agosto 29, 2009   2009 , Michael Jackson , News-Bigi , News-Paris , News-Prince , Relatos

Consultor educacional conta sua experiência com a família Jackson

English : Tony Buzan talks about his time with MJ and his kids Until now, Tony Buzan , a wealthy author and educational consult...

English:

Tony Buzan talks about his time with MJ and his kids

Until now, Tony Buzan, a wealthy author and educational consultant, has never spoken publicly about his experiences with the family. Talking at his house in a leafy, residential estate high on the banks of the Thames near Marlow, he gives us a considered, first-hand assessment of Jackson’s role as a father. He always regarded Jackson as a good friend, remaining silent and loyal to the end.


Buzan’s writings on brain development via a technique he calls mind-mapping have earned him an international following and the post of “thinker in residence” at Wellington College, an independent school in Berkshire. He was teaching in Singapore in 2006 when he received a call from his friend, Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad al-Khalifa, of the Bahraini royal family. “Hamad said, ‘A fan of yours would like to speak to you.’ Then an unfamiliar voice came on the line. ‘Hi, it’s Michael.’ He was speaking in his natural voice, not the high whisper he used in public.”

Over the next 45 minutes Jackson raved to Buzan about one of his books. He wanted Buzan, he said, to explain his ideas to his children and to “teach them how to think”.


Buzan promptly flew to Bahrain, checked into a five-star hotel and spent a week commuting to the Jackson family’s rented palace in the desert. He was met at the gate by Jackson and a servant, a man Jackson referred to as a “butler”, who acted as a general housekeeper. Buzan was immediately struck by how attached the children were to their father.


“I would watch them coming and going from the international school every day. They left happy, and came back happy. On their return those three kids could not run any faster from the car to get to hug their daddy.”

The house itself had been converted into a shrine to Jackson’s cultural enthusiasms. “It felt like the Sistine Chapel, filled with renaissance art. There were giant prints of paintings by the likes of Raphael on every wall.” Bizarrely, the first thing Jackson did on Buzan’s arrival was to quiz him about Leonardo da Vinci. “He was fascinated by the idea of geniuses, from Alexander the Great to Charlie Chaplin and Muhammad Ali, but he didn’t consider himself as one of them. He was very humble. He saw himself as a student.”


Buzan was surprised to discover that Jackson was an indulgent father, “not one of those hot-housing parents, forever forcing the children to play chess, take dance classes or learn instruments”. In the evenings they cuddled up together on the sofa to watch DVDs. Alongside the old masters, Jackson had hung larger-than-life-sized photographs of his children, which greatly amused them. “Michael had a massive printing machine.”


The elder children are remarkably focused, according to Buzan. “They are fast learners like their father, who was probably the best pupil I’ve had.” Buzan witnessed no tantrums or raised voices. “The kids seemed to enjoy each other’s company. It’s unusual in groups of three, where tensions can often arise.”

They are very different personalities. Buzan describes Prince as “a very bright, witty but serious little boy. In a class he would be the child the teachers noticed. He was confident and very quick on repartee”. Paris, by contrast, “was a sedate princess. Very independent, contemplative and self-contained. She was quiet but kind, always offering things. She had great poise and presence and she was very good with the boys”. Four-year-old Blanket was “just wild, a little dynamo, always on the move, tumbling, hanging off the furniture. He was like a mini-Michael. I saw Blanket do lots of dance routines”. In Buzan’s opinion, Jackson was clearly Blanket’s biological father. “He has the same eyes.” He added that his skin was much darker than that of the other children — his complexion made him look Mediterranean.

At mealtimes, there would be “beautiful vegetables, fresh seafood, hummus, fruit juices, no alcohol. The children were respectful but would push the boundaries”. Perhaps they were bored: for all his apparent interest in fatherhood, conversation around the table was usually led by Jackson talking about himself and his career.

“Michael talked a lot about creativity and the process of being a star and about the naysayers in his past who had said you can’t do this or that before he did it. He loved a challenge. Thriller had been his ultimate achievement and now people were saying that he couldn’t repeat it. He felt he could comfortably outdo Thriller.”

Jackson also opened up to Buzan about his own upbringing. Tellingly, he said nothing about the beatings he endured from Joe, the family patriarch, recently confirmed by his elder brother Marlon. “He talked about how wonderful it was to have Elizabeth Taylor as an aunt figure and Fred Astaire showing him dance moves. How he loved singing and dancing with his family, travelling the world with the Jackson 5.”

Yet even the loyal Buzan noticed that none of the children mentioned any grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins — there were no family photographs of the extended Jackson clan. Nor did they ever mention religion. “Michael would talk to them about many great figures from the past, but I never heard him refer to Jesus.”

The children and their father were physically and emotionally sealed from the rest of the world — a reflection, perhaps, of Jackson’s desire to hide after the public circus around his acquittal in 2005 of damaging child-molestation charges. Only once did Jackson allude to any scandals in Buzan’s company. He was still smarting at accusations that he was a “mad, bad dad” after he had dangled Blanket, then just nine months old, out of the window of a Berlin hotel room in 2002. “Michael was indignant about that. He said, ‘I’m a dancer, one of the fittest, strongest people in the theatre. I lift and carry adults with no difficulty.’ ”

Tony Buzan, um rico consultor educacional, nunca falou até agora publicamente sobre suas experiências com a família de Michael Jackson. Buzan tem livros sobre o desenvolvimento do cérebro através de uma técnica que ele chama de mapeamento mental que lhe rendeu o posto de "pensador em domicílio" no Wellington College, uma escola independente em Berkshire.

Ele ensinava em Singapura, em 2006, quando recebeu um telefonema de um amigo, o xeque Abdulla bin Hamad al-Khalifa, da família real do Bahrein."Ele me disse:'Um fã seu gostaria de falar com você.' Então veio uma voz desconhecida na linha. "Oi, é o Michael." Ele estava falando com sua voz natural, não o sussurro alto que ele usava em público." Durante 45 minutos, Michael discutiu com Buzan sobre um de seus livros.. Ele queria contratá-lo, disse ele, para explicar suas ideias para seus filhos e para "ensiná-los a pensar". Buzan imediatamente pegou um vôo para o Bahrein. 

Ao chegar ao Palácio que foi alugado para a família Jackson, foi recebido no portão por Michael e seu mordomo… Buzan ficou imediatamente impressionado pelo modo como as crianças eram ligadas ao pai. "Eu os via indo e voltando da escola internacional todos os dias. Eles saiam felizes e voltavam feliz. Na volta, os três corriam o mais rápido possível do carro para chegar e abraçar o pai. "

A casa em si tinha sido transformada em um santuário para os entusiasmos culturais de Michael. "Parecia a Capela Sistina, repleta de arte renascentista. Havia cópias gigantes de pinturas de artistas como Raphael em cada parede." 

Curiosamente, a primeira coisa que Michael fez na chegada de Buzan foi questioná-lo sobre Leonardo da Vinci. "Ele era fascinado pela ideia de gênios, de Alexandre, o Grande, de Charlie Chaplin e Muhammad Ali, mas ele não se considerava como um deles. Ele era muito humilde. Ele se via como um estudante."

Buzan ficou surpreso ao ver que Michael era um pai complacente e não um desses pais durões, sempre forçando as crianças a jogar xadrez, fazer aulas de dança ou aprender instrumentos. À noite, eles se aninhavam juntos no sofá para assistir DVDs. 

Juntamente com os antigos mestres, Jackson tinha pendurado gigantescas fotografias de seus filhos, o que muito os divertiu. "Michael tinha uma enorme impressora".

Os filhos mais velhos são extremamente centrados, segundo Buzan. "Eles aprendem muito rápido, como o pai, que, provavelmente, foi o melhor aluno que eu já tive." Ele nunca testemunhou nenhuma crise de birra ou gritaria. "As crianças pareciam gostar da companhia uma da outra. Isso é incomum em grupos de três, onde as tensões podem surgir muitas vezes."

Eles têm personalidades muito diferentes. Buzan descreve Prince como "um menino brilhante, muito espirituoso, porém sério. Em uma sala de aula, ele seria a criança que os professores notariam. Ele era confiante e muito rápido em ter sempre uma resposta pronta, uma réplica". Paris, ao contrário, "era uma princesa serena. Muito independente, contemplativa e reservada. Ela era quieta, mas estava sempre oferecendo as coisas. Ela tinha ótima postura e muita presença, e ela era muito boa com os meninos". Aos quatro anos, Blanket era "ainda travesso, um pequeno dínamo, sempre em movimento, caindo, se pendurando nos móveis. Ele era como um mini-Michael. Eu vi Blanket fazer muitas sequências de dança ".

Jackson falou a Buzan sobre sua própria educação. Significativamente, ele não disse nada sobre as surras que ele sofreu de Joe, o patriarca da família. "Ele falou sobre como era maravilhoso ter Elizabeth Taylor como uma figura de tia e Fred Astaire mostrando-lhe como dançar. Como ele adorava cantar e dançar com sua família, viajar o mundo com o Jackson 5 ". 

Apenas uma vez fez alusão a qualquer escândalo na imprensa. Ele ainda estava furioso com as acusações de que ele era um "pai louco, mau" depois de ter segurado Blanket, aos nove meses de idade, para fora da sacada de um quarto de hotel de Berlim, em 2002. "Michael estava indignado com isso", diz Buzan. "Ele disse, 'Eu sou um dançarino, um dos mais preparados, um dos mais fortes do meio. Eu posso levantar adultos sem nenhuma dificuldade.”

Fonte: The Sunday Times/13 de Setembro de 2009