What is the story with Jonathan Spence and Michael Jackson?

Jonathan Spence was one of the first boys who had an intense friendship with Jackson. He never gives interviews, or talks about Jackson, but there is evidence that they were very, very close friends. The general public knew a lot about Jackson’s other young friends at the time, Emmanuel Lewis and Sean Lennon, since both of them were famous. With Jonathan, people weren’t even quite sure how old the boy was.

In Michael Jackson Unauthorized, Christopher Andersen wrote:

Jonathan Spence became the focus of Michael Jackson’s attention for over a year. An Encino neighbor, the ten-year-old blond actor was with Michael nearly every minute on the set of Captain EO. To some on the set, Michael seemed oblivious of everything but his ten-year-old companion. Without the slightest hint of self-consciousness, he hugged, cuddled and generally displayed a considerable amount of affection toward the boy. Spence fetched Michael water and orange juice and sat on his lap between takes. Jackson and Spence dueled with water pistols, ambushed crew members with pies, and conducted full-tilt food fights that virtually destroyed the interior of Michael’s luxury appointed trailer. After filming was over, so, for all intents and purposes, was the friendship.

An important part of that statement was false, although the observations of Michael’s behavior with Jonathan were likely true. Jonathan’s friendship with Michael had started way before Michael filmed Captain EO and he was Michael’s friend for much longer than a year. He was not an actor either and on the set of Captain EO which was filmed in 1985, Jonathan was twelve years old and not ten. Now of course the question comes up, how normal it is to cuddle and show affection toward a twelve-year-old unrelated boy. Most children have started puberty at that point and would feel very uncomfortable with a grown man cuddling them as if they were toddlers. In the pictures that we have of Michael and Jonathan, we surprisingly see that they had a lot of body contact.

But for the public, Spence was just the boy who was known to be with Michael during the filming of Captain EO when he was a twelve-year-old. Apart from that, he remained a mystery even to fans. According to Jonathan, the first meeting of them took place when he was only five years old.

“I met Michael when I was five. I was friends with one of his brother Tito son’s, with whom I went to the same school in Encino. My friend would invite me to his uncle Michael’s concerts. When we would go to his house, we would play with his uncle Michael.”~Jonathan Spence, 1995

Michael didn’t buy Neverland yet, he was still living with his family in Hayvenhurst. It wasn’t really special back then, Jonathan was just a boy who was playing together with his friends and their uncle, but things changed when Jonathan grew older.

It all changed in 1983 when the kid was 10 years old. From Victor Gutierrez’s book:

As he grew up, Jackson gave him more attention and invited him over more often. When Jonathan was 10 years old, they would play games until late. He would then be invited to spend the night in the family house.

How many uncles invite their nephews’ playmate over for a sleepover when that child is only ten years old?

In 1984, 11-year-old Jonathan Spence visited Disneyworld along with Michael Jackson and his then 9-year-old friend Sean Lennon. Jonathan started to be a special friend ( a term used for boys who went to amusement parks with Jackson, had sleepovers with him, toured with him and received a bunch of gifts from him) seemingly before 1985:

In October 1984, Michael and eleven-year-old Jonathan also visited Orlando together:

Jonathan stated the following in an interview with Gutierrez:

“The press and Michael’s biographers never interviewed me. They talk about me without having any idea of what kind of relationship I had with Michael. This is the first and last time that I’m going to do an interview regarding my life with Michael.”~ Jonathan Spence

Here you can see a video of 12-year-old Jonathan and Jackson (1:57-2:08):

An employee who worked at Hayvenhurst, Estela Rodriguez noticed that the friendship appeared to be creepy and potentially dangerous for the child:

“Jonathan was one of the boys the singer was most obsessed with. It was 1985. ‘I remember Jonathan had precious blue eyes that Michael was mad about. Michael loved him a lot, and in his room he had lots of photos, even more than of his own family. Jonathan was a serious boy and he was always thinking. Perhaps Jonathan gave him photos of himself to confirm, in a way, his loving desires. I saw them hug and kiss but never say anthing sexual between them, although the boy stayed and slept in the same bed as Michael. I am sure about his because I was the one who changed the sheets.”~Estela Rodriguez

Another worker who replaced Estela Rodriguez was Blanca Francia, she also noticed that Michael’s bond with the boy was odd:

“I never saw the mother or father. The boy called Michael ‘Daddy’. He was so close to Michael, he just wanted to rub up against him and stay with him. He wouldn’t talk to anyone else, he would only sweet talk with Michael. Just Michael. Even if was in the room, he would only talk to Michael, like I wasn’t even there. They were sleeping together. I would come back to work the next morning and they would still be in the room.”~Blanca Francia

It says the following in the court documents:

So, she found Spence’s underwear on the floor of Jackson’s bedroom and furthermore, testified that they would take many Jacuzzis together. How many adults take Jacuzzis with 12-year-old children? It just isn’t appropriate for grown men to have frequent sleepovers with one particular child either.

There was also confusion about Spence’s parents. Michael needed an excuse for why he would spend so much time with an unrelated child. He told his personal maid, Blanca Francia, that “…the poor boy was left alone, I just want to take care of him”. Actually, quite a lot of people believed that Jonathan was either an orphan or had parents who barely spent time with him. Of course, this was not true. Jackson just lied to appear as a humanitarian who helps a poor boy, when in fact, most of Jackson’s young friends were middle class or rich boys. The truth was that Jonathan’s father died when the boy was four years old, which is quite tough for a young child. However, his mother Marion took care of him and they reportedly had a strong relationship. Jackson tried to be a father figure to many of the young boys he befriended over the years. That must have been quite an easy game with Jonathan. Jackson had three young nephews and many more young relatives, yet preferred to spend time with Jonathan. Although Jackson’s nephew was much younger, Jonathan, aged eleven, is sitting on Michael’s lap in this picture (taken in 1984):

When Michael and the 12-year-old were on the set of Captain EO, they spent every free minute together. They were hugging and laughing. Michael would even cuddle Jonathan while his mother was around. When was the last time you saw an unrelated man cuddling a pubescent middle school boy? Look at Jackson’s hand in the following picture:

His hand is placed on Jonathan’s thigh. Quite an intimate picture for an adult and a child. I wouldn’t want my underage son to take such a picture with any adult man ever. But Jonathan wasn’t the only boy who was around while filming Captain EO, there was also 14-year-old Emmanuel Lewis:

Another picture of Jonathan and Marion Spence together with Michael:

The closeness of the pair on the Captain EO set was confirmed by Randall Sullivan in Untouchable: The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson:

“Michael seemed closest to the boy. They were seen any number of times nuzzling and hugging, and seemed to love playing patty-cake with one another. People thought it was innocent, if a bit odd.”~ Randall Sullivan

On the 31st of July 1985, Michael needed to go to the hospital, because his hand was injured. A lot of journalists were there and of course Michael’s longtime friend Jonathan. This was the first time, the press wanted to know more about Jonathan because no one knew why Jackson would like to spend so much time with an unrelated child. When someone asked Jackson about the boy, his answer was that “the boy is a family friend”.

They also visited Ward Kimball together and other fantasy/amusement parks such as Disneyland over the next years. In most of those pictures, they appear to be much too physically close to each other.

Jonathan said that he liked Michael’s personality and how he was always caring about others, but was never talking about himself like other famous people:

“When we hang out, he just like any other guy. He never talks about himself, only about what is going on with others. We never talk about show business. Sometimes he’ll put on a disguise when we’re in public. When we go to Disneyland, we’ll go through the back and take all the alleys and back ways to get in front of the lines. He can’t wait in the line, no way. He would cause a riot. We move fast through Disneyland; if people get a good look at him, that’ll be it for that outing. He’s one of the nicest person I’ve ever known. He’s smart. He knows a lot about everything. He’s a kid. He never really had a childhood, and he’s having it now. The stuff I read in the papers about him, I know it’s all a bunch of B.S. I just ignore it. A couple of times I’ve asked him about girlfriends and stuff, but we never really get into that. We don’t talk about the plastic surgery either, because it’s none of my business. He never brings it up. It’s not like he says,”Well, how do you like my new chin?”~Jonathan Spence to J.Randy Taraborrelli, 1991 (before the first allegation of child molestation, so the “BS statement” didn’t refer to the allegations)

Here is a picture of Jackson having an possessive arm around Jonathan’s neck while Jonathan is holding Jackson’s waist. Almost all photos of them show that they shared a physical closeness not normally seen between a twenty-seven year old man and a twelve year old boy:

Mary Coller, Jackson’s personal assistant and MJJ Productions employee at the time, said that Jonathan would spend at least two nights a week sleeping in Jackson’s bed at the age of 12. Occasionally Mary would call Marion to arrange the sleepover, but more often, Jackson would just call Marion himself. How many grown men do you know that arrange sleepovers with children and even ask their employees to do so?

Jonathan himself also admitted towards Victor Gutierrez that he slept over in Michael’s bed regularly:

“I more often slept in Michael’s bed each time I stayed at the family’s house, but nothing sexual ever happend. This is my private life with Michael and it’s nobody’s business. Why are people worried if I had sex or not? Michael has been a great influence in my life. I now live with my girlfriend and I am very happy. He was a good friend and I will never forget him.” ~ Jonathan Spence

Jonathan denies that anything sexual went on, but the way he phrases it somehow sounds like he is victim-blaming himself, if it occured. If there was something sexual going on, he didn’t have sex, but was sexually abused since he was a child and Michael Jackson was an adult. Jonathan obviously doesn’t understand that sexual contact with any minor younger than fourteen, is always sexual child abuse and not his private sex life. Moreover, he went on talking about his girlfriend like he wanted to prove that he is not gay and that Michael hasn’t influenced his sexual orientation.

In December 1986, Michael and 13-year-old Jonathan were in New York together. Jonathan looked like a teenager now and much older than he used to look just one year earlier:

As I already mentioned the strange picture of Michael and him, in which Jackson is touching his thigh, I want to show you another. This picture was taken when Jonathan was about twelve years old:

When Jonathan turned sixteen, Michael bought him his first car, a brend new Mustang. During the time Jonathan was between 15 and 16 years old (1988-1989), he visited Neverland. Jackson invited Jonathan to visit Neverland with his family, according to his mother Marion, “half a dozen times”.

Earlier, in early 1987, he was helping Michael to find a ranch/home that he likes. Agent Gloria Berlin was with them and noticed:

“They were always laughing and playing – playing patty-cake together.”

It’s a bit unusual that Jackson played such games with a teenager. Here is a picture of 14-year-old Jonathan, Michael Jackson and Agent Gloria Berlin at Neverland in late summer of 1987:

If Jonathan visited Michael half a dozen times between the ages of fifteen and sixteen, I don’t want to know how much time he spent with him at age 12.

People who worked for Michael at the time said that Michael told them to give the boy everything he wants. Orietta Murdock, Jackson’s personal assistant at the time, said Jonathan

…would call often and ask for concert tickets. Michael had given us instructions to give him what ever he wanted. I remember when Michael gave him a convertible Mustang.

Would anyone buy a 16-year-old boy a Mustang?

Orietta Murdoch said the following about the Mustang:

“A young boy of sixteen isn’t able to buy a brand-new Mustang convertible, and if he had, it would have been with Michael’s money. I was the one who received the call to start processing the purchase of the car.”

Murdoch also told Diane Dimond that Jonathan would frequently ask for plane tickets to Europe and, as Murdoch stated earlier, whatever Jonathan asked for, he got.

However, as Jonathan Spence grew older, he didn’t see Michael very often. Of course he was a very busy man and was not on tour when he met Jonathan, so he had more time for the boy, but it was then that they lost contact more or less. Jonathan and Michael still had phone conversations, but it became less and less. In 1988, Jackson toured the world with 10-year-old James Safechuck, who has accused Michael Jackson of sexual abuse. James became Jackson’s favorite young friend and replaced 15-year-old Jonathan Spence.

‘It’s hard to get in touch with him, though. I usually have to call his secretary, and then a couple of days later, he’ll call me.’

Jonathan spent very much time with Michael when he was 10-16 years old (1983-1989). It is very possible that Jackson continued to molest Jonathan while having James Safechuck around, at least for a year or so, considering the fact that James says that he wasn’t molested in 1987. Furthermore, Jackson often had many boys around at the same time. Safechuck also claimed that he was molested for two further years, when Jackson was already best friends with Brett Barnes. Jackson didn’t necessarily dump a boy once he was 14, but he always drew his attention to a younger boy then.

In 1993, there was the shock, 13-year-old Jordan Chandler claimed that Jackson had molested him. And what was found in one of Jackson’s bathrooms at Neverland in 1993? A naked picture of a boy who was believed to be Jonathan Spence. The child in the picture was not wearing any underwear, he was completely naked. It is unknown whether Michael Jackson took this picture or not, but he owned it. He was not charged with accusations of child pornography, because naked pictures of underage boys are legal, if they are not pornographic. The picture showed a nude young blond boy, but it wasn’t showing a child in sexual activity. The police had already interviewed Jonathan at the time and assumed the young boy to be Jonathan, due to optical similarities. Here is what was said in the court documents:

Leroy Thomas, one of the fired “Hayvenhurst Five” security guards, was interviewed by Diane Dimond for Hard Copy on November 23, 1993 following that raid on the Jackson family home. According to Thomas, who worked for the Jacksons from 1987 to 1993, Jackson called him and directed him to retrieve and then destroy a picture of a nude young boy that was hidden in his locked bathroom. He took a lie detector test on the Maury Povich show . The results were that he was telling the truth when he said that the found the picture, but lied when he said that he was told to destroy it.

Another employee, Blanca Francia, confirmed that Jackson would take photos of his young friends:

With a Polaroid camera he kept in his room, Michael took photos of his special friends. Francia spotted one such snapshot lying on a table in Michael’s room. Francia said it showed a particular favorite of Michael’s sitting on the edge of his bed apparently nude, with only a sheet draped over his genitals. Beneath that photo were more Polaroids – close-ups of the boy’s lips, his open mouth, his face. Francia placed them back where she found them.

Victor Guiterrez, who appeared to have excellent contacts in the Los Angeles Police Department, wrote

…the police raided Jackson’s parent’s house in Encino from about 2pm to 9pm. During this raid, the police seized a photo of a blond boy of about 7 years old who was nude and seemed to be holding his penis. The police did not know who that boy was, but later found out that it was Jonathan Spence.

In Jackson’s molestation trial in 2005, the prosecution sought to introduce the photo into evidence to prove he had a sexual interest in young boys; this would cause a problem for Jackson. The prosecution’s description of the photograph in the court documents included the phrase “believed to be Jonathan Spence”.

That anybody doubts the photo was real, and existed, is incredible. The prosecution filed the motion in January 2005 seeking to include the compromising picture at trial, I know of no case ever where either side wanted to introduce evidence that had never existed.

Here is a photo which proves that Jackson also took photos with young boys together, which many would consider inappropriate:

In 1997, Jonathan married at Neverland, but Michael wasn’t able to come to the wedding, because he was on the road for the HIStory tour. Besides, Jonathan hadn’t seen Michael in a long time either, his time as Jackson’s favorite had been over since James Safechuck became Jackson’s best young friend 1987.

In 1997, Jackson was also having underage boys with him, his favorite at the time: 12-year-old Omer Bhatti.

Jonathan told Victor Gutierrez in 1995 that he

had not spoke to Jackson in years, but during the time of the 1993 Investigation, Jackson called him to see if everything was okay, and if he was being bothered by a lot of people. During, the conversation, Jonathan asked Jackson if he has been with other boys such as Sean Lennon or Emmanuel Lewis. Jackson told him that it all was under control and that he shouldn’t worry about it.

If Michael Jackson wasn’t a child molester, why would Jonathan even ask Jackson about other boys (and not children generally?). Why did Michael say that everything is under control? A weird conversation about child molestation.

A conclusion:

Jonathan spent a lot of time with Michael between the ages of 10 and 16. Michael was touching his tigh in one picture when Jonathan was 12 years old. In another picture, Jonathan is sitting on Michael’s lap as a 12-year-old boy. Michael bought the 16-year-old boy his first car, a very expensive one. In 1993, there was a nude picture found in one of Michael’s bathrooms, the boy on it was believed to be Jonathan Spence. Furthermore, Jonathan slept in Jackson’s bed twice a week in 1985 and visited Jackson at his ranch in 1988/9 half a dozen times. Even though all of this speaks for sexual abuse, Jonathan said in the 1990s that Michael never touched him in a sexual way, even though he confuses child molestation of older children with having sex. Besides, he refuses to talk about Michael Jackson nowadays, so we don’t really know his recent perspective on the events that happend between him and Jackson. His quotes are all from the 1990s. The statements were all given by him when he was either in his late teens or a very young man. He rejects to discuss his relationship with Jackson for a very long time now. He didn’t testify on Michael’s behalf in 2005 either.

“He bought me whatever I wanted and invited me to work with him. That made me feel very important.”~ Jonathan Spence

Source:

http://www.mjfacts.com/the-truth-about-michael-jackson-feat-jonathan-spence/