Michael Jackson's Love for Diana Ross Continues Even in Death

Michael Jackson and Diana Ross: A Long History

Jackson's infatuation with Ross began when they first met at Motown. She was the glamorous star of the Supremes, he was a 9-year-old performing prodigy.

Some of Michael Jackson's brothers want him buried at his former estate, Neverland, but his mother wants to respect his wish that Neverland never again be his home.

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Though it's been said that she discovered Jackson and his brothers, the Jackson 5, it was actually Gladys Knight and the Pips, another Motown act, who first saw them perform at the Regal Theater in Chicago and tried to get them an audition with Motown founder Berry Gordy. Motown artist Bobby Taylor got them the audition. But when the press release announcing the hot new group came out in 1969, it said Ross, the label's biggest star, had discovered the group while on tour.

Jackson played along with it. In an interview at the age of 10, he said, "I thought I was going to be an old man before being discovered, but along came Miss Diana Ross to save my career."

Jackson idolized Ross, according to biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, who has written books about both superstars.

In his book, "Call Me Miss Ross," he wrote that Ross said, "I was older. He kind of idolized me and wanted to sing like me."

Some would say he even wanted to be her.

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Taraborrelli wrote about one instance in 1986, when Jackson visited Ross backstage at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. When she returned to her dressing room, Jackson was putting on her makeup, transforming himself into Ross.

The writer also said Jackson once demanded that a chauffeur driving him around Beverly Hills that he address him as "Miss Ross."

In his autobiography "Moonwalk," Jackson called Ross "my mother, my lover and my sister all rolled into one."

Taraborrelli has said there was no sexual relationship between the two.

Nonetheless, in "Call Me Miss Ross," Taraborrelli wrote that Jackson was heartbroken when Ross got married for the second time to Norwegian multimillionaire Arne Naess. Jackson did not attend the wedding, telling Taraborrelli, "I was jealous, because I've always loved Diana Ross and always will."

Ross may have felt more motherly toward him. When Jackson moved to Los Angeles at the age of 9 to continue his recording career with Motown, he lived with Ross for a time.

The two stars shared a lot in common. Both started at Motown and became worldwide pop stars. Both earned diva reputations for their outsized lifestyles. And both were accused of selling out and turning their backs on their black heritage.

When Jackson collapsed during a rehearsal for a cable TV concert in 1995, Ross rushed to his bedside at a hospital in New York.

Now Ross, like the rest of the world, is left to mourn the fiercely private man as speculation continues about the cause of his death and his funeral.