Cascio Family Who Defended Michael Jackson on Oprah Now Says They Were 'Brainwashed' and 'Groomed'
For more than two decades, the Cascio family were among Michael Jackson's most loyal and vocal defenders. They appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show roughly a year and a half after his death to speak glowingly of the King of Pop. They described themselves as his "second family." They insisted he had done nothing wrong.
Now four of the five siblings say none of that was the truth - and that Jackson himself made sure of it.
In a Friday, April 24 interview with the New York Times, siblings Aldo, Eddie, Dominic and Marie Nicole Cascio detailed what they describe as a years-long campaign by Jackson to groom them as his personal defenders - training them from childhood to protect him from misconduct allegations while allegedly abusing them at the same time.
"We were brainwashed, we were groomed," Eddie Cascio told the Times. He said Jackson - "the biggest star in the world" - taught him and his siblings to support him whenever the topic of allegations arose. "He made us feel like he was everything: a friend, father, like every sort of emotional support. And he was."
How the Cascio Family Met Michael Jackson
The family's relationship with Jackson began in the 1980s through their father, Dominic, who managed the Helmsley Palace hotel in Manhattan, a property where Jackson frequently stayed. The friendship deepened over time, eventually leading to the Cascio children traveling to Jackson's Neverland ranch, and in some cases being permitted to go there alone.
Below are the Cascio family
— Defending the Truth (@truth_defending) March 1, 2026
They are accusing Michael Jackson for sexual abuse which - allegedly - carried on into *adulthood*
According to them, no one told each other and they didn't ‘realise' it was abuse until 2019
This was them AFTER MJ had died, judge for yourself pic.twitter.com/I8k0TlBK8X
Frank Cascio - the sole sibling who abstained from joining the lawsuit, citing legal reasons - wrote in his 2011 book My Friend Michael: An Ordinary Friendship with an Extraordinary Man that Jackson had never done anything untoward to him or his siblings. The remaining four siblings told the Times that the book, like their Oprah appearance, reflected the grooming rather than the truth.
Lawsuit Against Michael Jackson's Estate
For some siblings, the realization of what had happened came early. For others, it arrived in 2019 - when they watched the HBO documentaryLeaving Neverland, which detailed two other men's allegations that Jackson had sexually abused them as children. According to the lawsuit cited by the Times, watching the documentary effectively "deprogrammed" the siblings.
After filing their lawsuit against the Jackson estate, the siblings reached a settlement in 2020, receiving approximately $16 million distributed over five years. When payments ended in 2025, they began negotiating for additional compensation - a dispute that has now escalated into public litigation, with their comments published on the same day that Michael, the highly anticipated biopic of the late star, debuted in theaters.
The Jackson estate is pushing back forcefully. Attorney Marty Singer, representing the estate, called the lawsuit "a desperate money grab by additional members of the Cascio family who have hopped on the bandwagon with their brother Frank."
"The family staunchly defended Michael Jackson for more than 25 years, attesting to his innocence of inappropriate conduct," Singer said in a statement. "Statements by the Cascios, including those appearing in dozens of passages throughout Frank Cascio's 2011 book, as well as in interviews with Oprah Winfrey and others, directly contradict what is being alleged now."
Singer alleged the family threatened to go public with accusations "unless his estate paid staggering sums of money," describing the situation as extortion. The Cascio family's lawyer Mark Geragos has called the original 2020 settlement "unlawful" and claims the siblings felt coerced into signing it.
A judge has indicated the previous settlement would likely prevent the siblings from pursuing the lawsuit publicly, though a final ruling has not been issued.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Apr 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published April 25, 2026 at 8:12 PM.