Ian Halperin - Unmasked: The Final Years Of Michael Jackson

Thanks to:

Pierre Turgeon: For your inspiration and incredible insight. For being a brilliant strategist and for being one of the most professional editors I have ever worked with. Merci, Pierre!

Franois Turgeon: For your unwavering support, artistic vision, whimsical genius and for being a great friend. BTW, this book would not have been the same without the support of your incredible husky, Emo.

Anthony Ziccardi: When we first met face-to-face we didnt really know where this was all going. Your determination and dedication will never be forgotten.

Elisa Rivlin: A very special thank-you for your amazing work and going above and beyond the call of duty, especially on a Sunday!

Max Wallace: For polish and sparkle and for keeping it real. You are one of the industrys finest. Heres to many more New York Times bestsellers that Im sure represent your destiny.

Nachammai Raman and Dwayne Lawrence: You are both so cool to work with. Congrats on an excellent editing job.

Isabelle Dub: Without your input and vision none of this would have been the same. You are the smartest and most talented publicist I have ever worked with.

Gratia Ionescu: Meticulous, polite, and a world-class person. It is always a pleasure to work with you.

Jarred Weisfeld: The most charismatic literary agent in the world. Every day I have worked with you has been a blessing. Heres to many more years together.

Noah Levy (Senior Editor, In Touch ): You had the vision and courage to publish my story when I claimed Jackson had six months to live. I was criticized worldwide for disclosing this. You saw the goods I had and had the vision to publish it and stand by it.

George Thwaites ( London Daily Mail ): You are the best. I have known you many years and you have been the most straight-up person. Thanks.

Dawn Olsen ( GlossLip ): You are the nicest and most dedicated person I have met.

Page Six: Always a pleasurethanks for your unwavering support.

Marie Joelle Parent: Un grand merci. Je suis un fan.

All the people who were brave enough to speak on the record. And a big thanks to the people close to Michael who spoke to me off the record. I guaranteed their anonymity because they had signed confidentiality agreements. You all are extremely brave. I cant thank you enough.

Without you there would be no book.

The L.A. hairdresser who trained me: I didnt think I could ever pose undercover as a hair stylist. You made me believe. And you certainly deserve full credit for making me pull it off.

The entire staff at Transit Publishing: Whenever I visit the office, I leave with a smile. You are all a ray of light.

My precious daughter, Clover Sky: When you were fifteen months old, I used to blare Michael Jackson singing Bad on the car stereo and youd dance to it in the driveway. When you were eighteen months old, you used to say: Daddy, I love Michael Jackson, but he sounds like a girl. Thank you for all the joy you have brought me since the day you came into this world.

If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.

In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.

I wake up from dreams and go Wow, put this down on paper. The whole thing is strange. You hear the words, everything is right there in front of your face

When, before Christmas 2008, I revealed on my celebrity blog, ianundercover.com, that Michael Jackson had a life-threatening condition, it set off an international media frenzy. Publications ranging from US Weekly to the Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report to Rolling Stone reported my exclusive, along with thousands of other newspapers, TV stations and magazines throughout the world, including eleven outlets in China alone.

On December 24, In Touch magazine quoted me as saying Jackson had six months to live. That day, Jacksons official spokesman, Dr. Tohme Tohme, called my report a complete fabrication. The singer, he assured the media, was in fine health. Most of the media took his word for it and the feeding frenzy came to an abrupt halt.

Six months and one day later, Jackson was dead.

My involvement in the Michael Jackson story actually began four years earlier, on June 13, 2005. As a breaking news alert flashed on CNN announcing that the jury had reached a verdict in Jacksons molestation trial, I knew that American legal history was about to be made. Finally, justice was going to be served, I remember thinking. This was not going to be another O. J. Simpson travesty where an uneducated group of twelve unqualified jurors fell sway to a high-priced legal team that helped a celebrity get away with murder by playing the race card. No, this was by all accounts a mostly white, middle-class, educated group of citizenseight women and four menthat was smart enough to weigh the evidence and come to a credible conclusion about innocence and guilt.

I hadnt been following the trial very closely but I had caught enough snippets on TV and newspapers that made it fairly obvious he was guilty of some very heinous acts.

And so I fully expected the jury to return a guilty verdict on the most serious counts for which Jackson had been indicted, especially the charge that he had sexually molested a thirteen- year-old cancer patient whom he had taken under his wing the year before.

As the banner moving across the screen announced that the verdict would be read in open court at 4:45 p.m., the commentators who had been following the case since the beginning seemed reluctant to hazard a guess about the outcome. I figured that they were just trying to remain objective for the cameras. Like me, they must have seen enough convincing evidence throughout the trial to make Jacksons guilt a foregone conclusion. Hadnt the boys entire family, after all, been witness to the crimes? Hadnt a stewardess seen Jackson plying the boy with alcohol on board an airplane? Hadnt members of the staff at Neverland testified to some highly suspicious shenanigans that pointed to only one conclusion? And what about reports that Jackson had been accused before of molesting a boy and had apparently offered a multimillion-dollar settlement to avoid going to trial years earlier. Where theres smoke, theres fire, his detractors argued convincingly. And, most telling of allthe only evidence that I really needed to convince mehadnt Jackson actually admitted to letting the boy sleep in his bed?