Santa Maria, California, Feb 04: Michael Jackson said in a television interview that many of the news reports about him are "fiction" and that his celebrity status makes him a target.
Jackson was barred by a gag order from talking about the molestation charges he faces. But he said in a wide-ranging interview with the fox news channel's "At Large W/ Geraldo Rivera" programme to be aired tomorrow that he believes the truth about him will ultimately come out.
"The bigger the star, the bigger the target. I'm not trying to say I'm the super-duper star, I'm not saying that," Jackson said in the interview, which was taped two weeks ago.
"I'm saying the fact that people come at celebrities, we're targets. But truth always prevails. I believe in that."
A transcript of the interview was released yesterday by Fox.
The interview was Jackson's first since he was indicted by a grand jury in April on charges of molesting a boy and plying him with alcohol. Jackson's lawyers and prosecutors are scheduled to begin questioning potential jurors in the trial Monday.
Jackson also said in the interview that he designed his Neverland estate, where prosecutors say the molestation occurred, as a place where he could enjoy the childhood activities he missed while he was a child star.
"I created Neverland as a home for myself and my children ... It gave me a chance to do what I couldn't do when I was little," Jackson said. "We couldn't go to movie theaters. We couldn't go to Disneyland. We couldn't do all those fun things. We were on tour. We were working hard."
Bureau Report
