Things I wish I could unsee: all of these quotes from Barbra Streisand. Streisand was doing good for a while – she turned up at the Oscars and befriended Spike Lee. It felt like Barbra was chilled out and just enjoying life. But then she has to butt into a discussion she really shouldn’t have. The discussion is “Michael Jackson was a serial child molester, and we’ve always known that.” Certainly people of Barbra’s generation knew that too. The thing is, Barbra isn’t DENYING that. She believes that MJ was a child molester. She just thinks it’s the fault of the victims’ parents, and then she shrugged off the physical and emotional abuse those kids dealt with because, in her words, “it didn’t kill them.” Wade Robson and James Safechuck were 7 and 10 years old when MJ molested them. And Babs is all *shrug* about it. The quotes from her Times interview:
Whether she believes MJ’s victims: She says that she believes Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who allege in the documentary that they were abused by Jackson as children. “Oh absolutely. That was too painful.”
Her thoughts on Michael Jackson: Streisand says that on the occasions she met Jackson, he was “very sweet, very childlike.” But despite the material being painful to watch, she seems to have some sympathy for the late pop star. “His sexual needs were his sexual needs, coming from whatever childhood he has or whatever DNA he has,” she told the Times.
On his victims: “You can say ‘molested,’ but those children, as you heard them say [the grown-up Robson and Safechuk], they were thrilled to be there. They both married and they both have children, so it didn’t kill them.”
Whether she feels anger towards MJ: “It’s a combination of feelings. I feel bad for the children. I feel bad for him. I blame, I guess, the parents, who would allow their children to sleep with him. Why would Michael need these little children dressed like him and in the shows and the dancing and the hats?”
On the MeToo movement: She calls it “very powerful.” But she says, “Unfortunately, it’s going to cause a lot of women not being hired because men are worried they’ll be attacked.” The interviewer explains that she seems to mean that the men will be worried about being accused of sexual impropriety.
This is the part which I found the most horrifying: “His sexual needs were his sexual needs, coming from whatever childhood he has or whatever DNA he has.” No. It’s just wrong on so many levels – she’s treating MJ’s pedophilia as if it was just “unconventional” rather than a severe criminal perversion. Of course I also found the “they were thrilled to be there” and “it didn’t kill them” statement to be equally terrifying too – they were CHILDREN. They were traumatized for YEARS. They still carry those emotional scars. Anyway, Streisand came out with a clarification after everyone freaked out about this interview:
“To be crystal clear, there is no situation or circumstance where it is OK for the innocence of children to be taken advantage of by anyone. The stories these two young men shared were painful to hear, and I feel nothing but sympathy for them. The single most important role of being a parent is to protect their children. It’s clear that the parents of the two young men were also victimized and seduced by fame and fantasy.”
“I am profoundly sorry for any pain or misunderstanding I caused by not choosing my words more carefully about Michael Jackson and his victims, because the words as printed do not reflect my true feelings. I didn’t mean to dismiss the trauma these boys experienced in any way. Like all survivors of sexual assault, they will have to carry this for the rest of their lives. I feel deep remorse and I hope that James and Wade know that I truly respect and admire them for speaking their truth.”
That statement still doesn’t address the most problematic parts of her interview, but sure, I also agree that MJ’s victims’ parents were at fault too. You could make the argument that seducing the parents was also part of Michael Jackson’s grooming of his victims, and he selected his victims based on how easily he could manipulate not only the children, but their parents too. That still doesn’t excuse many of the choices the parents made though. Ugh. Streisand is hoping we’ll just focus on that aspect of her interview rather than her *shrug* about pedophilia.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Barbra needs a big cancelled stamp on her forehead. I’m not a big fan of “cancelling” people, but she’s proved herself to be a callous, tone-deaf idiot. What planet is she living on? I heard Diana Ross is standing up for him too.
I agree. My jaw literally dropped open at “it didn’t kill them.” I can’t say here what I would like to say about this stupid, smug, ignorant woman. What a callous, tone-deaf, un-empathic, emotionally un-intelligent remark.
What is wrong with Hollywood? Some people have no morals or empathy at all. 🤢🤢🤢
It would be easier if it were that simple, but unfortunately, it’s not. I’ve seen so many situations over the past few years where everyday men (and on rarer occasions, women) far removed from the Hollywood scene have spewed the exact same drivel. Not about Michael Jackson specifically, but about a lot of other situations involving sexual assault or child molesting. Many of them are people who consider themselves to be on some moral high ground over people like Barbara Streisand. It’s a cultural problem.
Yeah, it’s not just Hollywood. My mother is a conservative Catholic, and her apologia for the pedo priests and the coverup is absolutely galling. “It takes two to tango” is pretty much her go-to. Like it is beyond disgusting.
Hey Babs, how would you be feeling if one of those kids was YOUR SON JASON?? Would you feel “it didn’t kill him”? Or would you be wanting MJ’s b@lls hanging over your fireplace?
WOW… I would NEVER have expected comments like this from Barbra. To say “MJ’s sexual needs were his sexual needs” makes it OK for him to abuse little boys??? REALLY???
OMG She is SO CANCELLED! There are just some things, to me, that are so heinous that there is NO excuse/wiggle room. She crosses that line for me, with these comments. Pedophelia is NEVER going to be “shrugged at” by me!
You’d be surprised that’s how people look at it, and I want to strangle them too. She’s the worst! Cancel her stupid ass.
Describing pedophilia as “sexual needs” is simply unforgivable.
She even said it’s his DNA,seriously awful.
Yes, ugh! Why does she even think she has authority to comment on this at all? Reminds me of Matt Damon whitesplaining diversity.
This is tone deaf AF. I do, however, feel that some amount of blame should be placed on the parents—they offered up their kids to this guy. Wtf. Couldn’t the parents been held accountable for endangering a child etc had this gone to a legit trial?
I do blame the parents. They were groomed by Michael and seduced by money and fame, but I still blame them. Michael, of course, deserves all the blame. I also blame his family, his ‘people’, protectors and everyone else who knew and never spoke up. Those who knew andignored it. Everyone is guilty but the victims.
Predators know how to work the parents as well. They look for parents who are themselves needy, and they fill that need for the parents. As a parent, I feel sick that these parents didn’t protect the boys, but at the same time I know that predators are masters of manipulation, and many, many people are fooled all the time. Think of all of the priests and coaches and other “safe” adults who we have believed over the years, heck even doctors.
Yep@ Josephine,you are so right about ALL of the other predators that parents have trusted to protect their children,the one you didn’t mention that came to my mind was Boy/Girl Scout leaders where the children actually do share sleeping quarters with their troop leaders when camping.Parents generally do the very best they can for their children,and these parents whose kids were preyed upon by MJ bear responsibility because they were the parents,but I believe that they were seduced by Jackson and all of the glitz and glamour,and we can not forget how initially happy the boys said they were.(of course they were so manipulated they didn’t know),but the parents genuinely believed those boys IMO.
In the end the fact that *it didn’t kill them * is a horrible thing to say too because the PTSD these men live with will affect them and their wives,children,etc for life.
I never cared a lot about Babs but her apology was smug,forced and too little too late.
It’s ALL on the parents AND MJ. Parents for being starstruck a$$wipes and basically selling their kids to MJ for a chance at being “in the sphere”, and on MJ for knowingly harming those kids. All the adults/family around MJ for enabling him to do this… They’re all crap.
The kids are the only ones that are blameless in my eyes.
My dad, as a boy, survived the Holocaust, and being on the “Death March”. He went on to marry and have 3 kids. I guess because it “didn’t kill him” he’s “fine”. Those nightmares he STILL wakes up with, at age 91, are nothing.
FVCK YOU BARBRA!!
@jan90067 – Bingo.
I use the Holocaust as an example with people who don’t understand childhood traumas and how they can stay with a person for life. Your father is such a strong person. Bless him. Babs’ mentality is twisted.
Thank you, Hoot ❤️.
My dad is an *amazing* man, and I’m very, very lucky to be his daughter 😊
Jan your fathers story is one that is so admirable,I wish I could meet this wonderful gentleman,it must be an honor to have such a man as a dad.My favorite patient ever,many years ago was tattooed with numbers on his forearm,and when I asked he told me everything,and he said forgiveness and telling his story are what helped him move forward,he still got emotional telling me about Auschwitz-Berkenau,unspeakable things history books can’t possibly tell.I know it’s a bit off topic since this post is about MJ,but these stories must never be forgotten,and these boys harmed by MJ and all the others must be free to speak their truth.💐
This hits home because I was raped as a child, told the authorities when I turned 18 (not fun, an uphill battle, etc so I’m not going to romanticize that) and then, after the mofo was finally arrested, he blamed my parents for “allowing me to go over to his house” (he was my babysitter) and “knowingly encouraging the sexual abuse of their daughter”.
Now, the sick part was THIS WORKED for some people and I had to answer question after questions about it. This was a defense & people, of Babs age, ate it up.
My parents were selfish, self-centered, busy people who weren’t the greatest parents & lived with their head up their own a&& but this defense is sick to the parents & kids.
Blame the parents for being bad parents but DO NOT blame anyone for molesting kids but the molester. My parents dropped me off by that mofo raped me & my parents had zip to do with it.
Oh yea & those same people also said “well, you like fine now” as if that counted for jack other then my resiliency. These statements are indicative of a very disturbing way of being in the world. Babs should be cancelled.
We live in a very sick, victim blaming culture. Blech.
Happy Sunday Celebitches!
That’s terrible. There’s some really fucked up people in the world.
All of this and then some. Other people were enablers—and far worse than the children’s parents, are Michael’s own family, entourage and an entire cottage industry whose livelihood’s depended solely on Michael Jackson being, well, able to continue being Michael Jackson. They undeniably helped to groom and seduce those children’s parents, just as their kids were groomed and seduced. But there was only one molester: Jackson himself. And he doesn’t deserve part of the blame, but all of it. Every last bit.
When I first saw the quotes from this interview I thought they must be made up. That no one on could be so misguided, cruel and awful, let alone one of the most famous women on the planet saying these things, out loud, to a journalist.
Pedophilia isn’t any more a “natural sexual need” than necrophilia, beastiality or serial killers who get sexually aroused by their murders. All are criminal, many also involve deep psychological disorders, and not one has anything to do with consensual sexual behavior between adults.
Michael’s own terrible childhood is no more an excuse than anything else. Many molesters were themselves molested, but the vast majority of the abused do NOT go one to become abusers themselves. (Both are true.) To “look fine” is zero—none, nada, zilch—evidence that anyone did, or could, emerge unscathed from such unspeakable trauma. That these men can so bravely speak of what they endured is solely evidence of the victim’s survival, not their abuser’s “innocence”.
Fewer than 1/4 of children disclose while it’s happening, MC2. Sending all the healing you can use your way and some to pass on to anyone else if you don’t.
MC2,I am so sorry for what you endured and I think you are incredibly brave.Wishing you many blessings and much peace as you go forward.
I didn’t watch the documentary (triggering and I believe Robson and Safechuk without watching), but men often use financial control to “groom” parents of their young victims. Jackson was in a place to take advantage of financial inequality and the needs it creates to essentially “buy” human beings and silence if he so chose. I’m not saying the parents here are faultless, I just think they MIGHT have also been victimized.
Again, no strong language because I’m not informed enough, just hedging my judgment.
My idea is that MJ was a charming manipulator who dedazzled his victims and their families.
Every time I watched MJ’s behavior with his fav kid of the year ,I wants vomit 🤮.
He was charming and seductive. He had presence. But that is what you can say about many predators. Not Woody or Weinstein, but many others were charismatic.
I saw the original comment by Barbara and felt like screaming.
i haven’t watched it either. I absolutely believe Robson and Safechuk, but as the mother of three sons I just can’t bear to be more of a witness to their pain. I honestly believe that all of us are responsible for protecting all children. A lot of people failed MJ’s victims.
I am Not excusing his behavior at all, but have always felt that a probable explanation comes from his childhood, or lack thereof. He never got to have a traditional childhood and Joe Jackson was an absolute monster. I think He truly did love children and want them to have these childhood experiences he didn’t hence the theme park etc. I think That became conflated with his sexual desires. Not ok, not excused, but perhaps explained. Also, the parents of these children absolutely shoulder some of the blame. While Michael Jackson is responsible for the horrible molestation of these children, I think there are many mitigating factors that led to that result.
Why he became a monster is understood but even if parents enabled, he remained 100% responsible. It’s important morally and legally to be clear about that and not shift one iota of blame because of his status or his talent. The total blame can only be 100% and the minute we try to make it 90 or 80 percent we dilute the seriousness of the crime and revictimize the victims.
There are nearly always adults who enable or overlook child abuse of all types. They are responsible for that, but it’s different transgression, a different crime. It takes a village to hurt the vulnerable and cover it up.
I understand what you’re saying, but I think the poor me thing is part of how he manipulated these people, reminded me of Ted Bundy actually when I saw the HBO special, that predators know that preying on people’s kindness and sympathies is effective. I’m sure he did have a bad childhood, and I don’t mean to diminish that, but many people have bad childhoods and don’t prey on others. This guy used his resources not to heal himself but to enable his worst instincts… He of all people should have understood the pain he was causing…
Right on. He became a self-pitying narcissist.
Polanski was in Auschwitz, lost family, wife killed brutally. Baby killed. Mj needed therapy and so did many others. But they were put in a god like position and they are still icons. It is all because they had enablers etc but no one can say they weren’t diabolical.
Majority of killers and abusers were victims but the circle has to be broken. So no more excuses.
I think that the story about Michael never growing up is bs that he and the media pushed on us. He used that phoney high pitched voice that even Lisa Marie said wasn’t his real voice. Sure, he liked to play around; a lot of grown men like video games and park rides. And there are numerous child actors who didn’t have normal lives—hell, were actually sexually abused themselves when kids and did not become abusers when adults. It was all a scam. He was a very shrewd man—look how he got the beatle catalog and told McCartney it was business, nothing more. That’s not the action of a child. Nor was the seduction of the families and kids he molested. We had a pedophil pediatrician where I live, and he did that same Peter Pan crap, and without meeting him, I knew I would never bring my kid to him. Turned out my instincts were right. He was even raping babies. And the first thing I thought of was that he was just like Michael Jackson using that fake-ass Peter Pan act. Probably picked it up from him.
So good you trusted your instincts Deedee, I think that’s a big takeaway here…our bodies and our instincts often know before we do when someone or a situation is bad news…whatever appearances may try to tell us…
Not everyone w a terrible childhood takes it out on innocent children! My son asked “why” did MJ do that. I said four-fold: unresolved violent childhood abuse (inc Jehovah’s Witness/spiritual abuse, drug addiction, wealth, and fame entitlement. NOTHING @ “needs” or whatever. Shocking Babs has a son of her own, as she has zero empathy and ALL victim blaming. UGH.
I believe the theme park was all part of the seduction process. Also, do you think his insomnia was in some way related to guilt and conscience?
I hate Joe Jackson, but no excuses for pedophilia.
I think she is coming from the idea that Jackson was mentally ill and therefore couldn’t control himself. She’s incorrect, but I don’t thinks she was trying to say that pedophilia is ok. I think he was severely traumatized from his own childhood. However, he was functioning well enough that he could have gotten himself help if he had wanted to. Mental illness might explain the abuse, but it shouldn’t be used to excuse it.
+ 1
But she also say that the victims don’t seem traumatized
Exactly. It’s back to people blinded to the realities of surviving abuse. She’s terribly ignorant.
It worried me when she said “whatever DNA”. Those words imply “we don’t know yet”, “there might be scientific proof”, as an explanation of paedophilia.
It might be very common in her circle and that’s why she treats it as a preference and not a serious crime.
Clarity before I proceed: preying on children is a crime, full stop. I do not condone it, even 21 year olds dating 17 year olds and similar age jumps is a bridge too far for me.
There are those who want to study pedophiles because there is a suspicion that many more people are attracted to children than act on those damaging impulses, therefore people want to find out why this is so, if it is so, and how can those impulses be stifled before they’re acted upon or rerouted to appropriate attractions instead. Personally I wouldn’t have the stomach to be a researcher in the field, but on behalf of children, I sure hope someone is doing this research.
I believe you Betsy,this sickness should be studied until it is eradicated,but Barbara is a singer/actress not a scientist and I cannot help but think what she said about DNA wasn’t from a place of science it was from arrogance and ignorance on her part.
Pedophilia is part of power imbalance, the METOO. Remember, groomers choose less empowered families. Sure, it can be “studied”, but it’s a time immemorial lack of consideration, de-humanization.
My thoughts on this are that she’s correct that pedophilia is usually a type of sexual desire. Hardly anyone would choose to be born attracted to children. It results in a lifetime of repressing this desire and not acting on it (if you are a good, ethical person.) The fact that it is criminal doesn’t negate this – it seems to be in some people’s natural wiring, whether it is nature or nurture, to be attracted to children or teenagers.
I think when we don’t acknowledge this we just see pedophiles as criminals choosing their behaviour, instead of people who are also acting on a biological urge. And that makes it harder for us to see the patterns pedophiles use to target children. It also makes it harder for us to treat offenders, in the hope that they don’t hurt more children.
Of course, some pedophiles are situational, not preferential offenders. (Situational offenders don’t have a strong preference for offending against children, but they will do it if they have access.) These people tend to be the ones that can be helped by treatment. They often have poor decision-making skills and trauma backgrounds, but, because they are also sexually attracted to adults, they can change their offending behaviours. Preferential offenders are much, much harder to treat.
I think understanding all of this means that we can protect our children better. It also means that when someone comes forward for treatment saying, “I’m solely attracted to children but I never want to act on this,” that we can treat them with compassion and a program that will really help them never to hurt a child. Treating these people like monsters only drives these people underground and makes it more likely they will offend.
I think the rest of what Barbara said was ridiculous and so hurtful to all sexual abuse survivors.
@ Mariposa. Couldn’t agree with you more. But I think a lot of people can’t believe a person can be born a pedophile. Slippery slope.
I agree. I think she was trying to say it was inherent (it’s in his dna) or evitable to happen because of his childhood traumas. But she did act like it’s no big thing and that they survived. Ironic, consider how she said she was verbally and emotionally abused by her step father when growing up herself. Maybe she thinks what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Yes!She spoke often of believing she was ugly and untalented because of her parents verbal/emotional language toward her,I would think she would be more compassionate,but she has always struck me as cold.
Hi DeeDee, I think that’s a good distinction, I think it is her minimising that is so objectionable…whether it was MJ’s childhood trauma or whether he was ‘born that way’, he still knowingly abused those children. To a victim, it doesn’t matter why it happened, it just matters that it did, and it can never be no big deal.
I can’t believe the garbage coming out of this woman’s mouth– children were thrilled to be at this carnival/play house (duh)? If victims didn’t slit their wrists, they must be okay? ‘His sexual needs’ as a shrugging defense? I know she lives in her own little controlled world of cloned dogs, but the most isolated decent person couldn’t spout this.
Would she have let her own kid play with him?
Babs, WTF?
She comes off horrible. And what’s with the they’re both married and they both have kids crap? Many traumatised and abused people have families, that doesn’t mean they aren’t still suffering.
Michael Jackson could turn on and off his childlike qualities and demeanor. I remember interviews with Lisa Marie Presley back in the day, saying that he was a savvy businessman and he used that “childlike persona” to fool people. Just ask Paul McCartney. They became friends and made music together, and then Michael stole the Beatles catalog out from under Sir Paul. I refuse to make excuses for Michael. Lots of people have troubled childhoods and they do not molest children.
As for Babs… canceled.
Yes. Yes and yes.
Michael Jason was the abuser and a child predator.
The parents were the enablers, probably from a combination of gullibility and greed.
The children were innocent.
She can’t both-sides this, she can’t remove 100% of the responsibility from Jackson, and she can’t make the sexual abuse of children a matter of “sexual needs.”
Her age and probably her immersion in old-school psychoanalytic thought are showing. Ugh.
I watched the documentary and I believe these men. I believe MJ was as pedophile I also believe there are many more victims out there. The parents failed their children. Yes they were seduced by the fame, but they couldn’t look past that and see a monster that was before them. These two men had identical stories about their abuse. It was horrific and then they get put through the mud because the world is seduced by MJ stardom, just like their parents did. I think they’re survivors that has deep scars and that is such a sad and unfair burden for them to carry. They have my love, compassion and sympathy. I’m so sorry that they are put in a position of suspicion. They told their stories and MJ robbed them in the most disgusting way possible.
How is it that she blames the parents here, but ‘feels bad’ for Jackson? No statement about how Jackson was at fault or that his ‘sexual needs’ were patently inappropriate and criminal. She’s missed the mark yet again.
I’m not a fan of cancel culture, but I’ll make an exception here.
No one’s “sexual needs” outweigh another’s right to bodily autonomy. I am so sick and tired of people using that argument. If those were his “needs”, he could have used his hand and his imagination. Period. People know right from wrong and it doesn’t get to be excused due to “sexual need.” That’s beyond atrocious logic. Eff her.
Diana Ross also defended MJ the other day so not a good weekend for legends.
I think people who knew MJ for years and years will probably defend him. I doubt that he showed the pedophilia side to them. It would probably be difficult to believe that side if you only experienced the benign side of MJ for decades and did not see the pedophilia side with your own eyes. As Wade Robson said to Oprah, MJ had already groomed them before they met him through his public persona.
This is just ridiculous on so many different levels. To me, it’s almost like she’s saying they wanted to be molested and their lives turned out as well as they did because they were. I don’t understand how no one stopped her during the interview. I don’t know how all of this works but wouldn’t she have an agent or her manager with her? I’m not trying to make an excuse for her but this is bad.
I do agree with her to a degree on the comment about the parents. While I don’t think it’s necessarily their fault, they shouldn’t have put their kids in that position. A grown man does not ever need to have a sleep over with children like that.
“They both married and they both have children, so it didn’t kill them.“
We don’t know what it’s going inside their minds and their hearts. We don’t know if they are “dead” inside. What’s wrong with this woman? Just because someone tries to do their best and move on it doesn’t mean they are “doing well”.
The part where she says, “You can say ‘molested’ but …” implies that ‘molested’ is not what she would call it. In her mind, it was mutual because, as she put it, the boys were “thrilled to be there.”
And then in a completely tone-deaf move, she (or her very dumb PR person) posted on Twitter a photo of herself and her then-young son on a movie set. Twitter ate her alive for that lack of judgment. She obviously does not think things through to the end, does she?
I’ve never liked her in the way that I don’t like most self-involved singers. Just because she was born with a talent (as everyone is) doesn’t make her better than anyone the way she believes it does. And it certainly doesn’t seem to give her more common sense.
Parents should be held accountable at some level ..Were they molested ? Who knows .. y do all this after mj died ? Y not do it when he was around to protect other children ?
They tried. He was indicted and found not guilty by a jury of morons.
One of the jurors even came forward in the documentary and said that had all of the information been available to him, he would have said guilty without a doubt.
Streisand can eff right off with this bullshit! She is a mother and it BLOWS my mind that she could say these things. Also, Prince of Tides was about a man coming to terms with a sexual.assault he endured as a child. Barbra played the shrink who helps him. She also directed.the film. did she learn nothing from that experience??
Ugh. she’s an awful person.
“You can say ‘molested,’ but those children, as you heard them say [the grown-up Robson and Safechuk], they were thrilled to be there. They both married and they both have children, so it didn’t kill them.”
There aren’t enough words for how wrong she is, and it’s this that I really want to tell her.
We are going through a situation akin to this in our family at present. The disclosure was a throwaway comment during bedtime. The adult to whom it was made gathered *zirself to continue the bedtime ritual as normally as possible, and was on the phone to professionals (friends in social work and law enforcement) as soon as the wee one was asleep.
The next morning, on the advice of those experts, a call was placed and the wee one brought in for a forensic interview. Because wee one has a vocabulary and expressive language range that exceeds zir chronological age, that interview was enough to merit an arrest.
The perpetrator has denied, the perp’s family is enabling the denial and a trial will probably occur.
Regardless of legal outcomes, as our wee one moves through life, it’s a good bet that ze will process and reprocess what happened at different stages. And what ze will always be able to fall back on is that zir parent never questioned and never doubted, that the police took it seriously enough to make an arrest and that there is a good possibility that ze prevented other children from being violated by the perpetrator.
Streisand might be able to sing, but she’s still tone-deaf.
*using gender-neutral language as an effort to balance privacy with sharing
cannibell – Thank you for doing it right. Always go with your gut feeling.
Oh, I can take no credit. Wee One’s primary adult deserves full marks. (The rest of us are lining up behind them – a bunch of us have been showing up at hearings, just to let the judge and all in attendance know that Wee One has an army behind zir.
You are totally amazing, Cannibell. 😉🖖🏽
Actually, everyone out here who posts is pretty amazing. I thought about whether to talk about this, but the level of discourse on this site is at a level that I was comfortable sharing something so personal. I wish we could have a meetup someday. It would be the most interesting party ever.
Wait… didn’t she direct and star in a whole movie about childhood sexual abuse, and the lifelong emotional devastation caused by being forced to keep this soul-destroying secret and pretend nothing ever happened?
Why, yes. Yes she did.
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. She played the psychiatrist “Lowenstein” as some kind of saviour when in fact the character was equally flawed in the book. She’s a hypocrite and a narcissist of the worst type. She’s always been difficult, egotistical and rude.
Excellent point.
“NUTS”, was her film @ unresolved childhood sexual abuse, and it made me weep. Babs is kind of trendy and I guess empathy is so yesterday & cloning little white lap dogs is so right now.
Barb, my friend’s grandmother survived a concentration camp ( and Dr. Mengale’s experiments at that) she went on to marry and have children, guess by your logic she’s fine since it didn’t kill her.
Oh, Babs….NO. Just no.
This woman has gotten everything she wanted in life and still acts like a complete witch. Ugh, goodbye. Don’t bring around a cloud, don’t rain on MY parade.
And here we are…. this is a perfect example of a sweep it under the rug and it will go away reaction to sexual abuse and why sexual abuse survivors don’t come forward or wait years to do so.
This is a perfect example of the adults who are a part of pedophilia apologists that need to be studied and isolated just like the pedophiles. Someone above asked what if it was her child? How do we know it wasn’t? She, like the parents she criticized, would have shrugged it off and suggested therapy if it were her child. She obviously doesn’t see the inhumanity in pedophilia. We must always always remember that when people show is who they are we should believe them. Too many people of power share her attitude which is how these actions go on so long without justice. R Kelly, MJ,Bill Cosby, Harvey…. everyone knew and shrugged it off because the victims were “getting something” in return.
She is forever cancelled. We don’t know her.
Why would anyone expect sanity from a person cloning dogs and canceling interviews because of camera on the bad angle?
Absolutely appauling, insensitive, and irresponsible of her to say those things. I despise the way male sexual abuse survivors are treated and spoke about and it needs to change.
Hmm…we just really don’t know how accepted pedophilia is in certain circles. I’ve been thinking about this recently actually because of politics. Like, what are the chances that Dennis Hastert was the only pedo in congress? What are the chances that Foley was the only congressman who liked teenagers? I have been wondering because I think the answers to both questions are ZERO chances, and it would explain a lot about our current situation vis a vis blackmail.
You’re absolutely right in that regard. The Hastert situation was resolved so close to Epstein’s trial date that it almost seemed like he was the designated black sheep, sacrificed to protect others 8he’s out, so…) . Then Epstein got protected too by plenty of GOP related individuals… I no longer believe in coincidences.
Yes, Babs. It does kill you. You do die inside.
I was groomed as an early teen, 24 years ago. Twenty four years of trying to remember to forget.
A man who was supposed to be acting as my counsellor instead took the opportunity to follow me everywhere – home, school, bus stop, wherever I happened to be – culminating in sexual abuse. He was in a position of power: I was shunned as a filthy lolita, he as an upstanding man of the community. Nowhere was safe, free of dark looks and whispered invective and rumour with a thousand painted tongues. I still search for sanctuary.
The day he abused me, much of my future died. Potential for relationships, for trust, for exploring the world without fear, without the inner voices of the censorious echoing, resonating, both consciously and subconsciously in every life decision; my ability to interact with the world rather than inhabiting the bleak country of the past, beset by shadows: that is the upshot of abuse. It never leaves one. It remains an indelible stain on memory, psyche, emotions, others.
What does not kill us does not make us stronger if our potential, our innocence, is murdered in the first place.
Thanks for that, @JadedBrit. I get flashbacks of my groomers (3) when a man is “too nice”. So I choose “distant” guys, who are unavailable for a reason. I can’t vibe w love, and never have. I’m nearly 60yr. OH, BTW, I’ve been married and had kids. So. I’m. Fine.
@BCHYYOGI Ditto, particularly re the unavailable man/not having to let your soul be shown or available to a significant other. Last relationship was with an absolute prima donna with mother issues. The nice ones never stood a chance: I was either suspicious as to their motives or despised them for adoring me. No inclination in entering another relationship: I’d wanted children at one stage, but am too much of a mess, I think, to raise them well. I’m tempted to invest in a bunch of cats.
All because twenty four years ago.
So many best wishes to you – and believe me, I *really* do understand.
I am so sorry. Special hell for those people.
BS, what a completely awfully human being she is.
She turned herself into a monster in my eyes. That was quick
Exactly. She is filth.
Barbara Streisand and Diana Ross have both said things that seem like they are supporting MJ,yet blaming the parents (Babs blamed them anyway),don’t they get the sick irony is that THEY for years were conned by Jackson,so yes ,the parents although not completely blameless were conned by him too.
One of the first records I ever owned as a child
was one of Barbra Streisand’s. After this, I never want to hear her voice again.
“You can say ‘molested,’ but those children, as you heard them say [the grown-up Robson and Safechuk], they were thrilled to be there.”
AKA, they were asking for it. Funny that she doesn’t want to say ‘molested’. What word was she fishing for?
“They both married and they both have children, so it didn’t kill them.”
AKA, it wasn’t really that bad, because (see first point), they were asking for it.
Sick, vile excuse for a human being.
When did she start looking like Jocelyn Wildenstein?
MJ groomed children and their families. However, their parents failed them. MJ was a predator and adults were OK with their children sharing a bed with a grown ass man. Only pedo adults want to befriend children!
I’m almost 50, I’m married and have kids so I guess I’m fine.
I was raped from 3-7 by one uncle by marriage, then molested by a different uncle by marriage from 8-10.
I really am mostly ok now, I had A LOT of therapy in my 20’s and 30’s.
But something I’ll always wonder.. who would I have been if my childhood hadn’t been stolen and I hadn’t been so damaged.
What would that person be like, what opportunities could she have had.
That person was murdered. That person never got to live.
I’m cool with my life, I love my family, I wouldn’t change that. And I wouldn’t have this exact life if I hadn’t experienced what I did.
But I do wonder, and I still morn that little girl who didn’t survive.