Every account of the day Michael Jackson died comes from doctors, lawyers, or investigators.
But there was an ordinary working woman in that house who saw the whole thing happen from the kitchen. Her name is Kai Chase. She was Michael Jackson’s personal chef, and on 25 June 2009, she was downstairs preparing lunch when everything overhead fell apart.
She had been hired in April 2009 to cook for Jackson and his three children as he trained for his London comeback shows. Her job was to keep them all eating well. She has described the household as usually peaceful and orderly, and she has said something about him as a father that gets missed in all the noise: Jackson was hands-on with his kids, they ate healthily, and they got plenty of sleep.
The day before, Wednesday 24 June, was completely normal. Michael came downstairs and ate lunch with his children at the dinner table — seared tuna and a salad. Then Kai packed him a dinner to take to rehearsal that night, because he liked his food wrapped and ready. She noticed he seemed tired, and put it down to the punishing rehearsal schedule. That was the last time she saw him.
Michael Jackson’s Personal Chef Recalls The Day He Died
There is one thing he had said to her earlier that has stayed with people ever since. On roughly her third day working there, he told her: “You know, they’re killing me. They’re killing me because I’m working too much. I’m rehearsing too much.”
The next morning she arrived at 8:30 and started making the children’s breakfast — granola and almond milk. And straight away something small was off. Every single morning, Jackson’s doctor would come down the stairs to collect the juices and granola for him. That morning, he never came down. Kai’s honest first thought was the most ordinary one imaginable: “I thought maybe Mr. Jackson is sleeping late.”
So she carried on. She finished breakfast. She started preparing lunch. She looked at her phone and saw it was midday.
Michael Jackson Personal Chef Kai Chase’s Trial
Then, at about five or ten past twelve, the doctor came running down the stairs shouting. “Go get Prince!” Kai has described how loud he was screaming. She ran into the den where the children were playing, and Prince, Michael’s oldest son, ran out to meet the doctor.
Her description of the next few seconds is the line everyone remembers. “From that point on you could feel the energy in the house change.” She stepped into the hall and saw the three children standing there. Paris was crying. Paramedics were running up the stairs past her.
So the staff did the only thing left to do. The chef, the housekeeper, the nanny, and the three children held hands in the hallway and prayed. Kai remembers Prince joining in, and Paris crying and saying “Yes, father, God. Yes, Jesus.” As she put it: they were praying for the safety of this man. “This is their dad.”
At 1:14 pm, Michael Jackson was taken to hospital. Around fifteen minutes later, security asked the staff to leave the property. Kai asked whether Mr Jackson was all right, and was told only that he was being taken to hospital. She went home.
About an hour later, she found out he was gone, the same way the rest of us did.