UNMASKED: The Final Years of Michael Jackson

July 29, 2009 -- In December 2008, Ian Halperin revealed in a magazine article that Michael Jackson had a life-threatening condition and predicted that he only had six months to live.

Six months and one-day later, Michael Jackson was dead.

Halperin began his research on Jackson years earlier, after the not-guilty verdict in the child molestation trial. He set out to indict Michael Jackson but came to the shocking conclusion that Jackson was not a child molester. In his research, he spoke to friends and close associates of Jackson and found a man who had in recent years become addicted to drugs, depressed, and surrounded by unsavory characters.

UNMASKED is a sympathetic portrait of Michael Jackson that explores Jackson's prescription drug use, his ties to Scientology, his multiple plastic surgeries, his skin bleaching, his sexual identity, the lineage of Michael's three children and whether he is the biological father as he claims.

Halperin scrutinizes Jackson's countless accusers, questions the former star's affection for children, and talks to the performer's celebrity supporters, including Liza Minnelli. From Jackson's dramatic marriage to Lisa Marie Presley to gay lovers to decade-long run-ins with his nemesis, former California District Attorney Tom Sneedon, Halperin dispels the popular myths about Michael Jackson and provides a real and fascinating portrait of the King of Pop. UNMASKED is the definitive biography of the final years of Michael Jackson.

"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave the world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with." -Michael Jackson

About the author:

Ian Halperin is the author of nine books, including Hollywood Undercover, Bad & Beautiful, and Celine Dion: Behind the Fairytale. His book about Kurt Cobain, Love & Death, was a 2004 New York Times bestseller. Halperin specializes in undercover investigations.

He has contributed to 60 Minutes II, CBS's The Fifth Estate, the London Daily Mail, Court TV and E!. Halperin is also a world-acclaimed documentary filmmaker and a former co-winner of Rolling Stone's College Journalism Award. Halperin is a keynote speaker at universities and colleges, where he often talks about Hollywood and the music industry. Halperin has also toured the globe as a professional musician. Moreover, his blog, ianundercover.com, is one of the world's leading websites about pop culture.

Simon Spotlight Entertainment (SSE) launched in 2004 with He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth To Understanding Guys by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, which became an instant national bestseller. Recently, SSE had two #1 New York Times bestsellers -- Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler and sTori Telling by Tori Spelling. Other bestselling titles include Prairie Tale by Melissa Gilbert, Mommywood by Tori Spelling, and Life with My Sister Madonna by Christopher Ciccone. Recent and upcoming titles include Between a Rose and a Thorn by Bret Michaels, High on Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips, and Unsweetined by Jodie Sweetin.

Simon & Schuster, a part of the CBS Corporation, is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Online, and international companies in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit our website at www.simonandschuster.com.

UNMASKED: The Final Years of Michael Jackson by Ian Halperin (Simon Spotlight Entertainment; on-sale July 14, 2009; Hardcover; ISBN 978-1-4391-7717-4; $25.00) separates the bitter truth from the multilayered lies and media distortions as the world says goodbye to the King of Pop.

Get more Resources »

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•