Furienna
Serene Highness
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I don't know if you have seen this already, but as a die hard Michael Jackson fan also interested in royals (although the dead ones are more interesting to me than the living, sadly enough), it suddenly accured to me, that this might be interesting for you guys. These are parts from an interview Barbara Walters did with Michael Jackson just weeks after princess Diana's death in 1997.
(In the beginning of the interview)
Barbara: Up until last week the most photographed people in the world were Princess Diana and Michael Jackson. Now only one remains to talk about what it means to live under that kind of scrutiny. Since the allegations of child abuse made against Michael Jackson four years ago, he has been, if possible, even more pursued. By the way, we checked with the district attourney's office in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara and learned that there is no active case against Mr. Jackson today. Michael Jackson himself is notoriously shy about giveing interviews, but on my way home from covering Princess Diana's funeral, I met with him in Paris to discuss the paparazzi and his personal recollections of the Princess. When it comes to the paparazzi, Michael Jackson says he feels a bond with Princess Diana. The paparazzi have been a part of his life since he was a small child, the youngest of the Jackson Five. He has been a superstar for three decades. At 39, he continues to sing and dance all over the world and the paparazzi follow him all over the world. He has been on a European Tour for the last five months playing for over two million people. The night Princess Diana died, Michael Jackson cancelled his concert, but his last two concerts were dedicated to her. He does not pretend that she was a close friend. She was a fan.
Michael: I met her first at a concert...in London. She was very kind, very loving, very sweet.
Barbara: What did you two talk about?
Michael: I wrote a song called "Dirty Diana". It was not about Lady Diana. It was about a certain kind of girls that hang around concerts or clubs, you know, they call them groupies.
Barbara: Groupies.
Michael: I've lived with that all my life. These girls...they do everything with the band, you know, everything you could imagine. So I wrote a song called "Dirty Diana". But I took it out of the show in honor of her royal highness. She took me away and she said, "Are you going to do 'Dirty Diana'?" So, I said, "No I took it out of the show because of you." She said, "No! I want you to do it...do it...do the song."
Barbara: So she had a sense of humor with you?
Michael: Yeah, of course. And she told me it was an honor to meet me. And I said, "It's an honour to meet you."
Barbara: How did you hear of her death?
Michael: Um...I woke up (in a quiet and reflective voice) and my doctor gave me the news. And I fell back down in grief, and I started to cry. The pain...I felt inner pain, in my stomach, and in my chest. (his voice starts to break slightly) So, I said, "I can't handle this...it's too much." Just the message and the fact that I knew her personally. Then on top of that one I said, "There's another one...real soon...I feel it coming...there's another one....it's another one coming and I pray it's not me...please don't let it be me." And then Mother Theresa came...
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(Later on in the interview)
Barbara: Michael, is it the journalist's role...or the press' role to be kind?
Michael: To be kind?
Barbara: Because the press also has to look into things, be tough. It can't always be kind.
Michael: (laughs) What you saw...what happened to Lady Diana...you tell me. There should be some boundaries, some kind of way. The star needs some space. Some time to relax. He has a heart...he's human.
Barbara: You cancelled the concert you were about to do when you heard of Diana's death.
Michael: Yes.
Barbara: And when you finally did a concert, you dedicated it to her. What did you say?
Michael: In my heart I was saying, "I love you Diana. Shine. And shine on forever, because you are the true Princess of the people." And in words I did not say it, but I said it for three minutes in showing a big picture on the jumbotron screens...Sony, big huge screens...and her picture was there shining...and the crowd went bananas (makes sound effects of the crowd's noises) And I played the song "Smile" and "Gone Too Soon".
Barbara: Give us some of the lyrics, if you can.
Michael: "Shiny and sparkly, and splendedly bright, here one day, gone one night...Gone too soon."
The entire interview can be found here.
http://www.allmichaeljackson.com/interviews/barbarawalters.html
(In the beginning of the interview)
Barbara: Up until last week the most photographed people in the world were Princess Diana and Michael Jackson. Now only one remains to talk about what it means to live under that kind of scrutiny. Since the allegations of child abuse made against Michael Jackson four years ago, he has been, if possible, even more pursued. By the way, we checked with the district attourney's office in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara and learned that there is no active case against Mr. Jackson today. Michael Jackson himself is notoriously shy about giveing interviews, but on my way home from covering Princess Diana's funeral, I met with him in Paris to discuss the paparazzi and his personal recollections of the Princess. When it comes to the paparazzi, Michael Jackson says he feels a bond with Princess Diana. The paparazzi have been a part of his life since he was a small child, the youngest of the Jackson Five. He has been a superstar for three decades. At 39, he continues to sing and dance all over the world and the paparazzi follow him all over the world. He has been on a European Tour for the last five months playing for over two million people. The night Princess Diana died, Michael Jackson cancelled his concert, but his last two concerts were dedicated to her. He does not pretend that she was a close friend. She was a fan.
Michael: I met her first at a concert...in London. She was very kind, very loving, very sweet.
Barbara: What did you two talk about?
Michael: I wrote a song called "Dirty Diana". It was not about Lady Diana. It was about a certain kind of girls that hang around concerts or clubs, you know, they call them groupies.
Barbara: Groupies.
Michael: I've lived with that all my life. These girls...they do everything with the band, you know, everything you could imagine. So I wrote a song called "Dirty Diana". But I took it out of the show in honor of her royal highness. She took me away and she said, "Are you going to do 'Dirty Diana'?" So, I said, "No I took it out of the show because of you." She said, "No! I want you to do it...do it...do the song."
Barbara: So she had a sense of humor with you?
Michael: Yeah, of course. And she told me it was an honor to meet me. And I said, "It's an honour to meet you."
Barbara: How did you hear of her death?
Michael: Um...I woke up (in a quiet and reflective voice) and my doctor gave me the news. And I fell back down in grief, and I started to cry. The pain...I felt inner pain, in my stomach, and in my chest. (his voice starts to break slightly) So, I said, "I can't handle this...it's too much." Just the message and the fact that I knew her personally. Then on top of that one I said, "There's another one...real soon...I feel it coming...there's another one....it's another one coming and I pray it's not me...please don't let it be me." And then Mother Theresa came...
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
(Later on in the interview)
Barbara: Michael, is it the journalist's role...or the press' role to be kind?
Michael: To be kind?
Barbara: Because the press also has to look into things, be tough. It can't always be kind.
Michael: (laughs) What you saw...what happened to Lady Diana...you tell me. There should be some boundaries, some kind of way. The star needs some space. Some time to relax. He has a heart...he's human.
Barbara: You cancelled the concert you were about to do when you heard of Diana's death.
Michael: Yes.
Barbara: And when you finally did a concert, you dedicated it to her. What did you say?
Michael: In my heart I was saying, "I love you Diana. Shine. And shine on forever, because you are the true Princess of the people." And in words I did not say it, but I said it for three minutes in showing a big picture on the jumbotron screens...Sony, big huge screens...and her picture was there shining...and the crowd went bananas (makes sound effects of the crowd's noises) And I played the song "Smile" and "Gone Too Soon".
Barbara: Give us some of the lyrics, if you can.
Michael: "Shiny and sparkly, and splendedly bright, here one day, gone one night...Gone too soon."
The entire interview can be found here.
http://www.allmichaeljackson.com/interviews/barbarawalters.html