Tomorrow In Your Sun Our DVD columnist Editor Bill Pierce Bruce Kirkland is [email protected] always in ’toon with Showbiz 416-947-2270 the latest releases. My best friend Miko Brando tells the Sun of being with the King of Pop the night before he died

at his house. He just gave me an iPod, a laptop and a scooter at the same time. He told me, ‘I’m just happy to see you!’ Every Christmas he would Marie-Joelle bombard us with presents. He always said, ‘I love you.’ ” Parent Brando was happy to see IN LOS ANGELES Jackson’s mother, Katherine, get temporary custody of the children. “It’s their place,” he LOS ANGELES — He was said. “They know the house; with Jackson the it’s where their dad spent his night before his death and is teen years.” godfather to his children. Brando stayed silent on the For Miko Brando, son of subject of the father, Joe Jack- the actor Marlon Brando, the son, whose bizarre behaviour pop superstar’s passing also in the media raised more than means the loss of his best a few eyebrows in recent days. friend for the past 27 years. On two different occasions, Only last Wednesday, he used the press frenzy to the two men parted ways promote his new record label, at midnight after a long day an inappropriate plug if ever of rehearsing at the Staples there was one. Center. “There will be many bat- “Hey, Miko!” Jackson called tles and it’s going to go on for to Brando before leaving for years,” Brando said. “That’s all his house in Bel-Air. I can say.” “He did his full routine with Brando’s own father, Mar- his dancers,” Brando remem- lon, who died in 2004, was bered. “At age 50, he hadn’t a good friend of Jackson’s lost a move.” despite the fact that they had That even includes his MARIE-JOELLE PARENT/SUN MEDIA nothing in common. world-famous . Miko Brando, son of the late Marlon Brando, is seen here with his daughter Prudence, also ’s goddaughter. “He replaced my father “He could still do it per- when he died. Michael took fectly,” 48-year-old Brando medication. The entertainer in San Diego,” he explained. With photos surfacing molesting a minor, an ordeal care of him right to the end. said in Hollywood. did, however, suffer from the “We got along right away and recently of Jackson in a wheel- he apparently never recov- He even had a golf cart with “He was smiling, he looked Alpha 1 lung disorder, although he asked me for my number chair, there were doubts that ered from. oxygen tanks built so they good. I saw him eat, drink some Brando said that’s not why and we started talking every the 50-year-old star could “Yes, he thought about it, could both ride in the Never- orange juice and some tea. Jackson was often seen wear- day. In 1984, when he left on deliver the 50 concert dates but it didn’t stop him from land gardens.” Obviously, I couldn’t see what ing a mask in public. the Victory Tour, he asked me planned for this summer. eating or sleeping,” his friend For his fans, Michael was was going on in his heart.” “He felt comfortable like to follow along.” There was also talk that he explained. “He lived the best an icon. There’s no doubt Brando that,” he said after a long Brando became Jackson’s weighed a mere 112 pounds he could.” To his critics, he was a has been hit hard by the news pause. “For him it was like right-hand man, his assistant, and had gone bald. Brando is also godfather to freak. of Jackson’s death. wearing a hat or a scarf, it was his confidante, his bodyguard “He weighed a bit more Jackson’s three children and And for Miko? “I hope it’s Michael,” he said his thing.” and his chauffeur. than that, but Michael was saw them in the past couple “He was perfect,” he said. when his phone rang during As for the funeral arrange- Was he worried recently always thin and he still had his of days. “They play with their “He was someone you wanted the interview. ments, Brando said the Jack- about certain people in the hair,” Brando said. “The wheel- dogs in the yard of the fam- to be with. He was who Brando lives at the end of son family is talking about entourage? chair is from a few months ago. ily home. They don’t realize pushed me to keep going. It’s the street where Jackson died. having a big ceremony at “No. I heard about that The shows were stretched out what’s going on. They aren’t unbelievable. His presence was “I was at home and my the Coliseum, Los Angeles’ Dr. (Conrad) Murray, but I over six months, he was going showing any emotions yet.” so comforting, I’ll never get over phone started ringing non- 90,000-seat football stadium. never saw him. He was never to do it. Of course it was crazy Miko’s own daughter, Pru- it,” he said, beginning to cry. stop. I turned on the TV and Brando first met Jackson in at the rehearsals at the Sta- because of the tight sched- dence, was Jackson’s god- “I only hope that he and my world collapsed.” 1982 when he was 22 and the ples Center. He was new in ule. We were going to leave for daughter. “He never forgot my father are having fun up He doesn’t know what killed pop star was 24 years old. the Jackson circle and, God London this Friday.” my birthday,” the 13-year-old there.” the music legend. He said he “Quincy Jones introduced knows, I’ve seen doctors come Jackson died four years remembered. “I played a lot never saw Jackson take any us at the Del Coronado hotel and go,” he said. after his trial on charges of with his kids at Neverland and [email protected]

MICHAEL JACKSON 1958-2009