According to Bill Whitfield, one of Michael Jackson’s personal bodyguards during his final years, there was one night the whole Jackson family showed up unannounced at Michael’s house, around 11:30 at night. Whitfield had to wake him up, something Michael clearly wasn’t happy about.
His Family Came To Visit Him
Before agreeing to come down, Michael asked Whitfield one question first: was Randy there? When Whitfield told him no, Michael said okay, he’d see his brothers, and asked to have them brought to the security trailer instead of into the house itself. So Whitfield went back out to deliver the message.
That’s when Janet reportedly asked, “What about me?” Whitfield says he had to tell her, politely, that Michael only wanted to see his brothers.
He says she didn’t take it well, getting visibly frustrated before the brothers were walked over to the trailer without her.
SOME REPORTS SAY THAT JANET WANTED TO SEND MICHAEL TO A REHAB. JANET AND RANDY HAD CONVERSATIONS REGARDING THIS, AND SHE WAS NOT READY TO TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER. THIS DISAGREEMENT SUPPOSEDLY LED MICHAEL TO AVOID SEEING HER.
Janet also stated in an interview with Oprah that she and the brothers tried interventions to stop Michael, but he was in denial about the situation. She continued saying, people always thought that the family was not aware of Michael’s problems and didn’t do anything about it, but we had interventions for him.
Janet Jackson On Tragic Death Of Her Brother
Inside, Michael spoke with his brothers for about twenty minutes. Then he went back into the house, and the rest of the family left the property. Whitfield says Jackie pulled him aside on the way out and said simply, “Take care of my brother.”
It’s a small moment, but it says a lot about where Michael was at by that point in his life. Whitfield has described him as someone who, by his final years, seemed almost cut off from parts of his own family. Descending into isolation day by day.
Stories like this complicate the picture of a famously close-knit family. Whatever was going on between Michael and Janet in those final years, by his bodyguard’s account, it clearly wasn’t simple.