life characters who populate the elaborate fantasy
world that the superstar has constructed around himself. Playing and chatting
with Bubbles or Louie the Llama or Crusher, his new 300-pound python, Michael
can effortlessly become one of those Disney characters he so loves.
Bubbles
goes everywhere with Michael They are a classic
TV-style duo, like Timmy and Lassie or Wilbur and Mister Ed. Bubbles often eats
at the dinner table with Michael; he was in the recording studio with Michael
for much of the two years it took to make Bad, the follow-up to Thriller. Bubbles accompanied Michael
to New York for Martin Scorsese's filming of the "Bad" video, which
debuted August 31 st on the. CBS special Michael Jackson … the Magic
Returns.
Bubbles is a star of the new line of stuffed animals known as Michael's Pets,
which will also be the basis for a children's cartoon series. Bubbles even has a crib in Michael's bedroom. And when Michael threw an
elaborate dinner party at his Encino, California, mansion on a warm July night
to begin the promotion of Bad, it was Bubbles, not the pop star, who worked the
room, truly the life of the party.
“People” magazine (September 14, 1987) (archived) (archived scan of magazine article)
“Michael
has a special relationship with Bubbles,” says Dunn. “He spoils him, just like
any parent would. But he is strict with him when necessary.” Dunn doesn’t see
anything too extraordinary about Michael’s animal passion. “He likes things a
lot of kids like, for sure. Who doesn’t? I mean, if we all could have ’em, we would.”
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)
One
morning Quincy phoned me and asked if [our dog] Max could come to Westlake
Studio later in the day. Of course I said he’d love
to. When I arrived at the studio there was Michael Jackson’s chimpanzee Bubbles
as well as Steven Spielberg and his young son, whose name is also Max. Steven
shot some videos of Max, Max, and Bubbles. Unfortunately
I neglected to ask for a copy of “Max’s Film”—his debut with Spielberg behind
the camera!