Michael Jackson is known around the world as the King of Pop. During his lifetime, he cultivated an image for the public. That image included his music, live performances, fashion, and music videos, which Jackson called short films.

For many, Jackson’s soft, high-pitched speaking voice was also part of that image.

However, many people who met and knew Jackson personally have said that wasn’t his real speaking voice.

Those Who Knew Michael Jackson Privately Say His Speaking Voice Was Deeper Than Many Believed
As Jackson grew into adulthood, his image was family friendly and appealed to kids. Jackson often shared his own feelings about his stolen childhood and said he didn’t want to grow up. A big part of this “Peter Pan” image was Jackson’s trademark soft and high-pitched speaking voice. Like his dance moves and glittery glove, this was another thing Jackson became known for.

But it may not have been real.

There are many who knew Jackson personally who have revealed that his soft voice wasn’t how the singer really spoke in private.

“I hope he doesn’t get angry at me for telling you this, but that’s his public persona,” Samm Brown III, Jackson’s musical director, told VH1 in 2005 . “I remember a time I called him up and he answered the phone and I didn’t know I was talking to him, because he was talking in his normal voice, which is pretty deep.”

A similar account was shared by Jackson’s friends Liza Minnelli and David Guest in 2002. The former couple were guests on an episode of Larry King Live.

“I think people don’t know the real him. He doesn’t talk like [that],” Guest revealed.

Minnelli always believed Jackson’s high-pitched voice was real. She told King that she picked up the phone one night and heard Jackson talking to Guest in his real voice and was shocked.

“I said, Michael, you’re busted. I got you now. All these years you’ve been talking in that voice,” Minnelli said.

When pressed further, both Guest and Minnelli said they believe Jackson crafted a persona to protect himself from an intrusive public.

“This is who you think I am. And I can be me within these walls. But you can’t come in,” Minnelli theorized.

“He’s been hurt too much, Larry,” she continued. “I mean, they have said kind of rotten things about him. The person that we know is a rather regular guy, believe it or not.”

People Who Interviewed And Reported On Jackson Also Say His Voice Was Different Off-Camera
In 2005, Oprah Winfrey interviewed Lisa Marie Presley. Winfrey was talking with Presley about her marriage to Jackson and recalled the time she first met the singer.

Winfrey was preparing for her live televised interview with Jackson in 1993. She told Presley that when she first met the superstar off-camera, he talked to her in a “normal” voice. Presley nodded in agreement while talking about how her first impression of Jackson was different from what the public saw.

Jackson’s 2005 trial for child abuse was a media circus and Court TV’s Diane Dimond was on the scene reporting on it. When speaking to Access Hollywood, Dimond claimed that she heard Jackson speak in a “big, deep” voice.

“Somewhere in there, especially if you bring him bad news or if you make him mad, his voice gets very, very deep,” Dimond said.

“I was there one day when someone asked him about Gloria Allred, the attorney that has sort of dogged him and turned around in one foul swoop and said ‘She can go to hell’ in this big, deep masculine voice.”

Piers Morgan was another reporter who claims he heard Jackson’s deeper voice. Morgan spoke about the time he interviewed Jackson via the telephone.

“The weirdest thing about Michael Jackson, which encouraged my suspicions about him as a human being, was that when he talked about charity and children he had this very soft, high-pitched voice,” Morgan said.

He continued, “When I changed the subject to business his voice dropped several octaves and he became a completely different person to talk to. That was weird to me, that showed me that he was a multi-faceted different character depending on the subject matter.”

Believe It Or Not, There Were Moments When The World Heard Michael Jackson’s Real Voice
Jackson was always very private and didn’t do many interviews. However, despite his private nature, there were moments when Jackson spoke in a much deeper tone publicly.

When Jackson performed the halftime show at the Super Bowl in 1993, he spoke to the audience before singing “Heal the World.” As he spoke to the crowd, Jackson talked in a much deeper register than anyone had heard before.

A similar tone was used when performing “In the Closet” on the “HIStory World Tour” in 1996. When performing the song’s spoken word interludes, Jackson’s voice was very deep compared to what people heard in his other appearances.

Jackson also sounded different in the introduction to his short film for “You Rock My World.” The singer seemed comfortable enough with Chris Tucker to talk in a deeper voice. On the “Invincible” album, Jackson included a song called “2000 Watts.” The track featured a Michael Jackson that sang a very deep, bass vocal.

After Jackson’s death, the court trials brought up several revelations. Among them was an audio recording that was played in court. The recording was taken by Dr. Conrad Murray, who was at Jackson’s bedside at the time.

In the clip, Jackson’s speaking voice is almost unrecognizable. His voice is so deep that most people wouldn’t even guess it was Jackson. He slurs some of his speech, but can be heard talking about his plans to build a children’s hospital and why he wrote some of his songs.