Oprah : Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Jackson.

(Michael Jackson enters the living room of his home. They shake hands and Michael kisses Oprah on the cheek.)

Oprah : How nervous are you?

Michael : How what?

Oprah : How nervous are you right now?

Michael : I'm not nervous at all, actually.

Oprah : You really aren't?

Michael : No, I never get nervous.

Oprah : Not even for your first interview and it's live around the world? I thought you'd be a little nervous but you're not and that's great because if you're not nervous I won't be nervous. I just wanted to let the world know that when we agreed to do this interview you said you would be willing to talk to me about everything.

Michael : That's true.

Oprah : Very true. I was watching you in the background there watching you in the video of the early years. Did that bring back memories for you?

Michael : It made me giggle because I haven't seen that footage in a long time. Did it bring back memories? Yes, me and my brothers who I love dearly and it's just a wonderful moment for me.

Oprah : I saw you laugh when you saw yourself singing Baby, Baby, Baby.

Michael : Yeah, I think James Brown is a genius you know when he's with the Famous Flames, unbelievable. I used to watch him on television and I used to get angry at the camera-man because whenever he would really start to dance they would be on a close-up so I couldn't see his feet. I'd shout "show him show him.", so I could watch and learn.

Oprah : So he was a big mentor for you?

Michael : Phenomenal, phenomenal.

Oprah : Who else was?

Michael : Jackie Wilson who I adore as an entertainer, and of course music, Motown. The Bee Gees who are brilliant, I just love great music.

Oprah : When I look at those tapes of you, and heaven knows, putting this together I think I've seen every piece of video ever done of you, and watching those tapes when, especially in the younger years, you seem to really come alive on stage. Were you as happy off stage as you appear to be on stage?

Michael : Well, on stage for me was home. I was most comfortable on stage but once I got off stage, I was like, very sad.

Oprah : Really?

Michael : Yes.

Oprah : And sad from the beginning, sad since it first started, sad?

Michael : Lonely, sad, having to face popularity and all that. There were times when I had great times with my brother, pillow fights and things, but I was, used to always cry from loneliness.

Oprah : Beginning at what age?

Michael : Oh, very little, eight, nine.

Oprah : When you all first became famous?

Michael : Yes.

Oprah : So it wasn't what it appeared to be to the rest of the world, all of us .. I remember I was a little black child, wanted to marry Jackie Jackson, your brother, so I mean to all of us we thought this was the most wonderful thing in the world, who wouldn't have wanted that life?

Michael : It was wonderful, there is a lot of wonderment in being famous. I mean you travel the world, you meet people, you go places, it's great. But then there's the other side, which I'm not complaining about. There is lots of rehearsal and you have to put in a lot of your time, give of yourself a lot.

Oprah : Do you feel... I talked with Susan de Passe the other day, and Susan de Passe worked with you at Motown and really groomed you all and found the outfits for the Ed Sullivan Show. We talked about whether or not it was really lost, was it?

Michael : Well, especially now I come to realize - and then - I would do my schooling which was three hours with a tutor and right after that I would go to the recording studio and record, and I'd record for hours and hours until it's time to go to sleep. And I remember going to the record studio there was a park across the street and I'd see all the children playing and I would cry because it would make me sad that I would have to work instead.

Oprah : I want to go to this and show some pictures of you as a little boy.

Michael : OK.

Oprah : Susan said it was a heavy price. I want to know how big of a price it was, losing your childhood or having this kind of life?

Michael : Well, you don't get to do things that other children get to do, you know, having friends and slumber parties and buddies. There was none of that for me. I didn't have any friends when I was little. My brothers were my friends.

Oprah : Was there ever a place where - because you know children - because I remember talking to myself and playing with my dolls - was there.. and I think every child needs a place to escape into, a child's world, a child's imagination, was there ever a time you could do that?

Michael : No. And that is why I think now because I didn't have it then, I compensate for that. People wonder why I always have children around, because I find the thing that I never had through them, you know Disneyland, amusement parks, arcade games. I adore all that stuff because when I was little it was always work, work, work from one concert to the next, if it wasn't a concert it was the recording studio, if it wasn't that it was TV shows or interviews or picture sessions. There was always something to do.

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