Cover Story: Is Michael Jackson
for Real?

Imagine the banner headline if the 'National Enquirer' got hold of the story: Michael Jackson shares hotel suite with "Actor friend." The perennial bachelorhoold of Jackson — who at twenty-nine still lives with his mother — is one of the many mysteries that have provided the media with abonanza of gossip and speculation. But this time the story is true. Even Michael Jackson's manager, Frank Dileo, confirms it.

When Michael kicks off his first solo tour in Tokyo this month, he will be sharing his two-bedroom suite with one of his closest friends, who is, indeed, an actor. Michael has even helped get an agent for this actor; you may have seen him in Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School. Michael's friend is a three-year-old named Bubbles.

Bubbles is a chimpanzee.

Bubbles is just one of the many real-life characters who populate the elaborate fantasy world that the superstar has constructed around himself. Playing and chatting with Bubbles or Louie the Llama or Crusher, his new 300-pound python, Michael can effortlessly become one of those Disney characters he so loves.

Bubbles goes everywhere with Michael. They are a classic TV-style duo, like Timmy and Lassie or Wilbur and Mister Ed. Bubbles often eats at the dinner table with Michael; he was in the recording studio with Michael for much of the two years it took to make Bad, the follow-up to Thriller. Bubbles accompanied Michael to New York for Martin Scorsese's filming of the "Bad" video, which debuted August 31 st on the. CBS special Michael Jackson… the Magic Returns. Bubbles is a star of the new line of stuffed animals known as Michael's Pets, which will also be the basis for a children's cartoon series. Bubbles even has a crib in Michael's bedroom. And when Michael threw an elaborate dinner party at his Encino, California, mansion on a warm July night to begin the promotion of Bad, it was Bubbles, not the pop star, who worked the room, truly the life of the party.

Nearly five years had elapsed since the release of Thriller, which became the biggest album in history, spawning seven hit singles, winning eight Grammys and selling an unprecedented 38.5 million copies worldwide. Thus the unveiling of Bad was a major event, and treated as such. Less than a week after Bad had been mastered, Michael's label, Epic, footed the bill for a group of the most powerful record retailers in America to be flown in and put up at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The party of fifty — including executives of CBS, Epic Records' parent company — met at the hotel's tightly guarded Crystal Ballroom to hear the première playing of Bad. Yet since most of those gathered were businessmen, not pop connoisseurs, they were uncomfortable sitting around listening to a record. They were eager to get to the real show — Michael Jackson and his child's paradise.