Michael at his Neverland Ranch in 1991. Such a beautiful set of photos by Dilip Mehta.
I recall having dinner with the family in a restaurant one night and watching Michael as he picked up crumbs from his plate and dropped them in his shirt pocket. “Michael, what are you doing?” I finally asked him.
At that moment a rat poked its head out of Michael’s pocket, and I had my answer.
Michael bred rats while we lived in Beverly Hills. We lived in an area where there was a great deal of vegetation, and I’d see big brown rats scurrying through the ivy and bushes from time to time. After a while, I was surprised to see the rats seemingly change color; some were partially white, a few totally white. Then it dawned on me that Michael was letting his white rats out into the yard, and they were mating with the wild rats.
I never confronted Michael about his breeding project, but when we moved to our Encino house I informed him, “Your rats are not coming with you.”
-Katherine Jackson
November 1986 - “Michael’s Pets” are marketed. The stuffed animal line is modelled after his own pet zoo with one character, Cool Bear, is based on Michael himself. The rest of line includes Jabbar (giraffe), Louie (llama), Muscles (snake), Uncle Tookie (frog) - (Michael’s nickname for Frank Dileo), Spanky and Mr Bill (dogs), Suzy (rabbit) and Jeannine (ostrich).
If I get my hands on Bubbles and Louie, I’ll die.
