Michael Jackson's Birthday: His Love Life

Tatum O'Neal

Michael Jackson said his "first real date" was with the child actress Tatum O'Neal when he was a teenager in the 1970s; he called her "my first love - after Diana Ross.

Brooke Shields

After his romance with Tatum faded, he got into a relationship with Brooke Shields in 1981. Shields spoke at the memorial service for Michael Jackson on July 7, 2009, where she mentioned the first time she met Jackson (when she was 13-years-old), and the two instantly became friends. Shields said: "Thinking back to when we met and the many times that we spent together and whenever we were out together, there would be a caption of some kind, and the caption usually said something like 'an odd couple' or 'an unlikely pair,' but to us it was the most natural and easiest of friendships... Michael always knew he could count on me to support him or be his date and that we would have fun no matter where we were. We had a bond... Both of us needed to be adults very early, but when we were together, we were two little kids having fun."

What MJ Felt

"That was one of the loves of my life. I think she loved me as much as I loved her, you know? We dated a lot. We, we went out a lot. Her pictures were all over my wall, my mirror, everything. And I went to the Academy Awards with Diana Ross and this girl walks up to me and says 'Hi, I'm Brooke Shields.' Then she goes, 'Are you going to the after-party?' I go, 'Yeah.' 'Good, I'll see you at the party.' I'm going, 'Oh my God, does she know she's all over my room?' So we go to the after-party. She comes up to me she goes, 'Will you dance with me?' I went, 'Yes. I will dance with you.' Man, we exchanged numbers and I was up all night, singing, spinning around my room, just so happy. It was great," he told Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in 2001.

Madonna

Michael Jackson and Madonna raised eyebrows when they attended the Grammys together in 1991. However the icons carried the 'friends' tag. "I was madly in love with him, totally smitten," Madonna told Rolling Stone as the Material Girl loved the icon. "He was mind-bogglingly talented. The songs he sang were not childlike at all. I met him in the early '80s, when I first started working with my manager, Freddy DeMann, who at the time was managing Michael Jackson. I saw him play at Madison Square Garden, and I was blown away. He was flawless. There was a party at the Helmsley Palace Hotel. He was very shy, but it was a thrill for me." she revealed.

Lisa Marie Presley

MJ first met Lisa in 1974 after being introduced by her father, Elvis Presley. The two reconnected in 1992 and he married Lisa who supported him through rough times in his life including accusations of child-molestation and drug addiction. The couple got married in 1994 but got divorced in 1996. Even after divorce, Michael and Lisa reportedly had an on-off romance for 4 years.

Debbie Rowe

His second marriage was with Debbie Rowe, the assistant of the pop singer's dermatologist in 1996. Post separation with Presley, Jackson impregnated Rowe, but she suffered a miscarriage and lost their baby in March 1996. Following the ordeal and the finalization of his first divorce, Jackson wed the pregnant Rowe on November 13, 1996, in Sydney, Australia. The couple had 2 children together, son Michael Joseph "Prince" Jackson, Jr. and daughter Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. Post their divorce in 1999, MJ's third child, son Prince Michael Jackson II, was born to an unnamed surrogate mother on February 21, 2002.