Michael Jackson’s love of animals was legendary. He shared his Encino home with Bubbles the chimpanzee, a llama named Louie and a ram called Mr. Tibbs, but one pet stood out to everyone who worked with him. It was a large boa constrictor named Muscles, and Michael didn’t keep him hidden away at home. He let him roam surprisingly close to the action, including the studio where some of the biggest records in history were being made.
Quincy Jones was not a fan. He later recalled Muscles sliding across the studio equipment and even wrapping himself around Quincy’s leg while he was trying to work. Quincy openly admitted the snake scared him, which makes it even funnier that he ended up with the best Muscles story of all.
One day, Muscles went missing. When he was finally found, he was inside a parrot’s cage, and the parrot was gone. Muscles had swallowed the bird whole, but with his body now swollen from his meal, he couldn’t squeeze back out through the bars. The snake was completely stuck, trapped by his own dinner. For Quincy, it became one of his all-time favorite Michael Jackson stories.
Watch: Michael Jackson & Quincy Jones Interview 1983 RARE!!!
This rare interview catches Michael and Quincy right in the middle of the Thriller era, and it includes Michael talking about Muscles and the rest of his animal family. It shows that the snake wasn’t some distant pet locked away in a cage. For the people around Michael, Muscles was simply part of everyday life.
Muscles also went visiting. Motown executive Suzanne de Passe later revealed that Michael once turned up at her house with the boa draped around his neck. She drew the line immediately and told him there was no way that snake was going loose in her home. Michael had to think fast, and his solution involved one of her most expensive possessions.
Watch: Why Michael Jackson Once Brought His Pet Boa Constrictor to Suzanne de Passe’s Home
According to de Passe, Michael grabbed one of her luxury Pratesi pillowcases, slipped Muscles inside and tied the top shut. Then he wandered off to watch old footage of himself, leaving her to keep a nervous eye on a wriggling pillowcase. When Michael later asked if she wanted the pillowcase back, she laughed and told him he could keep the whole set.
Stories like these show a playful, eccentric side of Michael that fans rarely got to see. And the best part is that the same man carrying a snake into studios and friends’ homes was, at that very moment, creating Thriller, “Billie Jean” and “Beat It.” Watch the videos above to hear these unforgettable Muscles stories straight from the people who lived them.