Bubbles the Chimp: My Life with Michael Jackson

Production Details

When a million mourners flocked to Michael Jackson’s memorial service in July 2009, the world reflected on all the eccentricities of a creative genius. He lived his life in the middle of the biggest media circus on Earth, but there was also a real Michael Jackson circus. At the height of his popularity, one of his closest and most trusted companions was a chimpanzee called Bubbles. They were once inseparable, but what became of the world’s most famous chimp?

Bubbles was only a few months old when he was rescued from medical research and bought by Jackson. The chimp became the world’s most famous pet, but their six year relationship was not a regular pop star’s passing whim.

“Michael loved animals and he would speak to them and talk to them as if they were his best friends,” says La Toya Jackson, the younger sister who grew up in the bedroom next door to Michael and Bubbles.

Their lives seemed to mirror each other: Jackson the man who never had a childhood and Bubbles, the chimp who grew up a human. This revealing documentary talks to those who witnessed the relationship first hand and explores the complex psychology behind Jackson’s devotion to his chimp and other animals.

Imprisoned by fame, Jackson found it hard to find friends he could trust. “When you become that huge, everybody is like a yes person for you and everybody wants to be a part of you…and you begin to think, well who is my friend?…and you turn to animals even more because they don’t know that, they just love you for who you are,” explains La Toya.

Michael Jackson took Bubbles with him wherever he could including 1987’s Bad tour of Japan where the young chimp became a pop icon in his own right.

“Taking his animals with him was a way for him to have a sense of safety, when he was in perhaps environments that caused some sort of anxiety,” suggests clinical psychologist Dr Sari Shepphird.

But Bubbles was fast growing up, the playful young chimp was now a powerful adolescent. It was time for him to leave the family home and live with his professional animal trainer.

Bubbles’ and Jackson’s lives began to take separate paths. Michael moved to Neverland and built a vast private zoo but there was no place for Bubbles and though he was brought to the sprawling ranch for occasional visits, he and Jackson saw less and less of each other.

By now Jackson had a real family and more than enough troubles with falling record sales, mounting debts and lawsuits to fight. And then, during rehearsals for his comeback tour “This Is It”, Michael tragically died.

So what’s become of Bubbles? His life took a different turn. In 2004 he moved from his trainer’s compound to the Center for Great Apes, a retirement home for show business apes in Florida. Now 26 years old, he’s part of a proper chimpanzee family.

But there’s one last twist. During the filming of the documentary, La Toya Jackson asked if she could visit Bubbles again and 10 months after her brother’s death she made the 3,000 mile trip to Florida. It’s an emotional reunion with memories of happier times with Michael and Bubbles, stirring powerful feelings. Michael didn’t survive show business but fortunately, Bubbles has.