The Soul of Michael Jackson: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Deepest Self in Intimate Conversation

by Shmuley Boteach

In 2000–2001, Michael Jackson sat down with his close friend and spiritual guide, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, to record what turned out to be the most intimate and revealing conversations of his life. It was Michael’s wish to bare his soul and unburden himself to a public that he knew was deeply suspicious of him. The resulting thirty hours are the basis of The Soul of Michael Jackson . There has never been, and never will be, anything like them. In these searingly honest conversations, Michael exposes his emotional pain and profound loneliness, his longing to be loved, and the emptiness of his fame. You discover why he was suspicious of women and how only children provided the innocence for which he so desperately longed. In his own words, he takes us into the jarring moments of his childhood and speaks of the measures he took to try and heal. He divulges how he came to be alienated from his strong religious anchor and describes his views on the nature of faith. Michael brings us into his tortured yet loving relationship with his siblings. He opens up about his father and his yearning for a time when they might finally reconcile. He talks about his most personal friendships and shares with us his terror of growing old. Despite his unprecedented fame and recent death, there remain unanswered questions about his life. The answers, presented here in The Soul of Michael Jackson , will both intrigue and move you. You will be surprised, riveted, and troubled as you peer into the soul of a tragic icon whose life is an American morality tale and whose flame was extinguished much too early.

318 pages, Hardcover

Published November 21, 2023

About the author

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, named by Talkers Magazine as one of the 100 most important radio hosts in America, is a nationally syndicated talk show host, the international best-selling author of 15 books, and an acclaimed syndicated columnist.

A winner of the London Times highly prestigious "Preacher of the Year" award, Rabbi Shmuley has lectured and appeared in print, radio, and TV all over the globe. His radio show, "Rabbi Shmuley's Passion," airs daily on Bonneville Broadcasting in afternoon drive-time.

He is the author of a number of books, including "Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy," "Dating Secrets of the Ten Commandments," "Why Can't I Fall in Love," "Judaism for Everyone: Renewing your Life through the Vibrant Lessons of the Jewish Faith," and most recently, "Hating Women: America's Hostile Campaign Against the Fairer Sex." A winner of the annual "preacher of the year" contest sponsored by the Times of London, he was formerly rabbi of Oxford University.


Shmuley—he is known universally by his first name, has marketed himself as a rabbi to the stars and an expert on Jewish attitudes toward relationships and marriage. ("Dr. Ruth with a yarmulke," the Washington Post called him.)

Reviews

[Nicole Vizuette]

If you can get this book without the rabbi's comments, better. It's worth reading if you want an honest view of who MJ was. He was a person with defects, as is any person who has walked on this planet, but by the time when they recorded those tapes, he had already achieved a level of recognition and respected artistry that he by no means shies away from. What I mean by that is that he had virtues and flaws and maybe certain views that don't sit well with the rabbi; however, even the rabbi turns out to be the same as the things he accuses MJ of.

If he accuses MJ of some messianic complex, how is that different from him using him as an asset to the writings of this book and the intent of making charity work with his face? While even in the book, he constantly boasts about how he was the righteous one while MJ wasn't. He believed what Mj lacked was some form of spiritual guidance, while he treated him with some patronizing attitude mixed up with the need to condone anything that doesn't follow his own perspective of living.

And with this, I'm not suggesting MJ was a saint with no blind spots. Some of his views we might disagree with, and eventually we might not have him by the end on this pedestal; he wasn't perfect, and that's what it's like to humanize an icon. To look at the facts and the fears and the confusions. The good and the bad.
I don't think Shmuley's thesis on MJ is fair in part because he only views things based on his own context, which is his religious perspective, and we can see that with how he pushes Michael to condone Britney Spears's brand, and surprisingly, MJ never puts her down or shames her; instead, he understands what was happening (a Disney child now wants to break away from the saintly clean image to make her own thing). He was there, and he knows when that starts, you are a puppet and a money-making machine for everyone.

If we can resume this book, or at least maybe what MJ was trying to explain to us is that HE was a child star and deeply connected to that archetype. Amanda Bynes, the Sprouse twins, Miley Cyrus... that was him, and it was something that tainted him to the point of him doing things that were very confusing to the people at that time. And all of that is a byproduct of exploitation and disconnection from reality that early stardom brings.