‘Michael’ Star Jaafar Jackson Reveals Michael’s Heartbreaking Final Words to Him Before His Death
Michael Jackson’s legacy has continued to command global attention more than a decade and a half after his death, and few projects have carried the emotional weight of doing that legacy justice quite like Lionsgate’s biopic ‘Michael.’ Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the film became the highest-grossing music biopic ever made, pulling in over $1.02 billion worldwide and cementing star Jaafar Jackson, Michael’s own nephew, as far more than just a stunt casting choice.
That success has now paved the way for a sequel, and Jaafar is using the moment to open up about the deeply personal side of stepping into his uncle’s shoes. Speaking with GQ Middle East for the magazine’s September cover story, Jaafar reflected on his three years spent embodying Michael, from the physical transformation to the emotional weight of representing a man he simply knew as family.
Among the most striking details to emerge from that conversation was a memory Jaafar has carried for over a decade. He recalled a family dinner in Beverly Hills celebrating his grandparents Joe and Katherine’s wedding anniversary, where Michael was in high spirits about the upcoming This Is It concerts in London and had invited the whole family to attend. As Jaafar prepared to leave that night, Michael’s parting words to him were simple: “See you in July.” Michael passed away just two months later, meaning that dinner would be the last time Jaafar ever saw his uncle in person.
Jaafar described the evening itself as quietly special, recalling how he sat across from Michael and his father, Jermaine Jackson, as the two brothers sang a cappella together. He said he was mostly just observing the moment rather than participating, a small detail that speaks to how ordinary and unremarkable that final night felt at the time, despite how much weight it would carry in hindsight.
That memory takes on added significance given where Jaafar hopes the upcoming sequel will go. He confirmed to GQ Middle East that a follow-up film is officially in the works, and that his preference is for it to finally give Michael’s own perspective on the controversies and allegations that shadowed the final decades of his life.
Jaafar argued that Michael’s story has largely been filtered through other people’s accounts over the years, telling the magazine that the allegations have “always [been] from someone else’s” point of view rather than Michael’s own. He added that this gap in perspective represents what his family feels has been missing from the broader public conversation, saying it comes down to “not having Michael’s voice being heard.”
Part of what informed Jaafar’s performance in the first film was direct access to journals and personal notes his uncle kept over the years. He described discovering entries that revealed a childlike sense of wonder and ambition, including one note where Michael wrote about wanting crowds of people to stop in their tracks just to watch him, a level of curiosity Jaafar believes Michael carried with him well into adulthood rather than losing as he aged.
While the screenplay for the sequel remains in active development and Jaafar has acknowledged he has no final say over its scope, his comments suggest he sees the follow-up as an opportunity to round out a legacy that the first film, which ended its story around 1988, deliberately left unresolved. Given how the first film became a genuine box office phenomenon, expectations for how the sequel handles Michael’s more complicated later years are already running high.
What should the Michael sequel focus on most?
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