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Michael Jackson confessed talking to child-size mannequins during his loneliness: “Will you be my...?”

Jackson shared, "I felt I needed people, someone, I didn't have... I was too shy to be around real people. I didn't talk to them."

Michael Jackson, the undisputed King of Pop, captivated the world with his music and dance, but behind the glimmering success lay a life filled with loneliness and isolation. Jackson himself admitted to confiding in child-sized mannequins, a revelation that paints a heartbreaking picture of the star’s struggle for companionship. The emotional toll on Jackson was severe, leading him to seek companionship in unusual ways. In a taped conversation with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, he confessed, “I needed someone... That’s probably why I had the mannequins.” After his untimely death in 2009 due to a drug overdose, investigators discovered numerous mannequins positioned around his Neverland Ranch. To Jackson, these lifeless figures provided a semblance of company. 

Throughout his life, Jackson yearned for genuine friendships. Growing up under the strict and often abusive rule of his father, Joe Jackson, he was robbed of a normal childhood. Jackson confessed, "I always thought, 'Why do I have these?' They are like real babies, kids.” He further added,  "I was looking for people to talk to. I was so lonely that I would cry in my room upstairs. I would think, 'That's it. I am getting out of here,' and I would walk down the street. I remember really saying to people, 'Will you be my friend?' I would say because I felt I needed people, someone I didn't have... I was too shy to be around real people. I didn't talk to them,” as reported by The Sun.

Fame proved to be a double-edged sword for Jackson. He shared, "They were like, 'Michael Jackson!' I would go, 'Oh god! Are they going to be my friend because of Michael Jackson? Or because of me?' I just wanted someone to talk to." Even in his teenage years, he envied the children playing in parks while he remained confined to recording studios. In 'The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul In Intimate Conversation,' he asserted, "I wanted so badly to play in the park across the street because the kids were playing baseball and football, but I had to record. I could see the park right across the street. But I had to go to the other building and work until late at night making the albums. I sat there looking at the kids with tears running down my face, and I would say, 'I am trapped, and I have to do this for the rest of my life. I am under contract.' But I wanted to go over there so bad it was killing me, just to [meet] a friend to say, 'Hi.'"

As per Daily Record, the loneliness followed him into adulthood. His personal bodyguards, Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard, who were with him 24/7 for over two years, revealed that Jackson lived in a world of seclusion. Despite the rumors, they insisted he was a devoted father who cherished his children, Prince, Paris, and Blanket. They revealed, “We worked for Mr Jackson. We didn’t work for the King of Pop. We got to see him as a man and a father. It was so good to see the side of him which was so in tune as a parent, from helping them with their homework and making sure they were eating right to putting them to bed.”

Moreover, Jackson's paranoia led to extreme security measures at his house. Surveillance cameras covered every corner, panic buttons were installed, and even his own family needed appointments to visit him. Though he threw lavish birthday parties for his children, no other kids attended apart from their nanny and tutor. They noted, “His happiest time was when he was with his kids.”