Author’s Note

AUTHOR’S NOTE

THIS ISN’T A tribute.
And it’s not a takedown.

It’s a mirror.

Michael Jackson’s life wasn’t just strange — it was unprecedented.
He was world-famous before he had a frontal lobe.
He was abused, mythologized, commodified, and scrutinized until there was almost nothing left to protect.

This book doesn’t ignore the controversy.
It sits with it.

Do I believe he was perfect? Of course not.
Do I believe he was a predator?

No. I don’t.

I believe he was a man drowning in trauma, clinging to innocence like a life raft.
I believe he built Neverland not to lure children, but to escape his own childhood.
I believe the world projected its darkness onto him — because we didn’t want to face our own.

You’re welcome to draw your own conclusions.
That’s the point of a mythography.

But I wrote this because I think we got it wrong.

And I think it’s time someone said so —
not in courtrooms, or headlines,
but in context.

— JJ