Michael Jackson had spent most of his life surrounded by fame, private homes and heavy security. That made one drive through Las Vegas in 2007 especially striking to his bodyguards. Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard recalled Jackson looking from the car at a homeless man and woman, then asking a question that showed just how unfamiliar the scene seemed to him.
According to their account, Jackson asked why the people were outside and learned they were homeless. He had the car pulled over and watched as other vehicles continued past. Then he called the woman to the window, asked about her life and handed her three $100 bills. What happened moments later made him stop the car again.
Michael Jackson Bodyguards Speak About His Secret Life
The man who had been sitting nearby reportedly tried to take the woman’s money. Jackson saw the struggle and told Javon Beard to pull over again. Instead of confronting the man or taking the first gift back, Jackson called him over and gave him another $300. He then offered both of them some very specific advice.
“Get something nourishing,” Jackson told them according to Whitfield and Beard’s account, before warning them not to spend it on drugs. The encounter apparently stayed with him. When his guards explained that many more homeless people lived elsewhere in Las Vegas, Jackson wanted them to take him there so he could see the situation himself.
A few days later, they said Jackson remembered the conversation and asked again to visit that part of town. Once there, he was stunned by how many people were living on the streets in such a wealthy country. His guards recalled him handing $100 bills through the car window and later taking unused food to homeless people as well.
The story came from the men who protected Michael during some of his most private final years, when the superstar behind Thriller, “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” was largely hidden from public view. It offers a very different glimpse of one of music’s biggest stars. Watch the video above to hear his bodyguards describe the Michael Jackson they knew away from the stage.