Jermaine, Michael bond close but complicated
Published: July 3, 2009
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share thisWhen Jermaine Jackson told NBC's Matt Lauer on Thursday that he wished he could have died in the place of his superstar brother, most people probably shrugged it off as an elder brother grieving.
After the many years I spent as a friend of Jermaine's, I can tell you that he really would have given his life if it meant Michael Jackson could live.
"I wish that it was me. I've always felt that I was his backbone, someone to be there for him," Jermaine told Mr. Lauer in an interview on NBC's "Today Show." "I was his Aaron and he was sort of like Moses. The things he couldn't say, I would say them."
I don't know about the Aaron-and-Moses thing, but Jermaine and Michael's relationship was as strange as it was strong. At every opportunity, Michael would find a way to hurt his big brother. Every chance Jermaine had to support Michael, he did.
The strain between the two began in the mid-1970s when the Jackson 5 left Motown Records for CBS. Jermaine, who was married to Motown chief Berry Gordy's daughter, remained at Motown and was replaced in the group by youngest brother Randy.
Michael was devastated.
"Michael felt that I betrayed him," Jermaine told me. "I felt the need to stay at Motown because of all that Berry had done for us."
Jermaine believed he and Michael shared a telepathic bond. He once told me of a time he was on the beach in Malibu, Calif., and Michael was near the ocean in New York, and he could sense his younger brother needed him.
"I knew that he needed me, and I wanted to be there, so bad," Jermaine said while tears streamed down his cheeks.
Even after a reunion of Jermaine and the Jacksons during 1984's "Victory" tour, he and Michael failed to maintain the closeness each desired. In 1991, just prior to the release of Michael's "Dangerous" CD, Jermaine released a scathing single about his brother called "Word to the Badd," which clearly was a reference to Michael's CD and single "Bad."
"Once you were made/You changed your shade," Jermaine sang. "Even told me lies/Could not trust you. Still I loved you/My mind worried overtime/You know I tried to be there for you. Like a lover I cared for you."
At the time of the release, Jermaine lived at the family's estate in Encino, Calif. Michael paid all the estate's bills. Michael wanted Jermaine out of the house. Jermaine apologized, though, and changed the lyrics.
"I was only trying to reach my brother," Jermaine told me. "I wasn't trying to hurt him. He just wouldn't return any phone calls or anything, and I was angry."
Soon after, Jermaine became an unofficial Michael Jackson spokesman. When word spread that Michael had been accused of child molestation in 1993, Jermaine immediately held press conferences to denounce the allegations, which were eventually settled as part of a multimillion-dollar payout.
When Michael married Lisa Marie Presley, Jermaine was first to publicly acknowledge and applaud the union.
After Michael infamously dangled his son, Prince Michael II, from a hotel balcony, I accompanied Jermaine to "Larry King Live," where Jermaine was the first to defend Michael.
After leaving CNN's Hollywood studios, Jermaine's cell phone rang. It was Michael. Jermaine's face was similar to that of a small child who had done something to gain the approval of a parent. Jermaine was beaming. Michael had told him that a documentary would be aired on ABC television within the month and the world would love him again.
I was with Jermaine when the now infamous documentary aired. Jermaine was incensed at his little brother.
"What the (expletive) was he thinking?" Jermaine yelled.
He angrily dialed his brother's secretary, then called Michael's personal assistant. He wanted to scold his little brother until he got wind that law enforcement was taking a closer look at the film because a young, male cancer patient was seen holding Michael's hand and the two were declaring love for one another and, throughout the documentary, admitted to sharing a bed.
Jermaine went on the offensive and, with Larry King and Barbara Walters on his speed dial, he went to the media to declare that Michael had been set up by the interviewer.
Throughout the resulting criminal trial - Michael was acquitted of child molestation and other charges - Jermaine prayed daily. He would break down occasionally at the thought of Michael going to prison.
"I'll do the jail time for him. He's 1,000 percent innocent," Jermaine said, with the same look he had Thursday when he told Mr. Lauer that he wished it were him in the morgue and not his brother, whom he referred to during the interview as "my hero."
Contact the writer: sbrown@timesshamrock.com
7 posted comments
I for one am still really heartbroken and in disbelief and would love to hear more stories regarding MJ. Thanks for the post!!
He was a great inspiration to me like no others. I look into the mirror every morning hoping that I will be able to change today for the better of the world. LUV and RIP MJ!!
Yes, he was talented.
Yes, he was a legend.
But there are more important things out there right now.
I'll be glad when this dog and pony show is over.