For decades, their family occupied a place at the very heart of Michael Jackson’s inner circle.
The singer generously offered advice and presents, and often joined the Cascio family for dinner at their simple New Jersey home. The Cascios were incredibly proud to be friends with the King of Pop.
They now say that their close relationship with him came at a terrible price. For the first time, five of them are publicly sharing details of the sexual abuse they claim he inflicted on them when they were children.
Aldo Cascio and four of his siblings claim Michael Jackson subjected them to grooming, manipulation, and sexual abuse over a 25-year span, starting in the 1980s and continuing until Jackson’s death in 2009.
Tonight, a deeply disturbing but important interview will air featuring Aldo, age 35, who bravely shares a very detailed account of the sexual abuse he says began when he was just seven years old while playing a computer game.
He recalls simply sitting on the bed playing his Game Boy when the incident occurred. He remembers the person came up to him and pulled down his shorts.
Standing with his parents, Dominic and Connie, and his sister Marie Nicole, he struggled to hold back tears as he described how deeply the abuse had affected him.
He says discovering music as a teenager was like facing his deepest struggles. It made him confront thoughts of suicide and realize he might want to end his life someday.
The Cascio family is suing Michael Jackson’s estate, hoping to overturn a private agreement they believe keeps them from sharing their story in court. They state their goal isn’t financial gain, but to reveal what they believe is the truth.
To the Cascios, it feels as though time has only served to burnish the singer’s legend further.
Since Michael Jackson passed away, his estate has earned over $3 billion (£2.2 billion). A new movie about his life, starring his nephew Jaafar, is also planned.
Aldo claims the upcoming movie is inaccurate. He believes it will portray the subject as a generous person who frequently visited children’s hospitals, but argues this was just a facade to hide his true intentions.
I’ve been a lifelong fan, and I always found it fascinating how the Cascio family’s path crossed with Michael’s. It all started back in 1984 when Dominic Cascio was managing the Helmsley Palace hotel in New York City – Michael would frequently stay there whenever he was in town, and that’s how they first connected.
Dominic took care of Jackson’s special requests, including installing a dancefloor in his suite.
He introduced Jackson to his wife, Connie, and sons Frank, then five, and Eddie, three.
Oh my gosh, Dominic told me the sweetest thing! Apparently, Michael called and said he just wanted to surprise the kids. Then, he just showed up at their house! Connie said he was so excited to see all their rooms, and he spent ages telling them jokes – she said he was unbelievably kind. Everyone was just so caught up in the moment, they didn’t even think about why he was being so wonderful. It was just… Michael being Michael, and it was perfect.
The couple later had three more children—Dominic, Marie Nicole, and Aldo—who frequently visited Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in California, sometimes with their parents and sometimes on their own.
In 1993, Jordan Chandler accused the singer of sexual abuse, and the case was settled privately for $23 million. Frank Cascio, the oldest of the Cascio children, had met Chandler during a visit to Neverland.
The Cascio parents immediately asked their children if anything bad had occurred, but the children said everything was fine. Connie explained, ‘We even faxed Michael to let him know we were on his side.’
I nearly fainted when the fax came through! It was him, and the message was so urgent. He was worried about us, which just… ugh, melted my heart. He said it was all about extortion and that we absolutely shouldn’t trust them. I knew he was looking out for us, I just knew it! It was like he could sense we were in trouble.
Aldo completely trusted Jackson, but their relationship took a disturbing turn when Aldo was seven years old. Jackson convinced Aldo’s parents to allow him to take their son to Florida alone, claiming it was for dance lessons.
Jackson recalls that when the other person lowered his shorts, he wasn’t shocked. He remembers continuing to play his Game Boy while the other person began a sexual act, and he didn’t say anything or ask what was happening.
‘This was Michael. I know Michael, I know he loves me and I love him.’
Afterwards, he says Jackson told him the act was his way of expressing love.
Honestly, when Michael told me he made me feel good because he loved me, I just melted. We’d had so many conversations about love already, so hearing him say it… it felt like everything just clicked. It was like he was building on something we already had, and I was completely drawn in. I remember just thinking, ‘Okay, I love you too!’ And that was it. He had me, completely and utterly hooked.
Over time, the abuse worsened, and Aldo claims he was compelled to participate in increasingly harmful acts, including sexual abuse starting at age 10.
He describes how Jackson used manipulative tactics, framed as protecting their unique bond, to maintain control over him.
He told me he’d teach me to defy everyone, even the police. He said if anyone – anyone – ever questioned what we were doing, I had to deny it. Just flat-out say ‘no.’ It was like…a secret code, a way to protect us, and honestly, I was completely devoted to him, so I would have done anything he asked.
I always knew what people thought of us, but they just didn’t understand. It was real, it was love, but they saw it as wrong and honestly, I was terrified for him – and for myself. He’d make me promise, over and over, that I loved him and that I’d protect him. It put this huge weight on me, like I was solely responsible for keeping him safe, for helping him through everything.
When alone with Jackson at a Las Vegas hotel, he was told to hide when his lawyer arrived.
The singer went as far as acting out scenarios where he pretended to be a police officer interrogating Aldo. According to Aldo, he was genuinely afraid of the singer, explaining, ‘He had brainwashed me to the point where I feared for my life.’
As time went on, it became increasingly apparent Jackson was an alcoholic and drug addict.
Let me tell you, dealing with someone struggling with addiction is incredibly tough. This friend of mine, Aldo, shared a really raw experience with me. He described how his friend was self-medicating with Xanax, and even offered some to Aldo. It was like a dark side emerged when he was drinking – Aldo felt this huge weight of responsibility for this ‘monster’ that appeared, the person underneath the addiction. It’s heartbreaking to see someone you care about change like that, and feel helpless to fix it.
Like many abusers, Jackson tried to cut Aldo off from his friends and family, who could have helped him realize how wrong the situation was.
When he was eleven years old, he and a friend were making plans for a school trip. However, Jackson convinced him to call it off during a phone conversation.
He suddenly became angry with me over the phone and tried to control me by pretending to cry. He said things like I didn’t love him, he didn’t want me to leave, and he didn’t want me to have any close friends – he only wanted to be with me and didn’t want me to share my time or attention with anyone else.
Aldo stopped attending regular school and asked to be home-schooled, at Jackson’s urging. This request finally worried his mother, leading her to ask if Jackson was influencing him. Aldo says he knew he had to reassure her, just as he always did.
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Jackson lived with the family for about four months, and Marie Nicole says this is when the abuse towards her started.
She remembers him saying it was natural for people to be nude. He then asked her to undress, and she complied.
After being home-schooled for a year, Aldo returned to regular school. It was then that he started to truly feel the weight of everything he’d been through.
‘I realised how wrong this is and how much it had affected me and that my life was over,’ he says.
Aldo’s last phone call with the singer was when he was 18, just three days before the singer tragically died of a Propofol overdose on June 25, 2009. Aldo recalls trying to sound casual, saying, “I tried to say ‘Oh, hi’ and act normal. ‘The tour’s going to be fun…’”
Even so, Jackson quickly steered the conversation back to disturbing topics. He immediately began discussing sexual abuse again, but I had already decided before the call that I wouldn’t engage with that anymore.
He asked if we were still going to continue seeing each other, and I told him I didn’t want to anymore. He didn’t say anything else – he just ended the call.
Aldo recalls making a real effort to keep his temper in check. He explains, ‘I wouldn’t allow myself to lash out with harsh language, even when I was incredibly frustrated. I felt like I had to be careful about everything I said and did, constantly trying not to upset anyone.’
When news of Jackson’s death brought shock and sadness around the world, Aldo surprisingly felt relieved. He still put on a sad face, understanding he needed to appear upset despite his true feelings.
Aldo was deeply shaken and would often scream into his pillow, filled with anger towards Jackson. He wondered why Jackson had put him through this, feeling trapped in a cycle of hatred he couldn’t escape. He believed he was destined to live with this pain, and it felt like a living nightmare.
I couldn’t focus on anything, and it prevented me from having a normal life. I couldn’t form relationships or start a family because I was burdened by this secret, and I felt like I could never share it with anyone.
Everything shifted for him in 2018 when he learned about the allegations made by James Safechuck and Wade Robson regarding abuse they experienced from Michael Jackson. These claims were detailed in the documentary series Leaving Neverland. As Aldo remembers, his immediate reaction was shock – realizing Jackson had harmed others.
He gathered his family and shared that the documentary’s events were based on a true story, as he’d experienced something similar himself. This news deeply upset his parents.
“I feel like I failed my children,” Connie explained. “I should have been aware of what was going on in their lives, but I wasn’t. I noticed Jackson was becoming increasingly lonely and unhappy as his career declined.”
Aldo says: ‘I told them over and over, this is not your fault. My mum and dad were just broken.’
Soon after, Aldo’s brothers – Frank, Eddie, and Dominic – also came forward with stories of abuse. Eventually, their sister, Marie Nicole, shared her experiences as well.
The siblings allege that in 2020, they were pressured into signing an agreement with Michael Jackson’s estate without a lawyer present and before they fully understood their legal rights. They believe this situation exploited their weakened position.
Honestly, it’s infuriating! They’re calling it a ‘shakedown’ – a $213 million ‘shakedown’ – but they are the ones who’ve done something awful! They completely deny everything, acting like my idol could never do anything wrong, but the siblings are just trying to get justice. It’s ridiculous how they’re twisting things around!
Ever since the lawsuit began, people have suspected the Cascios because they’ve supported Jackson in the past.
In 2011, Frank published a book about his seemingly harmless connection with Michael, titled My Friend Michael: An Ordinary Friendship With An Extraordinary Man.
Today, the family is united in their anger over Jackson’s betrayal. Dominic explained, “He escaped justice. Now that he’s gone, I wish he’d had the chance to stand trial and face the consequences of his actions.”
It’s too late to change what happened to her, but Connie says she feels compelled to share her story, hoping it will help other families experiencing abuse.
- Daphne’s interviews can be seen on The Late Show Live – March 1, GB News
- Daphne Barak is a renowned interviewer and documentary film maker, whose subjects have included Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, Johnny Depp and Michael Jackson among many others. Daphne is also a cancer survivor. She has a fast-growing charity with the University of California, San Diego. www.gamechangerevents.org
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2026-03-01 01:06