There is still a divide between those that believe Wade Robson and James Safechuck, the men at the center of HBO's harrowing Leaving Neverland documentary. In the two-part series, the men spoke about their relationships with Michael Jackson when they were children, describing in jaw-dropping detail how they allegedly endured sexual abuse by the King of Pop. Members of Jackson's family have come forward to deny the claims, and adding her name to the list is Brandi Jackson, daughter to Jackson's brother, Jackie.
According to Brandi, she and Robson were once in a romantic relationship and in a recent interview with The Kyle and Jackie O Show, Brandi publicly spoke out against Robson and defended her uncle who she stated was no a pedophile. "When I was watching [Leaving Neverland], I was completely sickened by it, to be honest with you. The things that he was saying were so over the top and so ridiculous," she said. "[Wade] was not describing my uncle. He was describing a totally different person, but not my uncle. And that's why this is a narrative that has changed...over the last 15 years. Everything that he's ever said about my uncle is the complete opposite of who he was painting in this documentary."
Robson testified on behalf of Jackson twice in the past, both in 1993 and 2005, saying under oath that the music icon never sexually abused him. The famed choreographer made reference to those incidences in Leaving Neverland, saying that he felt the need to lie on the stand because he was afraid that both he and Jackson would go to jail, a suggestion Jackson allegedly told him during the years that he was being molested.
"Part of what I have to say to that is, with Wade saying that he was afraid [he and Michael] would go to jail [if he revealed the abuse], Wade was a grown man when he testified the second time," Brandi said. "And if someone had been anally penetrating you and anally abusing you when you were 14-years-old, and you had a chance to go on the stand and put that man away for the rest of his life so that he couldn't hurt anyone else, you'd do it. You would."
"I can understand when he was a child if he was too afraid to do such a thing, that makes sense. But as a grown man, it doesn't." Brandi also said that she hasn't spoken to Wade since the documentary aired, but she has been a shoulder to lean on for her cousins, Jackson's children. "They don't remember these things from 2005 [the People v. Jackson criminal trial, which resulted in Michael being found not guilty of molesting Gavin Arvizo], they didn't have to go through it in that way," she said. "So I think that this is their first wave of having to deal with this. And I feel very bad for them. Especially since [Michael is] not here to talk them through it and to explain to them what this is about."
