Last night, HBO concluded the two part Dan Reed documentary Leaving Neverland . The documentary premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, despite much critique from fans and the Jackson Estate.
Wade Robson and James Safechuck share their stories of alleged sexual assault in the four hour documentary.
Since the Michael Jackson’s molestation charges were filed in 1993 and then again 2003, Jackson and his family have denied the allegations.
Before the documentary aired, Vanity Fair addressed 10 undeniable facts of Jackson’s sexual abuse allegations. Among these facts included that when Jackson was 34, he had slept in the same bed with 13-year-old Jordie Chandler over 30 times.
Jackson paid $25 million to settle the molestation charges against him by the Chandler family in June 1993.
Robson and Safechuck said they had decided to come forward with the truth since recently becoming fathers themselves.
James Safechuck (pictured above) claims Jackson’s lawyers coached him on how to testify against Jordie Chandler. “It’s like a ploy,” he recalled .
“They don’t have photos, just tell them no. That’s like the golden rule. Just don’t tell them, and they don’t actually know, or they can’t prove it.”
Wade Robson recalled being eager to defend Jackson.
He said he was “excited by the idea of being able to defend him, and being able to save him.”
“I knew it was true, but I couldn’t let myself go there, it was just like Jordie was the enemy,” Robson continued.
“Michael told me that I had to lie, and that’s what I did. I lied.”
By the time the 2003 allegations were brought forward, both Robson and Safechuck had created new lives for themselves, which is why they chose to remain quiet.
Safechuck recalls Michael asking him to testify again, “Michael called, and I hadn’t talked to him in a really long time. I had known about the trial, so I saw the pattern from before happen again. He called my parents and tried to convince them to testify for him and get involved. “
He continued, “At some point I worked up the courage to tell Michael that I don’t want to testify.”
“I remember silence on the phone for a while. He said you know, I understand, it’s really hard, and it’s tough to go through this with all the media and everything. But we can’t let them do this to us. We can’t let them take us down. Us, us, us.”
The Robson family tried to stay out of the trial until they were subpoenaed in 2005.
“If this didn’t go well for Michael, he was going to go to jail for the rest of his life. I was going to my grave with that truth of the sexual stuff that happened between Michael and I.”
Robson continued, “I didn’t believe or understand that the sexual stuff that happened between Michael and I was abuse. I didn’t feel like I was hurt by it, that it was anything bad that happened to me.”
“I loved Michael, Michael loved me, this was something that happened between us, that’s it. I still had absolutely no understanding that I was affected, or any feeling that I was affected negatively.”
Both Robson and Safechuck suffered a host of mental health issues, and say it took them years of therapy to come to terms with their alleged abuse.
Safechuck concluded his son inspired him to come forward with his story, “I think the abuse symptoms intensify when you have kids, like it ramps up even more. And then you see how innocent kids are. I think having kids kind of shoves that in your face.”
Robson echoed those same sentiments in regards to his son Koa: “What I started thinking was how can I have such clear feelings, negative horrible feelings about the idea of that sexual stuff happening to Koa.”
“But when I think about Michael and I and all that sexual stuff going on, I don’t feel anything.”
“That’s probably kind of weird.”
“Then I start thinking if I’m going to go into therapy, and try and really get to the bottom of what is going on with me, I probably have to talk about the sexual stuff that went on,” he concluded.
The premiere of the documentary has caused an uproar among Jackson’s biggest fans.
Channel 4, the network airing the documentary in the U.K, has had fans gathered in protest outside its London HQ office.
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On the contrary, many celebrities and former fans are standing with Wade Robson and James Safechuck.
Film maker and comedian Judd Apatow shared his support on Twitter.
Regardless of what you believe, I think we all can agree we hope Michael’s kids are being surrounded by love and support during this difficult time.
Watch Parts 1 and 2 of the “Leaving Neverland” documentary on HBO now.
