Local man gives details about being Michael Jackson's bodyguard
Posted: Apr 03, 2010
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - For two years of Michael Jackson's life, Mike Garcia of Salt Lake put his life on the line for the King of Pop -- he being Jackson's bodyguard was unbelievable. I t's a job Garcia will never forget. He granted Hawaii News New an exclusive interview giving details of Jackson's life.
Garcia graduated from Radford High in 1992 and headed to California, an injury halted his football career so he had his sight set on being a bodyguard. He moved Las Vegas and teamed up with two other bodyguards, Bill Whitfield and BJ Beard.
In December 2006 they got the call of a lifetime, " Bill called and said i have a client -- he wouldn't tell be who he was but he picked me up we went to the house and walked in and he was." says Garcia. And what was supposed to be a weekend security job --turned into a two year gig.
Garcia says it wasn't easy looking out for the biggest pop star in the world, " the amount of attention he gets -- the amount of love he gives out is is all on a grand scale --- that's the way it is --- he can't walk out of his house."
Garcia spent 24 -7 with Jackson, and says he was like an uncle to his three children --- taking them to several movies by himself. He says Jackson was a great dad who liked to order from fast food drive thru's -- and he had secret girlfriends. Garcia could not answer questions about Jackson's drug use, because of the investigation, but says like everyone else his death came as a shock..
And now the Salt Lake native wants the truth to be told, he and two other bodyguards are writing a book called " In Defense of the King," "there are a lot of books out there but most of them are 3rd or 4th party people telling what they know --- this will tell the story from people who were there."
It's no surprise, Garcia says, that Jackson was a big fan of the islands, "he loved Hawaii...he loves the people, he loves the smells and thing like that. definitely. He's in to smells and stuff and he loved it out here.
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