MEETING MICHAEL JACKSON: MY WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE
The woman in the foreground is Loredana Alibrandi. At the time of this photo her job was Monumental Protection officer in Altare Della Patria in Rome. Part of her job was giving authorization for photographic and cinematographic filming to take place at the tourist sight. But in May 1988 she found herself accompanying Michael Jackson and being his guide to the sights.
Loredana Alibrandi recalls being summoned by her boss to the office just a few days before and with a smile on his lips he told her an American star would like to visit the Altare Della Patria, do you want to accompany him? "I knew Michael was in Italy, indeed, in Rome, so I immediately understood” said Loredana.
Although Loredana admired Michael's talent, she admits before meeting him that her impression of Michael Jackson, formed by the press and his larger than life stage persona, wasn't particularly positive; “I thought he was a great artist, but I thought of him as strange, unearthly, unreachable and vain” but after meeting him this completely changed.
On the 25th of May, a white van with tinted windows arrived outside the History of the Italian Risorgimento, followed by a crazed crowd: “the plan we had concocted was to get the van inside and immediately close the door. But evidently we had not taken into account the measurements of the entrance, because the van mirrors fitted together in such a way that the vehicle could no longer go either forward or backward”. They were stuck.
“I found myself in front of a screaming human wall. Scenes of hysteria everywhere, boys and girls with hats, pins, flags that sang at the top of their lungs”.
"Oh my God!"
“There were those who tore at their hair, who wanted to attack the van, who tried to open it; wherever I turned I saw incredible scenes: even a gentleman who wasn't very young (he was about fifty years old) was jumping about trying to see through the windows and, at the same time, was blowing kisses where he assumed Michael was”.
Loredana shouted guidance to the driver, who managed eventually to carefully back out to free the van from the narrow entrance. The bus then disembarked and, thanks to the quick reflexes of Battista Ragoni (one of the custodians of the monument), everyone could be admitted, going one at a time. First came the bodyguards, followed by Louisa Grasso, then it was Michael Jackson's turn... he was bundled up, face covered. Lastly, his personal photographer, Sam, and make-up artist Karen Faye.
Michael, far from feeling the love from the fans, was feeling extremely stressed by their presence on this sightseeing excursion. As Loredana later noted, “still terrified, he immediately ran to the opposite side to the laboratories, which among other things are not open to the public”, at which point Loredana called to him, “Michael! This way! It's all right!”.
Then she introduced herself and welcomed him on behalf of the Italian state. Michael thanked her warmly.
As they began their tour, she became more aware that it was Michael Jackson walking beside her and having a conversation with her, becoming anxious, she started breaking into both German and French instead of English at times. To calm her nerves Loredana took out a cigarette and began smoking in little puffs as they went into the elevator, to visit the various floors. But she remembered while doing so, Michael telling her that he disliked people smoking near him and did not smoke, “so I tried to hide it” but then the photographer said “in America only fools smoke”. Michael responded “when in Italy only stupid people say this kind of nonsense”. “Michael hated rudeness — he defended me! It still seemed to me like a dream, yet it was reality!” Loredana said.
They continued their tour...
They walked under the colonnade, and she explained to him the mosaics that are at the top. At a certain point she looked at the ground and right in front of them, due to repair work in progress, there was a two-meter wide gap in the floor. As they had looked up so intently together, either had noticed the danger.
Loredana pointed out the missing floor and said to Michael can you imagine if we hadn't seen it, he burst out laughing.
She then showed him the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but they were unable to stay very long in this area because a mass of people were trying to climb an access railing. “Furthermore it must also be said that this is a military zone and therefore, with due respect, although we were escorted and authorized - with us there was an army colonel. We could not risk an invasion by the public”.
Michael was very fascinated by the Carabinieri. Luisa had told her that Michael had a weakness for military uniforms and that he had expressed a desire to see Rome from above, "so I asked him: Michael, would you like to reach the top; he replied enthusiastically: Yes, of course”.
But the roof top floor was narrow with only a very low railing surrounding the trance, there was only room for a few people at a time to access it, certainly no room for Michael's whole entourage! “With Louisa's help, we insisted that Michael could get on without the bodyguards. It took us several minutes to convince the gorillas to let him go, but in the end we got the better: the cameraman and the photographer came with us. We went up the stairs which, being very narrow, they allow only one person to pass, and we held each other's hands to help us. As we climbed I made myself promise that he would not lean out of the railings: I gave him a thousand recommendations, and he assured me that he would be good”.
“As soon as we arrived, he began to run from one side of the balustrade to the other, looking out dangerously! To specify that we were at a height of more than a hundred meters! I turned to Louisa and told her: 'My God Louisa! What is he doing?' Then I called him, I approached: 'Michael! Be careful! Do not fall off' At that moment he turned and looked at me in a very sweet and reassuring way that I will never forget: he didn't say anything, but I understood from the look he wanted to tell me 'Don't worry, it's okay, I just want to have some fun'. I don't know how to explain: in his eyes there was infinite sweetness”.
After the main tour they enjoyed the Roman landscape for half an hour; he wanted to know all the main points of the capital: the Pantheon, the Imperial Forums, and, thanks to the clear day, he even managed to see Castelli.
“When we came back I could not resist the very strong temptation to ask him for an autograph. I had brought a notebook and he started writing. A few moments later, people from the internal service approached, one of whom took a photo of him with a flash two centimetres away from his face. To which I became angry, because I considered this action a total lack of respect for him. Shortly after, even the bodyguards joined us and probably because they realized that otherwise they would not let him go”.
From that day on Loredana Alibrandi was left feeling that Michael was an “extremely nice person”. “It was a wonderful experience, meeting Michael” say's Loredana.
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