The Truth About Michael Jackson's Relationship With Diana Ross
Everyone has an idol, but Michael Jackson took idolizing someone to the next level. But that was Jackson for you; he went above and beyond with most things in his life.
His idol was Diana Ross, and who wouldn't idolize an icon like Ross. She was the ultimate "it girl" who could wow everyone with a simple performance and still has it today.
While still in The Jackson 5 at age nine, he met Ross. From then on until Jackson's death, they were best friends. Well, best friends doesn't really even begin to describe their relationship accurately, at least according to Jackson himself. He claimed they were more like mother and son (even though Ross had her own children), brother and sister, and lovers, as they supposedly had an on-again-off-again romantic relationship despite their 15 year age gap.
Their bond is so strong it's carried on even after death. Jackson wanted Ross to be the second person in line to take care of his kids after he was gone, while Ross still defends her friend and remembers him on his birthday every year. There are some unsavory details in their relationship and many rumors, but ultimately, they are an unbreakable pair to this day.
But what was their relationship really like?
Jackson Was Obsessed With Her
Contrary to popular belief, Ross didn't discover The Jackson 5, but Jackson fed into those rumors. Jackson once said, "I thought I was going to be an old man before being discovered, but along came Miss Diana Ross to save my career."
When Jackson broke out into his solo career, he had his first performances on Ross's TV show, and he lived with her for a period of time when he was young. But into the '80s, there was something more going on between them than just a collaborative relationship.
The video above, which shows Jackson and Ross acting out a sketch where Jackson's character is breaking things off with Ross's, is ironic when you think about it...and also kind of creepy. In about a decade, they would actually start dating, at least according to rumors.
In 1981, Jackson appeared on a Diana Ross TV special, in which Ross teased him about being "very sexy." A lot of fans thought this was Ross revealing she was involved with Jackson.
Throughout the '80s, there were instances where Jackson would get jealous of the men in Ross's life. According to Jackson's brother, Jermaine, the pair would engage in an on-and-off relationship, and Jackson openly referred to Ross as his girlfriend. He claimed his brother wouldn't let anyone else near her and even considered marrying her.
But according to biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, there was no sexual relationship between them even though he wrote in his book Call Me Miss Ross that Jackson was heartbroken when Ross got married to Arne Naess. Jackson did not attend the wedding and told Taraborrelli, "I was jealous because I've always loved Diana Ross and always will."
We don't know what was happening behind closed doors, but we do know that Jackson showed his obsession with Ross on more than one occasion. It went past idolizing her. Some were under the impression that he wanted to be Ross and that all of Jackson's plastic surgeries resulted from him wanting to look like her physically.
"Whether that was purposeful on his part has never been explained by M.J. when he was alive or anyone close to him. Certainly, the parallel in their appearance was marked," the assistant managing editor of People magazine, J.D. Heyman, said.
In Call Me Miss Ross, Taraborrelli wrote that Ross said, "I was older. He kind of idolized me and wanted to sing like me." He also wrote about one time in 1986, when Jackson visited Ross backstage at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. When she returned to her dressing room, Jackson was supposedly putting on her makeup and acting like her. Jackson once demanded that his chauffeur address him as "Miss Ross" too.
Along with these weird rumors, another one claimed that Jackson was actually Ross's biological son. Ross addressed Jackson as her son in the past. In an interview on the Merv Griffin Show in 1970, she said, "Michael has always been like a son or brother to me, they've admired me, so I try very hard to keep up such an image for them."
They showed up hand-in-hand at the 1981 Oscars, and Ross said she and Jackson would do a film. "He's going to play my son," she said.
Ross did act like a mother in desperate need to see her son after Jackson collapsed during a rehearsal for a cable TV concert in 1995. She rushed to his hospital bedside. During an interview in the '90s, she also played the protective mother when she shot back at one reporter who was making fun of Jackson's new plastic surgery. More than likely, though, she probably did feel like they were mother and son because of their bond.
Jackson Made Her Second Guardian
When Jackson died in 2009, Ross released the following statement: "I can't stop crying, this is too sudden and shocking. I am unable to imagine this. My heart is hurting. I am in prayer for his kids and the family."
Shortly after his death, records revealed that Jackson had written in his 2002 will that he wanted Ross to have custody of his three children should his mother Catherine die before him.
More recently, Ross has come to the aid of her friend by defending his honor after the documentary Leaving Neverland was released. It once again brought up the allegations made by several men who claimed Jackson abused them as kids.
Ross tweeted her thoughts, saying, "This is what’s on my heart this morning. I believe and trust that Michael Jackson was and is A magnificent incredible force to me and to many others."
To this day, Ross always remembers to wish her dear friend a happy birthday. Despite all the rumors and gossip about them, it was clear that Jackson and Ross really loved one another. Ross wasn't Dirty Diana; he had better thoughts of her than that.
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