In one of Michael Jackson’s most revealing later interviews, Geraldo Rivera asked him what actually made him happy.
Michael’s answer was not awards, record sales or being the King of Pop.
It was his children.
During the 2005 interview, Rivera explained that he had spent time watching Michael with Prince, Paris and Blanket and was surprised by how ordinary their home life could look.
Michael said he enjoyed caring for them himself.
He talked about making breakfast, changing diapers, reading books, playing hide-and-seek and even settling arguments over Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel.
Then Rivera asked what his children meant to him.
Michael struggled to put it into words before saying they meant “everything” and were his world. He said they were the reason he woke up ready for each new day.
And when Rivera asked whether giving them a normal childhood was his priority, Michael answered simply:
“I want to be the best father in the world.”
Video 1 Link: Michael Jackson Interview With Geraldo Rivera
The interview also revealed how Michael viewed his own career.
Asked whether returning to the recording studio felt good, Michael described music as his life and said the creative process was where he felt most comfortable.
He even admitted:
“I’m obsessed with creating.”
Perhaps the most surprising detail came when Geraldo asked about Michael’s enormous collection of awards.
Michael said he deliberately did not display gold records and trophies around his home because he never wanted his subconscious mind to believe he had already accomplished everything. He wanted to keep feeling there was something greater left to create.
He also explained Neverland in unusually simple terms.
Michael said his fame made ordinary activities such as going to a local movie theater, park or store extremely difficult. Neverland allowed him to create those experiences behind the gates and share them with his children and other families. He connected that desire to the childhood experiences he missed while constantly performing with his brothers.
The interview took place during one of the most difficult periods of Michael’s public life, yet some of its most memorable moments had almost nothing to do with controversy.
They were about fatherhood, creativity, family and the ordinary life he said fame rarely allowed him to have.
For all the titles Michael Jackson collected, in this interview the one he seemed most determined to get right was simply “Dad.”