Customer Reviews

Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson

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1 star:		(117)

 

 

Having followed Ian's other explosive celebrity scoops and books over the past several years I sort of knew what to expect with this one. Ian is the one who exclusively revealed on his blog that Angelina Jolie has sex daily with men, women, dogs, plants, and suggestively even her own children. He claims that Brad Pitt impregnated a mysterious Sudanese model who then traveled to Cannes this year to confront him, but then never said another word about it. He claimed multiple times that David Carradine was murdered, when in fact the forensic experts confirmed that Carradine died of accidental erotic asphyxiation. One of his biggest things is to "out" celebrities and in his mind most all of Hollywood is gay. Unfortunately, none of Ian's exclusives have ever been substantiated by any factual evidence, and most read more like fabricated tales than concrete accounts.

Late last year Ian first alleged (as he does in his book) that Michael Jackson was suffering from a potpourri of deadly diseases including but not limited to Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, chronic gastrointestinal bleeding, severe emphysema, 95% blind in his left eye, near mute, lung and liver diseases and in dire need of a transplant, serious back and leg pain, virtually bedridden and unable to get out, amongst other outlandish illnesses which seemed to grow each week. After these claims were roundly denied by Michael Jackson, Ian aggressively promised to bring out medical records and evidence to support these claims, he never did so but instead challenged Michael to take a medical exam to prove he didn't have such illnesses. In fact, a mandatory five hour medical exam was conducted several months ago as required by the insurance carriers of the concert series in London (which Ian never mentioned until the day Michael made the announcement himself). The certified doctors responsible for this 50-point exam, including one from New York, confirmed that other than a slight hay fever (cold) he was in great health and the only other illnesses he had was his well known skin condition Vitiligo and Lupus. After Michael Jackson passed away, forensic experts and those conducting the autopsy again made note that he did NOT die due to natural causes or lingering illnesses and that we'd have to wait for a toxicology report. It is suspected that a single anesthetic was administered by an inexperienced doctor which led to his shocking death, not all of the reasons Ian has proclaimed.

This book makes heavy, heavy use of anonymous sources Ian describes as "close friends" of Michael Jackson. Ian also has a reputation of using names of sources that simply do not exist or have no legitimate association with the celebrity he is describing--such as calling "Dean Smith" a close friend of Michael Jackson despite no such person ever existing in his life; not once did any media outlet mention such a name in connection to Michael Jackson over the course of forty years. To substantiate some of Ian's health claims in the past, he cited an old and obsolete gossip column from Fox News while portraying it as a brand new quote for his own story. He also uses other gossipers like Perez Hilton to confirm his stories, most such claims we've long heard in tabloids for years and years.

Ian regurgitates the widespread rumors of Michael's children, plastic surgery, and sexuality. He claims that Michael Jackson is gay (despite much evidence indicating otherwise including all the heterosexual material found at Neverland in 2003). Ian insists that he has seen photographs of Michael dressed all up in drag with gay men at nightclubs but then says that Michael wasn't even recognizable at all... He also does not show any such pictures to us, or to the media. Ian allegedly went undercover as a gay hairdresser to meet Michael Jackson, but does not give a timeline or exact location; for the record Karen Faye had long been Michael Jackson's sole makeup artist and stylist even after he passed away.

Ian claims that Michael Jackson wanted to die and that he couldn't hardly walk let alone dance or sing (on Ian's site he claimed Michael couldn't even wipe his own butt). Pictures and videos of Michael Jackson's final rehearsals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles were released by AEG officials. They recorded more than 100 hours of HD video of Michael singing and dancing night after night, including just hours before he passed away. It is expected that they will be releasing this material on DVD, in theaters, or as a Pay-Per-View event in the future. I want everyone to take a look at those pictures, and at the video of Michael dancing and singing, and then remember that Ian proclaimed he was bedridden and "could no longer sing, for a start. On some days he could barely talk. He could no longer dance." According to concert promoters, Michael sang live much of the time during rehearsals and sounded better than ever even though he was told to preserve his voice for the real concerts, this too will come out when more video gets released.

The bottom line is that none of the salacious speculations in Ian's book, especially about Michael's alleged illnesses or sexuality, are backed up by factual evidence or supporting documents. Ian claims to have seen Michael's medical records, but fails to show them to us and his claims contradict that of forensic experts and doctors. He claims to have seen confidential documents, pictures, and spoken to unknown or anonymous close friends but again none of this can be substantiated. Ultimately we get yet another unauthorized book containing nothing but speculation at a point when Michael Jackson himself can't even defend against such accusations.

For those who believe that Ian set out to create an unbiased book about him, you need to review his blog and the things he previously wrote about Michael until the time that he passed away. Just weeks beforehand he claimed that his book will "shock you as to how sick a human being can actually be. How screwed up, how ****ed up, a man--if you call Michael Jackson a man--can be." He referred to Michael Jackson as "Wacko Jacko" and wrote even more grotesque things on his blog about him. The original title of his book was in fact "Peter Pan or Pervert" and had a much more pessimistic description put out by the original publishers. Would not recommend this, nor would I recommend any subsequent unauthorized products coming out on the heels of Michael's death.

I just got done reading this book, and I have two major complaints:

First off, I would like to say that this is probably the most poorly edited book I have ever had the chance to read. There are sentences that are repeated twice, spelling and grammar errors that could have been easily corrected, the font at some points looks deliberately stretched out, and the dates on some things are messed up. Case in point: Apparently according to this book, Diana, Princess of Wales died in 1999, and an incident involving Janet Arvizo in relation to People vs. Jackson was placed in the year 1993...and this is just what I caught. There are probably more date screwups abounding that I missed. Whoever edited this should be ashamed of themselves.

Secondly, the meat and bones of the book itself. The term "research fail" could be used to sum up the portion of the book not related to the molestation charges. The author presents little to no evidence to back up his many outrageous claims, which include but are not limited to:

1. MJ is gay, and had numerous gay lovers over the years;
2. Lisa Marie married him to get him into the Cult of Scientology and divorced him when he refused;
3. He was high on drugs when he dangled Blanket off the balcony in Berlin;
4. The inclusion of the "nanny pumped MJ's stomach" story as fact;
5. MJ had some rare genetic lung disease, so he brought in Dr. Conrad Murray to kill him in some form of assisted suicide.

Ian Halperin got lucky when he said MJ only had six months to live. A lucky guess does not make one an authority, especially not with the lack of real research that has been done on this book. He claims to have spent 5 years researching this, but all he came up with was 287 (artificially inflated) pages, plus another 55 pages of the 1993 transcript (some of which already appeared in portions earlier in the book)? In fact, the main sources for this book, besides his (possibly made up) anonymous "sources", is (possibly made up) stuff the author had previously written about MJ on his blog and articles that have appeared in the ever-so-reliable British trash mags The Sun, The Daily Mail, and the News of the World that the author has excerpted from.

In closing: poorly written, poorly edited, poorly sourced. Just plain poor.

Celebrity biographers are an interesting breed. It's important to keep questioning their motives as you read along. Some do it for wealth, some do it for fame, some do it to glorify or defame their subject. Very rarely do you find someone committing their life's work to the raw truth in these type of profiles. Not when sensationalism sells.

Halperin's latest work should be considered professional fan fiction. He appears to have taken basic facts about Jackson's life and let his imagination roam. Almost all of his tips come from anonymous sources. There's a reason we are taught from grade school to cite sources, people. There is absolutely no reason to believe these stories are true. The assumptions he makes and conclusions he jumps to are often laughable. Halperin never interviewed Jackson.

The highlight of the book is Halperin's analysis of the child molestation charges. He finds that there is no truth to the accusations, which is plainly apparent with any research into the families and the specifics behind the charges.

I never imagined someone could be so violently robbed of privacy and compassion and condemned by the same people who adored him. Don't waste your money on this book. [...]. That's a summary of the whole book. Please note that this is published on the Daily Mail, a disreputable tabloid. Further, notice that one of Halperin's claims, that Rowe is demanding custody, has already been proven false. As per the claims that Jackson couldn't sing or dance and would only contribute 13 minutes of the performance, I sincerely doubt AEG would allow that. Outrage would spread after the first show and everyone would start demanding refunds. And check out the author's personal blog. It's hilarious narcissism. And he claims to be producing a documentary about Jackson. Exploitation at it's lowest.

The fact of the matter is we will probably never know the truth about Michael Jackson. His life was so bizarre and so private, I don't even imagine his closest of friends would know the whole truth. If you'd like to read anything on him, I recommend his autobiography, Moon Walk. Although it is bloated with sugar-coating and, well, lies- you can learn more about him by reading between the lines of his own words than you could elsewhere. And, of course, you wouldn't be feeding the vulture. So it is deliciously ironic when Halperin points the finger of blame at Jackson's greedy entourage for his death while so desperately trying to grab a piece for himself. Halperin ought to be ashamed.

Rest in Peace, Michael.

I started reading preview chapters of this book on the Daily Mail online right after Michael Jackson died. Mr. Halperin makes a lot of assertions about Jackson's sexuality, health and state of mind. When I first read these, I found a lot of them rang true. How would I know otherwise?

Since Jackson's death a lot more info on him has come to light, including statements from Lisa Marie Presley and others. Apparently Jackson was a drug addict who was enabled by a host of private doctors. None of this is new except the possible lawsuits. The doctor who last looked after Jackson isn't talking. I do know he was in the employ of AEG, the concert/venue owners. Neither the doctor or AEG's representatives have admitted any connection between themselves and Jackson's death.

To me, Jackson's story is tragedy. From the beginning to the end of his brief life he was the toy of corporations. I have no doubt Jackson's drug issues were well known to AEG's principles and that they, through the doctor in their employ, accidentally enabled him to death.

As for Mr. Halperin's claims about Jackson's identity - I find these all extremely suspect. Photos of Jackson surfaced on ABC news that show evidence of Jackson's addiction as well as his skin condition, vitiligo. The photos are there for anyone to see which is a tragedy in itself.

Halperin denies that Jackson had a skin condition. The evidence says otherwise. Much of what Jackson said of himself, improbable as it was, is now found to be true. I find it especially sad that Jackson could share so much and still be considered a liar. There was no way he could win. The lies made money. All Jackson had to share was himself and that wasn't profitable. The truth just wasn't that interesting.

Now we will never know. Perhaps we don't deserve to. No one listened to Jackson while he was alive. We lost our chance to know him.

Wow, so this item is currently the number 1 Michael Jackson book? What a bummer. Well, seems like tabloid-professional Halperin finally gets big cash with his sensationalism-filled "work" which doesn't even deserve to be called a biography. It's simply his own interpretations, he leaves out all the really important things in MJ's life, the things he achieved as a musician, entertainer, humanitarian and what his life with his kids was like. You can get a better read about MJ's live on TMZ, really. Or visit a MJ-community board, you'll find better facts there, even on Wikipedia. Halperin said few months ago MJ had a rare Skin-disease, this flesh-eating bug... then he said MJ has skin cancer... after MJ's death he made even more totally ridiculous remarks... I really don't get these kind of people's lives, are they so boring so that they need to be constantly (and unsuccessfully) trying to trash MJ's legacy?

People will still love MJ in 500 years and listen to his music and will be mesmerized by his music and dance. Halperin could've actually provided us with facts, but then he must've changed his mind and maybe thought "hey let's just write a tabloid biography"... and here we go...

If you like to know more about Michael Jackson, rather get "Michael Jackson Conspiracy" or any other biography. However, the best thing you can do: Wait for the reprint of Michael Jacksons autobiography, yes his own biography, which was released in 1988, it will be republished shortly, worldwide. It's called "Moonwalk".

I bought this book thinking I would gain insight into Michael Jackson's personal life. After reading the book, I don't feel I know more than I did before I bought it.

I also question the motive of the book. With so much speculation, not facts, about Michael and all of it negative, I wonder why the author intended to write this book and add to the media circus that already thrives on disparaging Michael Jackson.

Why would he assert that Michael Jackson is gay? Why would he assert that John Travolta is? The book has bizarre accusations, but I don't think it's anymore true than National Enquirer.

Let's remember Michael for the outstanding musician and dancer that he was. I've never seen a better overall performer, and he deserves all the credit in the world for that.

Do yourself a favor and don't buy the book. Unless it's written by Elizabeth Taylor, I don't believe anything.

After hearing so much about this book and the author's comments, I felt compelled to look into the author's credibility and his bold assertions about MJ's health. At first, I was even inclined to buy the book.

But Halpern's assertions that MJ was anorexic, bulimic, did not have vitiligo, was almost blind in one eye, had a failed lung, could not sing or dance, etc. made no sense to me at all. Anyone with just one of these diseases like anorexia would not have been able to walk, let alone sing and dance, the way MJ did in the rehearsal footage. (It's more likely that stress and his medications suppressed his appetite. MJ was always naturally very thin.)

Reading some of these other comments revealing Halpern's credibility and motives has cleared up my overall suspicions and has confirmed that this is not the book I want to read.

The truth of Michael is in his own words and music. May he rest in peace knowing that even a character like Halpern has revealed that he is NOT a child molester. I will not scar the memory of MJ by supporting this book full of unsupported or unsubstantiated facts.

I am shocked this garbage could be published. I usually like books such as this, but found the writing to be childish and that really hindered any potential enjoyment in reading the book.

This book is simply a quick cash in on the Jackson death. It poorly written, poorly researched, poor edited and really a waste of time in all respects. Its also a very short book - artificially inflated to 250 plus pages through page after page of interview transcripts. If you are interested in reading about MJ, wait for the Taborelli bio.

There is one word to describe Ian Halperin, Papparazzi. This book is trash tabloid gossip and I wish I had never bought it let alone read nine chapters. I will not finish it. Mr. Halperin has an obvious dislike for the king of pop which he expressed in this book. I was really bothered by the fact that the author had no problem with lying or dressing in costume (drag?) to be allowed in the same room as a celebrity. He lied as well to get inside the Church of Scientology and print "inside information" about the organization which I am sure is pure rubbish.
Mr. Halperin contradicts himself several times in the book, guess he just couldn't get his story straight like the people involved in the prosecution of Michael Jackson in the Gavin Arvizio trial. He spends a laboriously long amount of time covering the case (yawn)and can't decide whether Michael is gay or not. In one instance he talks of how he dressed as a woman and had relations with construction workers and waiters and even made a pass at Mr. Halperin himself (perhaps the book was written in retaliation after Mr. Halperin was rejected as a lover) and in the next breath he states how there were over 70 copies of heterosexual pornagraphy found at Mr. Jackson's estate when it was raided due to the child molestation allegations. Mr. Halperin goes so far as to praise Diane Dimond as a journalist, that right there goes to show his dislike of Michael as Diane was one of Michael's greatest adversaries and probably did Michael more damage than any american "journalist" by selling stories she had paid to get out of people as god's honest truth which they were not.
In light of the fact that Michael is now deceased (R.I.P.) Mr. Halperin could've shown a little sensitivity toward the family and the rest of us who loved Michael by not publishing this pack of lies obtained through gossip and questionable journalistic practices...But I guess money talks..I hope you enjoy your money Mr. Halperin for there is this thing called Karma and I am sure justice will be served to you one day.