Twenty-five years ago this week, TV Guide hit newsstands with an exclusive interview with Michael Jackson. The issue was dated Nov. 10 to 16, 2001, and it caught him at a busy moment.
His new single was a hit. The magazine wrote that his “You Rock My World” video “has been an MTV staple,” and the song had climbed to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
So if you’d tuned in to MTV that fall, there’s a good chance you’d have seen this.
Michael Jackson’s “You Rock My World” music video
The interview took place at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and Michael didn’t come alone. His son Prince, who was 4, and his daughter Paris, who was 3, were right there in the room, playing at his feet while he answered questions.
That made one question feel very natural. TV Guide asked him straight out: “Do you let your kids watch MTV?”
It’s a funny thing to ask the man whose videos helped fill the channel’s airtime. You’d think the answer would be an easy yes. It turns out the King of Pop made TV rules like any other parent.
Michael said not yet. And he had a number in mind.
“They are going to have to be 15 or 16.”
He’d clearly thought it through and set the line ahead of time. Prince and Paris would be teenagers before they got to flip over to the channel playing their father’s videos.
So what did Michael himself watch? His answer might surprise you even more.
“I love PBS, the Discovery Channel, The Simpsons. I love Sesame Street. I could watch it for hours. But my favorite show is Malcolm in the Middle. It reminds me so much of [my brothers and me] when we were little.”
If you never caught it, “Malcolm in the Middle” was a Fox family sitcom. Frankie Muniz starred as Malcolm, a bright boy growing up in a loud house full of brothers. Michael knew all about a house full of brothers, so you can see why it hit home.
TV Guide followed up and asked which character he related to.
“Malcolm. Mainly because he tries to fit into society, and he doesn’t.”
Years later, Frankie Muniz shared on Twitter that Michael had told him the same thing, that Malcolm reminded him of himself as a kid.
A fan has posted the audio of that 2001 TV Guide interview on YouTube in parts, and this is Part 4, so you can hear Michael talking with the magazine in his own voice.
Audio of Michael Jackson’s 2001 TV Guide interview
It’s a sweet picture when you put it all together. The biggest name on music TV was sitting in a hotel room with two little kids at his feet, telling a magazine they’d have to wait for MTV. Meanwhile his own remote was set to a family sitcom.
He loved “Sesame Street” enough to say he could watch it for hours. And the show he called his favorite was really about a boy with a lot of brothers, just like him.