The bodyguard for Michael Jackson has discussed his opinion on the singer’s alleged child sex abuse and what he believes killed the King of Pop.
Bill Whitfield said the legendary singer, who would have turned 66 today, was ‘sad a lot’ before he died in 2009 after he had come away from facing a set of serious trials.
Speaking to The Sun, Jackson’s former and latest bodyguard revealed the popstar was hurt by the serious allegations being made against him and said, ‘He would never hurt a child; this isn’t the man I knew’.
In 2006, Bill joined Jackson’s protective circle shortly after the Billy Jean singer was exonerated of any charges of abuse.
But after spending countless hours with Jackson and becoming a ‘very good friend’, the security pro said he believed that if the claims had been true, the situation would have revealed itself.
He acknowledged observing the celebrity intently and even going so far as to study Jackson’s interactions with kids after learning about the accusations.
It took Bill many years of working with the pop icon to conclude that the claims were unfounded.
‘It wasn’t his character. You had to be around him to know him and I was there. So no, that wasn’t him. And so it just still surprises me when I hear things like that,’ he told the newspaper.
Bill heartbreakingly said that the pop star died before he was allowed to tell his side of the story and revealed the singer once said he would ‘slit his wrist’ before hurting a child.
In 1993, the LAPD launched an investigation against Jackson following claims that he had sexually assaulted Jordan Chandler, a 13-year-old.
However, authorities did not discover any evidence of the singer’s guilt in either his Los Angeles residence or his Neverland ranch, and after a whopping $23 million payment, the charges were dismissed.
Jackson was later arrested by police in 2003 on allegations of child molestation, although they withheld the victim’s identity and other pertinent information at first.
Jackson was then put on trial in February 2005 for the allegations of child sex assault.
Gavin Arvizo, the victim, testified that Jackson had masturbated him; his brother backed up this allegation, claiming the singer had given them wine and shown them explicit material.
Jackson was subsequently found not guilty of any criminal charges in June 2005.
While some individuals did believe the accusations, many more did not. Mentally, Michael Jackson was like a child, and the charges began when family members saw an opportunity to profit from his fame. Regardless of his celebrity, I wouldn’t allow my kids to spend time with a stranger since I would share equal responsibility if something went wrong.
Michael Jackson wasn’t an abuser, in my opinion. Granted, he was a bit odd and had Peter Pan syndrome, but I think the reason he preferred kids over adults was that he had never experienced childhood, and kids are genuine and honest, unlike the rest of the public who were always swooning over him.
Of course, I liked Michael Jackson, but I could take him or leave him, and it would be very lazy of me to assume he was guilty. Instead, I took a look at the facts and decided he wasn’t guilty, but the US legal system was determined to nail him to the wall—raiding his home, putting him on trial—and yet he was acquitted on everything, and to this day there is no actual evidence of wrongdoing.
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