Michael Jackson Confessed He Was 'Sexually Abused' as a Kid, Friend Reveals

Emmy-winning producer Geoffrey Mark recently revealed that close friend Michael Jackson privately confessed to being sexually abused as a child.

According to Mark's interview with the New York Post, the King of Pop did not perceive the encounters as criminal, but instead normalized the behavior due to early conditioning.

During intimate dinner parties in the late 1990s and early 2000s at dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein's Los Angeles home, the pop icon confided that he was "inappropriately touched" by an adult while working as a child performer.

Jackson, Mark said, referred to the experience using the disturbing term "playtime.”

Mark noted that when he discussed his own history of childhood abuse, the "Thriller" legend seemed confused and did not understand why Mark was upset, having been conditioned to view such acts as natural.

While Jackson never identified who allegedly molested him, Mark believes this deep-rooted childhood trauma left the singer emotionally stunted, which may help explain his adult behavior and his controversial relationships with children later in life.

“Michael said that he was sexually abused. He didn’t use those terms because he didn’t think of it as abuse or s--. It was playtime. Michael shared, very broadly, news that there was intergenerational touching and beyond. It’s not like Michael said, ‘Oh, I was abused.’ That would never have crossed his mind. Because he had been conditioned that this was normal and natural… Other than it did happen a lot, it was a part of his growing up and was normal,” Mark said.

“I shared that I really couldn’t chime in because my father had both sexually molested and physically tortured me,” Mark recalled. “And Michael found that revelation to be strange. He almost sort of cocked his head like a dog, like he was not understanding . . . It was something he thought was normal and natural, and did not understand why, when it happened to me, I was upset about it.”

Mark decided to share these details publicly in light of renewed scrutiny surrounding the "Beat It" star's legacy and the release of the biographical film Michael.

The pop icon faced numerous high-profile allegations of child sexual abuse spanning over three decades, leading to historic civil settlements, a major criminal trial and ongoing post-mortem litigation.

Michael consistently and adamantly denied all accusations of inappropriate behavior with children throughout his lifetime, and his estate continues to contest all past and current legal claims fiercely

Mark does not believe the allegations against Jackson.

“If I thought that Michael was evil or a predator, if I thought there was evil intent on his part, I probably wouldn’t be talking about it. Michael, to the best of my knowledge, thought that he was entertaining children the way he was entertained.”

The Antoine Fuqua-directed film is a massive commercial success, becoming the second-highest-grossing biopic of all time. It reclaimed the No. 1 spot at the global box office in its fourth week, pushing its worldwide ticket sales past $700 million.