Why Michael Jackson secretly tested his own bodyguard with a $1.3 million offer

Extreme fame can breed extreme distrust. For Michael Jackson, protecting his family meant he could not blindly trust even the people closest to him.

During the height of his career, the pop star was notoriously protective of his children, Prince and Paris. He famously placed masks over their faces in public to shield them from the relentless paparazzi. According to one of his former bodyguards, Jackson even developed a drastic method to test the loyalty of the people around him.

Matt Fiddes, a U.K.-based martial arts entrepreneur, says he joined Jackson’s security detail in the early 2000s. Unlike traditional security contractors, Fiddes says he was already a self-made millionaire and refused to take a salary. He simply wanted to help a friend who was struggling with the suffocating pressure of superstardom.

According to Fiddes, however, Jackson’s history of betrayal meant he could not accept that loyalty at face value.

Fiddes detailed the ultimate loyalty test during a recent interview featured on the YouTube channel The Art of Dialogue. According to Fiddes, about three years into their friendship, he received an unexpected phone call from a man claiming to be a reporter for the infamous British tabloid News of the World.

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The caller made a staggering proposition. According to Fiddes, he offered him $1.3 million in exchange for a few clear, unmasked photographs of Prince and Paris.

Fiddes, who said he had no need for the money, was furious. He immediately scolded the caller, rejected the offer, and hung up. He then desperately tried to contact Jackson to warn him about the tabloid’s aggressive new tactic.

When Fiddes finally reached the pop star a few days later, he braced for Jackson to panic. Instead Jackson started crying

“Thanks, man, I really appreciate that,” Jackson told him.

Fiddes says Jackson then confessed that the reporter was a complete fabrication. The pop star had allegedly orchestrated the entire phone call himself, heavily disguising his voice to see if Fiddes would sell him out for a massive payday. According to Fiddes, Jackson admitted to running the same operation on his other staff members to weed out informants.

Fiddes had passed the test, earning Jackson’s trust.