The Jennifer Blogs

Just as people ask now, “Where were you when you learned Kennedy had been shot?” and “Where were you when you heard the news about the Twin Towers coming down?” one day people will ask, “Where were you when you got the news that Michael Jackson died?”

I was on the toilet.

I realize it happened at like 3 in the afternoon, but living in Singapore, that’s the middle of the night for me. So I got up Friday morning (It was still Thursday night for you people in America) and did my usual routine. I had my iPhone with me in the bathroom because I had just woken up and wanted to read email or do something - you know, multitask. My friend Alicia interrupted my game of Spider Solitaire with the breaking news that Michael Jackson died.

At age 50, Michael Jackson suffered sudden cardiac arrest. I wrote a story about this for the Ross Brittain Report:

The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association says the untimely death of pop star MICHAEL JACKSON underscores the tragedy of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and the importance of knowing CPR.
What is it sudden cardiac arrest? SCA is the result of an electrical disruption of the heart. It’s not the same thing as a heart attack. It comes on without warning and can strike people who seem to be healthy and have no history of heart disease. Every two minutes someone in America dies from sudden cardiac arrest.
Reports suggest Jackson wasn’t alone and lived just two minutes from the hospital. Even that wasn’t sufficient to keep him alive. Health officials say someone who suffers SCA needs CPR and the shock of an automated external defibrillator (AED) immediately if they are going to have any chance of survival. Doctors say this only drives home the reminder that CPR is a basic life-saving skill everyone should know.

It’s a shame, really. I used to love Michael Jackson. I don’t know if anyone will ever know what caused him to go from fabulous to freaky. It’ll be interesting to watch his kids grow up and see how the media treats them. Actually, it’s not the media I’m worried about. It’s the playground. Two brothers both named Prince Michael (the only difference in their names is that one is Prince Michael 1 and the other is Prince Michael 2) is definitely cause for teasing on most playgrounds.

Ya know, what we do on this earth while we are here has everything to do with how we will be remembered when we’re gone. I love the Nicole Nordeman song “Legacy” because it tells this very story. I want to leave a legacy. How will they remember me?

Do you ever think about that? How will you be remembered when you’re gone? Michael Jackson could have been remembered for selling gazillions of records, for being an amazing pop star, for his philanthropy. But something in this man wasn’t quite right and what could have been an amazing legacy will probably be more about child molestation charges, tons of plastic surgery and dangling his baby over a balcony.

You don’t have to be a pop star known globally to make a difference in the world. You have it in you to do excellent things right where you are, and it’s really never too late to start.

They say celebrity deaths come in threes. I’m starting to believe them (whoever “they” are).

Ed McMahon died June 23rd, just two days before Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett.

I used to love watching the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Ed McMahon was the best sidekick ever. I remember watching that and thinking that one day I wanted to have a sidekick of my own. (Why be Ed McMahon when you can be Johnny Carson and have your very own Ed McMahon?)

Having worked in the media I can say I agree wholeheartedly with David Brenner (who often filled in as a guest host for Johnny Carson). Brenner said, “Ed McMahon was the best sidekick TV has ever known.” It’s not easy being a sidekick and letting someone else get all the glory when you are the one ‘setting up the funny.’ I’ve been in that seat many times. It’s much easier to be the funny guy than the sidekick. He played that role as if he were born for it.

Ed McMahon lived a long life and his family should be proud of all he did in his 86 years on Earth. He will be greatly missed.

The news of Farrah Fawcett’s death will be greatly overshadowed by the news of Michael Jackson’s, but two entertainment icons dead in one day. That’s pretty tragic.

I remember wanting to be Farrah Fawcett when I was a little girl. She could kick some serious butt! Charlie’s Angles was one of my favorite TV shows. One of the things I liked about it so much was that it was a show that my dad and I both liked to watch. There wasn’t a whole lot of stuff on TV like that when I was a kid -- stuff that would entertain both me and my dad.

She was beautiful and had the perfect hair in the late 70s, early 80s. I remember standing in front of the mirror trying to get the perfect feathered look -- just like Farrah Fawcett -- then grabbing the can of Aqua Net to keep it all in place.

Farrah learned three years ago that she had anal cancer. She went through chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and was declared cancer-free in 2007. That didn’t last long, though. She found out a few months later the cancer was back. She sought out alternative cancer therapies at the end of 2007. Farrah Fawcett died on June 25, 2009 at the age of 62.

I read something incredibly inappropriate in the news this morning. As a mother, it makes me cringe. It makes me angry. And for a change, it has nothing to do with Britney Spears.



Undoubtedly you've heard about the whole Miley Cyrus thing. I mean, unless you've been under a rock or on the moon or under a moon rock, you know about the pictures for Vanity Fair magazine. Miley is supposedly very embarrassed. Some say it was a publicity stunt. Others say it was a big mistake, and that it's all her parents' fault. Regardless, I'm a forgiving person. We all make mistakes. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, and all that.



But Hugh Hefner has taken it to a very certain level of "ooginess." According to the TV show EXTRA, the Playboy King would welcome Miley to the pages of his magazine once she turns 18.



Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Hugh is thinking about a 15-year-old girl in those terms? I'm disgusted by it, personally. My daughter is 12 and she's beautiful. She's lean with an athletic build. She has beautiful skin, beautiful hair and beautiful eyes. One day she will turn heads. But she's only 12. She's still a little girl. And it makes me completely sick to think that someone would say, "When your daughter is 18, I'd like to see her naked."



Miley's parents have got to be livid over this. I'm sure they were hoping it would all blow over -- this whole Vanity Fair photo thing. But I wouldn't blame Billy Ray if he headed over to the Playboy Mansion in search of an old geezer in a bathrobe and made a few threats. A good old fashioned butt-whoopin' wouldn't be out of place. Maybe he could find some other people with two first names to help out -- Jim Bob, Ricky Bobby, Bobby Steve, Billy Joe, Tommy Jack, ... you get the idea.



I hope for poor Miley's sake this whole thing becomes old news, but with TV channels like E, there's bound to be some special 10 years from now about "Mistakes of the Disney Stars," and she could very well be in second place behind Britney.