CALLOUS Michael Jackson rejected his once devoted chimp Bubbles because “he got too old – just like his child pals” causing the heartbroken animal to attempt suicide, The Sun can reveal.
In an exclusive interview, Adrian McManus, 60, who was one of the King of Pop’s personal maids, has lifted the lids on the horrifying abuse of the animals at the Neverland ranch in California – claiming chimps were left to run wild and often attacked children and staff.
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Bubbles was believed to be Jacko’s number one pet, who he treated as his own child, but McManus says Bubbles had been kicked out by the star before she started working for him in 1990.
Despite declaring his love for Bubbles to the world – even taking him on tour with him and teaching him his famous Moonwalk dance – McManus said Jacko never spoke about him and didn’t even have a picture of him.
Chillingly she likened his treatment of the lovable chimp to the way he treated the children in his life – who he would lavish with gifts and attention before ditching them when they grew older.
McManus said Bubbles was abandoned in favour of his younger chimp Max.
“Bubbles was not in the house or with Michael by the time I started cleaning his room,” McManus told The Sun.
“There were no photos of Michael and Bubbles in the rooms I cleaned. Honestly I cannot recall Michael talking in depth about him.
“It was only when I asked and he never told me where Bubbles was.
“By then he had moved onto Max. It was a bit like the little boys in his life, when they grew too old they would be gone.”
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McManus said that the star confided in her that Bubbles had become dangerous – and claimed the chimp was as strong as 35 men.
“Michael told me that Bubbles was too dangerous to have in his house as he was now a teenager and could not be easily controlled,” she said.
“He told me ‘Adrian, Bubbles has the strength of 35 men, so if anything goes wrong it could be dangerous.’
“Interestingly I do recall the personnel manager saying that all the staff had insurance policies for hand injuries on site.
Bubbles has the strength of 35 men.”
Adrian McManus, Jackson’s former maid
“The suggestion was that there was coverage for anyone being bitten by the animals. I do not know whether that was because something had happened in the past, but it would not surprise me.
“If Bubbles was as wild and strong as Michael said, and had free rein like Max I could not imagine what could have happened.”
Bubbles now spends his life in a retirement home in Florida after allegedly attempting suicide amid the claims he suffered abuse while living with the King of Pop.
The Jackson family has strongly denied Michael abused Bubbles.
SUICIDE BID
However the depressed chimp tried to take his own life after he left Jackson’s zoo of horrors.
He is alleged to have been saved by medics — but no further details of the alleged incident have ever been revealed.
Now 38, which is late-middle-aged in chimpanzee terms, Bubbles is holed up in the Center for Great Apes in Florida — which acts retirement home for famous chimps and orangutans.
This is a far cry from his life with Jacko where he was constantly under the media spotlight.
Tellingly, these days Bubbles will often turn his back when he sees a camera, despite having been the most photographed chimp in the world.
McManus says she attacked twice by Jackson’s animals, once by Max the chimp and once by Jacko’s Brandy and Patrick.
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But rather than blame the animals, she points the finger firmly at mad Jackson for thinking he was a “real life Doctor Doolittle”
She said all the animals including elephants, giraffes and chimps were untrained and badly treated – with many dying or just disappearing.
“Michael said he was an animal lover, but many animals were poorly treated,” she said.
“The zoo should not have been there because no-one ever really properly looked after the animals and all of the staff were in danger. I am shocked no-one got seriously injured or attacked.
It breaks my heart to think about all the cruelty.”
“Michael should never have been allowed to have kept those animals.
“It breaks my heart to think about all the cruelty.
“Animals died and disappeared all the time at Neverland, but unusually it was considered normal.
“No-one seemed to investigate or ask questions.
“Animal encounters going wrong would be treated like a joke and gossip by staff, rather than actually serious concerns.”
McManus from Nipomo, California, worked as Jackson’s personal maid from 1990 to 1994 and was one of the Neverland 5 who were caught in a civil suit with the superstar.
She has spent the last 13 years discussing what she witnessed working for Jackson, his interactions with child guests, odd behaviour, comical moments and disturbing sights.
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