Michael Jackson unmasked

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Michael Jackson gives evidence in the Santa Maria court after the judge ordered him to take off his mask

Michael Jackson was forced to reveal his ravaged face in public for the first time. A judge in a California court ordered him to remove his surgical mask before giving evidence in a multimillion dollar lawsuit over a cancelled concert appearance.

The singer arrived at the court wearing the trademark mask, which he believes protects him from germs and traffic fumes. When he removed the mask inside, the full toll of years of plastic surgery on his face were revealed.

Onlookers gasped at the sight of Jackson, whose nose was scarred and discoloured and covered with a clear plaster. His upper lip also appeared to be covered with scabs, with a beard covering his chin.

Jackson is being sued for £15 million by his former concert promoter Marcel Avram, who claims the singer pulled out of two millennium concerts. The promoter says Jackson also demanded £1.5 million in "production fees" for two more concerts in Seoul and Munich.

Hundreds of fans gathered outside the court in Santa Maria, 25 miles from Jackson's Neverland ranch. When trial judge Zel Canter asked him to state his full name he replied: "Michael Joseph Jackson."

At this point Jackson blew and tapped the microphone in front of him, causing members of the public - who are allowed into the court on a lottery system - to laugh. Later, he was grilled by Avram's lawyer, Louis "Skip" Miller, who said there were differences between his sworn testimony and his evidence on the witness stand.

After accusations that Jackson had not even bothered to rehearse for the performances, the singer revealed the details of his concert preparations. "I conceptualise everything," he said.

"I visualise what I want the concert to look like. I stand in front of the mirror in my bathroom and try out the dance moves. I don't do it in my bedroom because there are lots of games in there and they are noisy. It is a lot quieter in the bathroom.''

At times the 44-year-old star nodded his head backwards and forwards as if he was listening to music. He went on: "I have to have oxygen on stage because the weather is very humid in some of the countries I perform in. Wardrobe is also very important. If I rip a pair of pants, I have to have another pair."

Avram said Jackson suddenly backed out of the concerts. He said: "He was going to be paid $15 million for the concerts which was the biggest ever purse." Avram said he was phoned by two of Jackson's representatives and asked to fly to meeting at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. When he got there, he was told Jackson no longer wanted to have anything to do with the concerts. "I was shocked," said Avram. "I had worked the whole year to prepare for this and now he was saying 'no'.

However, Jackson said Avram cancelled the shows with a single phone call. When Miller suggested the call never happened, Jackson said he had a vivid memory of it. "I remember feeling a little bit upset because I was looking forward to doing the millennium shows. I was so excited about them that I told people in my organisation that we should reach the Guinness Book Of World Records because I felt that these would be the most-watched events of all time."

When Miller accused him of a "discrepancy" in his account, Jackson said his memory of events surrounding the concerts had improved. "It's not unusual for my mental clarity to be heightened," he said.

Jackson sued the Daily Mirror in 1998 after it claimed his face had been disfigured by plastic surgery and called him a "scarred phantom".

The paper later apologised. Jackson says the whitening of his skin is caused by a medical condition called vitiligo.

 

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