back-and-forth testimony of Jackson's former maid Tuesday at the singer's molestation trial.
"The little kid from the movies," the ex-housekeeper's take on Culkin, was a frequent Neverland Ranch visitor during the star's Home Alone heyday in the early 1990s, the woman testified.
Sometimes the eight- or nine-year-old Culkin arrived at Jackson's playground estate with his family, sometimes he arrived alone, she said. And sometimes, she said, Culkin would spend the night in Jackson's bedroom, a suite outfit with two beds. The next morning, the woman said, only one bed would be undone.
Jackson hasn't denied sharing his bed with children, but he has denied doing anything improper toward the children with whom he snuggles.
For his part, Culkin has long denied being taken advantage of by the pop star. Now 24, Culkin is the godfather of Jackson's eldest son.
On the stand, the ex-maid, now a caregiver for elderly and disabled patients, acknowledged children weren't the only ones to whom Jackson opened up his boudoir.
"Bubbles would sometimes stay in Mr. Jackson's room, right?" defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. asked.
"Yes," the woman said.
But it was Jackson's young male human guests the prosecution kept coming back to.
In her testimony, the former Neverland employee, who worked for Jackson from 1986-1991, said she once saw the shirtless pop star sitting in bed watching TV with a shirtless boy of 7 or 8.
The boy, Wade Robson, would grow up to choreograph moves for Britney Spears and 'N Sync. Back in the late 1980s, Robson was a frequent Neverland visitor, the woman said.
One day, during one of Robson's stays, she testified, she entered Jackson's bedroom suite and heard voices--and laughter.
"First I thought that they [Robson and Jackson] were playing in the bathtub [or] Jacuzzi...Then I thought they were playing outside the house...[Then] I walked in, and they were in the shower," the ex-maid said.
On the floor, next to the shower, she said, were two pairs of underwear. "Mr. Jackson's--I knew they were white, and the little boy's--they were [neon green]," she testified.
But by the time Mesereau was done with his cross-examination, the woman's story was about as clear as the fogged-up shower door she said she'd seen Jackson and Robson through.
"You could only see one [figure] through the glass, right?" Mesereau asked.
"Mostly, yeah," the woman said. "Mostly."
"You saw one person--Mr. Jackson--right?" Meseraeu continued.
Said the woman: "Yes."
Prosecutor Ronald Zonen tried to get the ex-housekeeper back on track, but to little avail.
"At the time that you looked through the glass into the shower, were you able to see a second person in there?" Zonen asked.
"I want to say, 'yeah,' but I don't..." the woman said.
Like Culkin, Robson, now 22, has insisted "nothing strange happened" during his childhood friendship with Jackson.
"He saw the talent and the spark I had inside me and all he has ever wanted to do is just help my career," Robson once told Australia's Daily Telegraph.
Robson is not expected to take the stand at Jackson's trial. Neither is Culkin, although the actor has been included on the singer's list of potential defense witnesses
Muddled though her testimony was, the ex-housekeeper served as a twofer for the prosecution: She wasn't just a reputed eyewitness to alleged improper bathing activities at Neverland; she's the mother of one of Jackson's alleged victims.
On Monday, her 24-year-old son told jurors that Jackson tickled his testicles when he was a boy, and stuffed $100 bills into his shorts after two similar tickle-turned-grope sessions in the late 1980s.
As his cross-examination continued in the Santa Maria, California, courthouse Tuesday, the man repeatedly said he had little recollection of past interviews given to investigators, or of the mechanics of the reputed $2 million settlement his family received in the mid-1990s as a result of his allegations.
Through his questions, Mesereau continued to argue that the man's accounts of the reputed molestation grew in detail the more he was questioned, and bullied, by police.
"Do you remember in that interview one sheriff telling you, 'Mr. Jackson is a molester,' and the other saying, 'He makes great music, he's a great guy--bulls--t!' Do you remember that?" Mesereau asked the man.
The man said he did not recall that exchange.
His mother--"a kickin' " housekeeper, in her son's words--told jurors that she grew wary of her own child's relationship with Jackson when she saw her son sitting in the singer's lap, and again when she found them lying together in a sleeping bag. Earlier, the son testified one of the offending tickle contests took place in a sleeping bag, and another started while he was perched on Jackson's lap.
The mother said Jackson called her son "Rubba," a nickname she said he shared with Robson and Culkin.
Mesereau suggested there was nothing odd about the moniker--short for "rubberhead," he said--noting that Jackson invariably called his own cousins either "Rubba," "Apple Head" or "Doo-Doo Head."
It was not known what nickname, if any, Jackson had for Bubbles, the primate frequently seen with the singer during his Thriller reign. It was also not clear exactly why Bubbles' name came up so much during Tuesday's testimony.
While Mesereau seemed to be invoking Bubbles to prove Jackson is an eccentric, Zonen seemed to be invoking Bubbles to prove the chimp was, well, a jerk.
"Did Bubbles get a little too big?" Zonen asked the ex-maid.
"Yeah," the woman said.
"Did Bubbles get rambunctious, wild?" Zonen continued.
"Wild," the woman agreed.
"Did Bubbles ever bite you?" Zonen asked.
"Twice," the woman responded.
Bubbles, now in his 20s, lives with a famed animal trainer in California, the New York Daily News recently reported. He has been charged with no wrongdoing.
Despite the now-mounting allegations of abuse and questionable conduct against Bubbles' famous friend, Jackson is officially accused of molesting only one boy, then 13, in 2003. He's also accused of breaking down the child's defenses with wine and booze, and holding him and his family captive at Neverland. Jackson has pleaded innocent to all charges.
The stories from the ex-maid and her son are being used by prosecutors to establish a pattern of misconduct by Jackson. In all, the state is set to present evidence and witnesses saying that Jackson crossed the line with five boys more than a decade ago.
The Jackson trial goes dark Wednesday as Superior Judge Rodney S. Melville tends to some previously scheduled business.
"The little kid from the movies," the ex-housekeeper's take on Culkin, was a frequent Neverland Ranch visitor during the star's Home Alone heyday in the early 1990s, the woman testified.
Sometimes the eight- or nine-year-old Culkin arrived at Jackson's playground estate with his family, sometimes he arrived alone, she said. And sometimes, she said, Culkin would spend the night in Jackson's bedroom, a suite outfit with two beds. The next morning, the woman said, only one bed would be undone.
Jackson hasn't denied sharing his bed with children, but he has denied doing anything improper toward the children with whom he snuggles.
For his part, Culkin has long denied being taken advantage of by the pop star. Now 24, Culkin is the godfather of Jackson's eldest son.
On the stand, the ex-maid, now a caregiver for elderly and disabled patients, acknowledged children weren't the only ones to whom Jackson opened up his boudoir.
"Bubbles would sometimes stay in Mr. Jackson's room, right?" defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. asked.
"Yes," the woman said.
But it was Jackson's young male human guests the prosecution kept coming back to.
In her testimony, the former Neverland employee, who worked for Jackson from 1986-1991, said she once saw the shirtless pop star sitting in bed watching TV with a shirtless boy of 7 or 8.
The boy, Wade Robson, would grow up to choreograph moves for Britney Spears and 'N Sync. Back in the late 1980s, Robson was a frequent Neverland visitor, the woman said.
One day, during one of Robson's stays, she testified, she entered Jackson's bedroom suite and heard voices--and laughter.
"First I thought that they [Robson and Jackson] were playing in the bathtub [or] Jacuzzi...Then I thought they were playing outside the house...[Then] I walked in, and they were in the shower," the ex-maid said.
On the floor, next to the shower, she said, were two pairs of underwear. "Mr. Jackson's--I knew they were white, and the little boy's--they were [neon green]," she testified.
But by the time Mesereau was done with his cross-examination, the woman's story was about as clear as the fogged-up shower door she said she'd seen Jackson and Robson through.
"You could only see one [figure] through the glass, right?" Mesereau asked.
"Mostly, yeah," the woman said. "Mostly."
"You saw one person--Mr. Jackson--right?" Meseraeu continued.
Said the woman: "Yes."
Prosecutor Ronald Zonen tried to get the ex-housekeeper back on track, but to little avail.
"At the time that you looked through the glass into the shower, were you able to see a second person in there?" Zonen asked.
"I want to say, 'yeah,' but I don't..." the woman said.
Like Culkin, Robson, now 22, has insisted "nothing strange happened" during his childhood friendship with Jackson.
"He saw the talent and the spark I had inside me and all he has ever wanted to do is just help my career," Robson once told Australia's Daily Telegraph.
Robson is not expected to take the stand at Jackson's trial. Neither is Culkin, although the actor has been included on the singer's list of potential defense witnesses
Muddled though her testimony was, the ex-housekeeper served as a twofer for the prosecution: She wasn't just a reputed eyewitness to alleged improper bathing activities at Neverland; she's the mother of one of Jackson's alleged victims.
On Monday, her 24-year-old son told jurors that Jackson tickled his testicles when he was a boy, and stuffed $100 bills into his shorts after two similar tickle-turned-grope sessions in the late 1980s.
As his cross-examination continued in the Santa Maria, California, courthouse Tuesday, the man repeatedly said he had little recollection of past interviews given to investigators, or of the mechanics of the reputed $2 million settlement his family received in the mid-1990s as a result of his allegations.
Through his questions, Mesereau continued to argue that the man's accounts of the reputed molestation grew in detail the more he was questioned, and bullied, by police.
"Do you remember in that interview one sheriff telling you, 'Mr. Jackson is a molester,' and the other saying, 'He makes great music, he's a great guy--bulls--t!' Do you remember that?" Mesereau asked the man.
The man said he did not recall that exchange.
His mother--"a kickin' " housekeeper, in her son's words--told jurors that she grew wary of her own child's relationship with Jackson when she saw her son sitting in the singer's lap, and again when she found them lying together in a sleeping bag. Earlier, the son testified one of the offending tickle contests took place in a sleeping bag, and another started while he was perched on Jackson's lap.
The mother said Jackson called her son "Rubba," a nickname she said he shared with Robson and Culkin.
Mesereau suggested there was nothing odd about the moniker--short for "rubberhead," he said--noting that Jackson invariably called his own cousins either "Rubba," "Apple Head" or "Doo-Doo Head."
It was not known what nickname, if any, Jackson had for Bubbles, the primate frequently seen with the singer during his Thriller reign. It was also not clear exactly why Bubbles' name came up so much during Tuesday's testimony.
While Mesereau seemed to be invoking Bubbles to prove Jackson is an eccentric, Zonen seemed to be invoking Bubbles to prove the chimp was, well, a jerk.
"Did Bubbles get a little too big?" Zonen asked the ex-maid.
"Yeah," the woman said.
"Did Bubbles get rambunctious, wild?" Zonen continued.
"Wild," the woman agreed.
"Did Bubbles ever bite you?" Zonen asked.
"Twice," the woman responded.
Bubbles, now in his 20s, lives with a famed animal trainer in California, the New York Daily News recently reported. He has been charged with no wrongdoing.
Despite the now-mounting allegations of abuse and questionable conduct against Bubbles' famous friend, Jackson is officially accused of molesting only one boy, then 13, in 2003. He's also accused of breaking down the child's defenses with wine and booze, and holding him and his family captive at Neverland. Jackson has pleaded innocent to all charges.
The stories from the ex-maid and her son are being used by prosecutors to establish a pattern of misconduct by Jackson. In all, the state is set to present evidence and witnesses saying that Jackson crossed the line with five boys more than a decade ago.
The Jackson trial goes dark Wednesday as Superior Judge Rodney S. Melville tends to some previously scheduled business.
