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Remembering Michael Jackson: a friend who sponsored her holidays
( Aug 02 2009 )
( Aug 02 2009 )
By Cynthia Chandran
London, Aug 2:
How would it feel if your holidays were paid for by Michael Jackson? Susan Essien Etok would know. The 32-year-old Briton fondly remembers all the holidays sponsored by the late 'king of pop', thanks to their friendship for 12 years.
The legendary singer paid for her holidays to Africa, the Middle East and South America during the last three years. And Susan, who holds a PhD in Biomedical Materials Engineering from Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, had several times stayed at Jackson's Neverland ranch in California.
Whenever Michael came to London, they met and renewed their friendship.
"I never knew how much I have spent for my holidays as it was always Michael who paid for my trips. He was so generous towards his friends and I was lucky to have him as a friend," Susan told IANS.
While doing her bachelor's degree in Materials Engineering at Loughborough University in 1995-98, Susan did a bit of modelling and appeared in a series of Pepsi advertisements. She also acted as an extra in 1998 in a Hollywood movie "Free Enterprise", which was shot in downtown Los Angeles.
While she is hesitant to reveal the person who introduced her to Jackson, she clearly remembers the day they met after she finished filming in Los Angeles.
"We all hung out together and got on well immediately. Michael and I had a similar sense of humour and we used to laugh and make fun of each other a lot," Susan said.
"Michael was a very kind and generous human being. He was innocent and had the heart of a child," she added.
According to Susan, Michael led a very normal life behind closed doors. He loved his kids Blanket, Prince and Paris... they were his life. However, she says, Paris was clearly a daddy's girl and was fiercely protective of him -- as was visible from her moving tribute at his memorial service.
The last time Susan spoke to Michael was two weeks before his untimely death.
"He was very much looking forward to his last London music tour, but at the same
time he was a bit scared because he did not know how the Londoners would receive his tour," she said.
Susan and her family were looking forward to be a part of Jackson's comeback tour. Her brother Richard Etok, a celebrity cosmetic dentist of the Chelsea Dental Practice in London, had done tooth whitening treatment for Jackson over the years. But due to patient confidentiality laws in Britain, he is not supposed to talk about the singer as a patient.
Michael had financial worries during his last days. Susan feels sad that he died worried about money even though he had assets worth billions of dollars. She believes that Jackson must have given $300 million to charities all over the world, which the media and his nemesis forget.
Susan had signed a non-disclosure agreement with the singer not to reveal anything about his life, when he was alive. Though she knows personal details about the pop star, she is reluctant to reveal them as he is still too dear to her.
"I am a private person; therefore I try and stay away from the limelight. I just want a normal life, which Michael couldn't have," said Susan.
It's more than a month since Michael Jackson died and stories about the cause of his death are still doing the rounds. But for Susan, her friend Michael will always be alive. (IANS)
http://www.southasianobserver.com/world_news.php?mid=19&cid=5356
