Michael Jackson started as a child star, performing with his brothers in the Jackson 5. He went on to do solo work and made a name for himself away from his family.

The artist ruled the 80s with his groundbreaking music videos, innovative live performances, and hugely successful albums.

However, Jackson was a kid at heart after a childhood spent in the spotlight. He sought out friendships in other child stars to both recapture his lost youth and give them the fun he never had.

Emmanuel Lewis was one of those friends. The star of Webster and the King of Pop were seen together at award shows during the height of Thriller-mania. Lewis was so close to the singer, his family once took him in after a terrible accident.

Michael Jackson’s Background As A Child Star Made Him Sensitive To Other Child Stars

When the Jackson 5 was merely an idea in their father’s mind, the boys were worked tirelessly to succeed. Their father, Joseph Jackson, booked his boys to perform in any arena he could. Sometimes this even meant placing them in environments that weren’t appropriate for children.

Michael Jackson has often spoken about performing in strip clubs as a child with his brothers. The idea of having young children performing in such a place after hours is unheard of today. Yet, this was Jackson’s reality. He experienced a loss of innocence that he was desperate to obtain as an adult.

Jackson also spoke about the mistreatment he said his father subjected him to. Jackson said that he was physically abused by his father. He also said that his father made fun of the way he looked. Jackson told Martin Bashir that his father told him his nose was too big. He also told Oprah that his father would tell him he was ugly.

In addition to all of this, Jackson was sad that he couldn’t do things other kids his age were able to. Jackson once told a story about his recording sessions at Motown.

There was a park across the street from the recording studio. Jackson said that there were days when he would cry listening to the kids playing and having fun, knowing that he wasn’t able to join them.

When looking at Jackson’s friendship with Emmanuel Lewis and other child stars, it’s clear that Jackson wanted to give them the sense of fun that he was deprived of in his own childhood.

Emmanuel Lewis’ Family Took Michael In When He Was Recovering From His Pepsi Commercial Accident

Lewis first met Jackson on the set of his “Thriller” music video in 1983. The video was the last video filmed for Jackson’s album of the same name. It was this video that helped “Thriller” become the biggest selling album of all time.

Jackson and Lewis became fast friends, with the two appearing together in public on several occasions. Jackson showed up with Lewis and Brooke Shields at the Grammy Awards in 1984. This particular event came after Jackson endured a horrific accident where he was burned on the set of a Pepsi commercial.

In an interview with Criss Angel, Lewis talked about how he helped Jackson during that time. According to Lewis, Jackson opted to check into a hotel instead of returning to his family’s home, where he was living at the time.

Lewis and his family didn’t feel good about Jackson recovering from surgery alone in a hotel room. So they brought him to their home and allowed him to recover in Lewis’ spare room.

Emmanuel Lewis Defends Michael Jackson Later In Life

In 1993, allegations surfaced that Jackson abused a 13-year-old boy. Jackson denied the allegations and proclaimed his innocence.

In 2005, another boy made similar allegations and it went to trial. Jackson was found not guilty on all charges. Ten years after his death, two men who knew Jackson when they were younger made similar allegations. It was the subject of an HBO documentary, Leaving Neverland.

Throughout all of this, Lewis has strongly defended his friend. In the aftermath of Leaving Neverland, Lewis received lots of tweets claiming that he was also abused by Jackson. Lewis replied to one of those tweets, writing the following:

“Let’s be 100% clear here I was never a victim. My big Bro Michael has been nothing but kind and a role model to me and my family. I suggest you pick a subject you really know because obviously you don’t know Michael and you don’t know me. Spread peace not false rumors.”

Other child stars Jackson was friends with, like Macaulay Culkin, also defended him. Culkin recently talked to Esquire Magazine about the allegations.

“He never did anything to me. I never saw him do anything. And especially at this flash point in time, I’d have no reason to hold anything back.”

He continued, “The guy has passed on. If anything—I’m not gonna say it would be stylish or anything like that, but right now is a good time to speak up. And if I had something to speak up about, I would totally do it. But no, I never saw anything; he never did anything.”