Michael Jackson's Former Lawyer Says Pop Star 'Could Not Wrap His Head Around' Child Services Investigation 

Celebrity defense attorney Mark Geragos stated on "The Megyn Kelly Show" that former client Michael Jackson could not emotionally or intellectually process being targeted by a child abuse investigation.

Geragos, who represented the pop star during his 2003 legal crisis, explained that Jackson possessed a highly sheltered, "childlike" disposition due to severe childhood trauma inflicted by his father, Joe Jackson.

Mark detailed that Michael operated with a fundamental psychological block regarding the severity of the criminal allegations, viewing his relationships with children as strictly innocent and rooted in "unconditional love.”

"I don't think he was ever prepared, in retrospect, for the child services investigation ... He could not wrap his head around the idea that he would be doing anything untoward towards the kids,” he told Megyn.

The pop icon faced severe sexual abuse allegations throughout his career, beginning in 1993 with a settlement involving Jordan Chandler, the first individual to accuse Jackson of child sexual abuse publicly. In 1993, when Chandler was 13 years old, his father, Evan Chandler, accused Jackson of molesting the boy.

The "Thriller" legend paid a reported $23 million settlement to the Chandler family, which included a strict non-admission of guilt and a permanent non-disclosure agreement.

Post-death accusations in the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland and new 2026 lawsuits from the Cascio family, once famously referred to as Michael's "second family," have kept the controversy active.

Four siblings — Eddie, Aldo, Dominic, and Marie-Nicole Cascio — have alleged in a 2026 lawsuit that they were sexually abused and groomed by Michael over 25 years starting in the 1980s.

The defense attorney reiterated his long-standing position that Michael's unique, massive level of fame and isolated lifestyle made him an easy target for financial exploitation and extortion.

Mark strongly condemned Leaving Neverland, accusing the filmmakers of deceptively cutting and manipulating archival footage of him out of context to imply he was falsely attacking accusers.

The defense attorney has a deeply complex history regarding the singer's accusers, transitioning from defending the King of Pop against child molestation allegations during his life to representing new accusers against Michael's estate years after his death.

Michael replaced Mark with Thomas Mesereau in April 2004 due to Mark's "crushingly busy calendar," as he was simultaneously defending Scott Peterson, convicted of the 2002 murders of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son, Conner.

Mark testified in defense of Michael at the 2005 criminal trial. He claimed the accuser's family was staging a "shakedown." He even noted that the accuser’s mother had a history of filing fraudulent injury lawsuits.

Yet, in late 2025, Mark shocked the public by flipping sides to represent the Cascio siblings.

Michael's fanbase strongly criticized Mark for his legal pivot. Critics labeled him a "liar for hire" and highlighted the hypocrisy of his previous book, Mistrial, which stated Michael was "100 percent innocent."

The conversation with Megyn surfaced amid renewed public discourse surrounding Michael's legacy, driven by the box-office dominance of the new biographical film, Michael.

Despite brutal reviews, the biopic has become a massive box-office hit, grossing approximately $589 million worldwide in just under three weeks.

The film is the second-highest-grossing music biopic of all time, behind Bohemian Rhapsody, and has set the record for the biggest biopic opening.

It does not cover the child molestation allegations because a legal clause in a past settlement forced filmmakers to remove the entire storyline during production.

Mark, who also represents Sean "Diddy" Combs and advocates for the Menendez brothers' resentencing, said the trial took everything out of the star, who he said was surprisingly resilient in the wake of it.

“I mean, he was he was fragile when I first started with him, but by the time the trial ended, and I wouldn't have if we had prediction markets, I wouldn't have bet on his stamina for that trial. I think the trial really did him in. And I think there's also speaking of, you know, the uh movie that you're talking about and the amount of money that it's generating, the wellspring of support, and the kind of the way they've characterized him or portrayed him in the movie. They ended it, to your point, prior to the allegations,” he said.