A dancer-choreographer who alleges he was molested by Michael Jackson as a boy says a nervous breakdown and the thought of his son being abused in the same way made him realize that he needed therapy, setting him on a course to come forward and talk about his allegations against the late King of Pop.
Wade Robson, 32, alleges Jackson molested him between 1990-97, although he testified in the singer’s 2005 child molestation trial, which involved another boy and ended with Jackson’s acquittal, that the entertainer did not abuse him.
In his most recent sworn statement filed in connection with his attempt to file a late probate claim against the singer’s estate, Robson says that May 8, 2012, was a key date for him.
“I began to recognize for myself that Jackson had molested me,” Robson alleges. “It was on that date in my therapy session … that I first spoke about the sexual activity I had with Jackson. This revelation initiated an enormous emotional, psychological and physiological upheaval in my life that continues until this day.”
Robson needs a judge’s permission to bring a late probate court claim, because his court papers were filed in May 2013, nearly four years after the entertainer’s June 25, 2009, overdose death at age 50.
Attorneys for the Jackson estate deny the singer molested Robson and have filed papers seeking to dismiss his case. A hearing is scheduled April 7 before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff.
Robson says his first of two nervous breakdowns occurred in April 2011, causing him to withdraw from a film project and begin seeking psychological help. “But I did not mention the sexual abuse because at that time I still did not see it as such,” Robson states in his court papers.
A second breakdown in March 2012 was a turning point, he says.
“As with my first breakdown, I experienced stress, anxiety, fear and depression,” Robson says. “I also began to imagine my son being subjected to the same sort of sexual acts I had been forced to commit with Jackson, and for the first time in my life I thought I might need to talk to someone about what Jackson and I had done together.”
Robson says he sent an email to friends and family members in September 2012 concerning what he called a “transformational time” in his life.
“The transformational period in my life that I was referring to came about as I began to understand that I had been sexually abused by Jackson when I was a child,” he says. “In the email, I wanted to let my friends and family members know what was happening in my life at that point in time.”
Robson says he explained to the readers of his email “what was going on so they would not be worried about me.” He says he asked them to keep what he was revealing confidential, knowing that anything about him and Jackson was newsworthy in the tabloids.
“I had never forgotten what happened between Jackson and me, but because of Jackson’s indoctrination I didn’t understand that it was abuse,” Robson says. “I thought it was as much my idea as it was his; I thought my life and my career would come to an end if anyone every found out, and I had no idea it affected me in any negative ways.”
Robson says waiting until 2012 to talk about his allegations reveals his state of mind.
“It speaks to the fear and paranoia I was dealing with in relation to who my abuser was and his massive celebrity status,” Robson says. “Jackson had made me think in terms of what would happen if I told anyone about the sexual conduct and then that person told someone else who then told the press.”
Robson alleges there was a “fear driven into me by Jackson that I was somehow at fault for his abuse of me.”
Jackson was acquitted on all charges in the 2005 criminal case trial. Robson’s attorneys state in their court papers that their client testified during the trial that he was not molested by Jackson because he believed he was a “consenting participant” in the acts in which he and the entertainer had allegedly engaged.
Jackson called Robson frequently before the trial to rehearse his testimony with him, Robson’s attorneys’ court papers allege.
According to Robson’s attorneys’ court papers, Jackson told their client, “They’re making up all these lies about us, saying that we did all this disgusting sexual stuff. They’re just trying to take us down, take away my power and my money, take away our careers. We can’t let them do this.”
