Michael Jackson Bodyguard Recalls Death Threats and Midnight Escapes

As renewed interest in Michael Jackson continues to surge, thanks to the box office success of Michael and the release of the documentary series Michael Jackson: The Verdict, one of the people who knew the singer best during his final years is pulling back the curtain on the darker side of life as the King of Pop.

Bill Whitfield, Jackson’s head of security from 2006 until his death in 2009, revealed in a new interview with The Art of Dialogue that death threats and security scares were a constant reality behind the scenes.

According to Whitfield, protecting Jackson’s three children often meant making emergency exits in the middle of the night. “There were times in which we would be staying at hotels and we would receive death threats or threatening letters dropped off at the front desk,” he said. “I would make the call that we’re going to leave, and we would leave in the middle of the night without anyone knowing.”

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The children, he added, never knew what was happening. “They just thought that we were making another move,” Whitfield explained. “His concern for his kids was to keep all the craziness away from them and trying to have a normal life with them.”

Whitfield, who later co-authored Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days, said the singer’s problems extended far beyond obsessive fans and paparazzi. He recalled hearing people scream “child molester” from crowds while supporters shouted, “I love you.”

“That hurt him,” Whitfield said. “He’d ask us, ‘Did you guys hear somebody say something very mean?’ And we’d say no because I know had we confirmed it, man, we’d have been on the next plane to Bahrain.”

The bodyguard said he believed Jackson never fully recovered emotionally from the allegations that dogged him throughout the latter half of his life. “I think it crushed him,” Whitfield said. “I think it was the beginning of the downfall.”

He added that Jackson frequently insisted on his innocence during private conversations. “He would just comment, ‘I would never hurt a child. I would never,'” Whitfield recalled. “He said he would slit his wrist first before he ever hurt a child.”

Whitfield also claimed the singer regretted settling the 1993 civil case involving Jordan Chandler. “He directly told me he didn’t want to settle. He wanted to fight it, but he was advised that it would just go away,” Whitfield said. “It only made it worse.”

The former bodyguard’s remarks arrive as Jackson’s life and legacy are once again under intense public examination. The record-breaking success of Michael has pushed the singer’s catalog back onto the charts, while Michael Jackson: The Verdict has reignited debate surrounding the 2005 criminal trial that ended in acquittal.

Whitfield, however, said he has no plans to join in the celebrations surrounding the biopic.

“Very few people were around,” he said. “It’s hard for me to celebrate it because it just makes me wonder where was all these people when we was on the road traveling and where was the support for him at that time.”

For Whitfield, the man he knew wasn’t the larger-than-life icon celebrated by millions.

“The King of Pop was someone I didn’t know,” he said. “I knew Mr. Jackson, the man, the person, the father.”