A NEWLY released documentary in the United Kingdom has unveiled previously unheard audio of Michael Jackson sharing his thoughts about children, including remarks in which he suggested they wanted physical affection from him.
AFP cited on Thursday that the four-part series, Michael Jackson: The Trial, produced by London-based Wonderhood Studios, examines the singer’s 2005 criminal trial in the United States, where he was charged with the sexual abuse of a minor, Gavin Arvizo, at his Neverland Ranch in California. Jackson was acquitted of all charges.
In a trailer published on Wonderhood’s website, Jackson can be heard saying: “Children want to just touch me, hug me”.
“Kids end up just falling in love with my personality,” he is also heard saying. “Sometimes it gets me into trouble.”
The documentary, which aired on Channel 4, features interviews, previously unseen footage and audio recordings of Jackson that have not been broadcast before.
Wonderhood said the series aims to move “beyond the media circus” surrounding the trial and to ask “profound questions about fame, race, and the American justice system”.
According to Channel 4, the audio recordings originate from interviews conducted with a rabbi whom Jackson had turned to for what the broadcaster described as “spiritual guidance”.
“In hours of recorded interviews, Jackson confesses intimate secrets,” Channel 4 said in a statement.
“The tapes, most of which have never been broadcast before, deliver an unprecedented insight into Michael’s mindset and his troubled childhood,” it added, saying they also reveal his “fixation” with Arvizo.
Jackson, widely known as the King of Pop, died in 2009 and has since been the subject of multiple documentaries examining allegations that he sexually abused young boys. One of the most prominent, Leaving Neverland, was broadcast by Channel 4 in 2019 and prompted a strong backlash from his family.
“Michael is not here to defend himself, otherwise these allegations would not have been made,” the family said at the time.
The broadcast of the new documentary comes days after the release of the trailer for the Hollywood biographical film Michael, which stars Jackson’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, in the lead role. The film is scheduled for release in cinemas on April 24.
During his lifetime, Jackson faced several allegations of child sexual abuse. In addition to his acquittal in 2005, he reached a US$15 million settlement in 1994 over accusations involving another child. Jackson died on June 25, 2009, after being administered a fatal dose of the anaesthetic propofol. - February 5, 2026
