Elizabeth Taylor was on ‘Larry King Live’ on Tuesday (May 30), where the legendary actress was asked about her friendship with Michael Jackson and what she felt about the singer’s child molestation trial last year. Taylor said, “I’ve been there [at Neverland], when his
nephews were there, and we all were in the bed, watching television. There
was nothing abnormal about it. There was no touchy-feely going on. We laughed
like children, and we watched a lot of Walt Disney. There was nothing odd
about it.” Read on for a transcript of the Jackson discussion.
KING: Michael Jackson. The story of your friendship with him, how
did that begin?
TAYLOR: I went to a concert, and I couldn’t see a thing. I was way up
in the — well, it was a stadium. And I couldn’t see a thing. And I brought
30 people, and we couldn’t even hear. So we went home to watch it on television
by disc. And Michael heard that I had left halfway through, and called
me the next day, and was like in tears because he had heard that I’d walked
out. I hadn’t walked out. I just couldn’t see anything.
And then we talked on the phone for about three hours, and from there
on in, we talked more and more on the phone. Then we met, and spent more
and more time with each other, and just became really good friends. Told
each other everything.
KING: Why did you like him so much?
TAYLOR: We’re very much alike.
KING: Are you?
TAYLOR: Yes. We both had horrible childhoods. Well, working at the age
of 9 is not a childhood. He started at 3, and that certainly isn’t a childhood.
KING: Have you spoken to him recently?
TAYLOR: Yes, I have. KING: How’s he doing? He’s in where?
TAYLOR: He sounds very happy.
KING: Where is he?
TAYLOR: At the moment, I think he was in London.
KING: But he was in Tokyo recently, and then London.
TAYLOR: Yes.
KING: But he lives in Bahrain?
TAYLOR: Right.
KING: What did you think of the charges against him?
TAYLOR: I’ve never been so angry in my life.
KING: But didn’t you think, Elizabeth, Dame Elizabeth, I’m sorry, that
it would look strange to people to have someone who is in his 40s spending
a night with children? I mean, just on the face of it.
TAYLOR: All right. I’ll answer that, because I’ve been there, when his
nephews were there, and we all were in the bed, watching television. There
was nothing abnormal about it. There was no touchy-feely going on. We laughed
like children, and we watched a lot of Walt Disney. There was nothing odd
about it.
KING: So you think they were out after him?
TAYLOR: I do.
KING: The authorities and the like?
TAYLOR: I think the paparazzi started — not the paparazzi, the press.
Excuse me. May I blow my nose?
KING: You may.
TAYLOR: Thank you.
KING: It’s called human.
(CROSSTALK).
KING: Even Elizabeth Taylor blows her nose.
Is he going to come back to working?
TAYLOR: I don’t think so. Except maybe in Europe.
KING: You don’t think he’ll ever live in the United States again?
TAYLOR: Well, really, why should he? He’s been treated like dirt here.