Corey Feldman Dresses Up Like Jackson at Memorial
Ex-child actor sports Jackson-inspired get-up
By XANA O'NEILL
Updated 5:28 PM CST, Tue, Jul 7, 2009
A tearful Corey Feldman paid tribute to his former mentor Michael Jackson by dressing up as the King of Pop at his memorial ceremony in Los Angeles today.
The former child actor, whose rocky relationship with Jackson as a youth led to rumors of abuse, attended the Staples Center event wearing an all black, military-style jacket and a black fedora with sunglasses in a look reminiscent of Jackson's "Dangerous" era.
He kept stands of his hair hanging in front of his face just like Jackson's famous 'do and used a tissue to dab away tears from under his sunglasses, Usmagazine.com reported.
Feldman and Jackson were inseparable friends when the "Stand By Me" star was a youth but their friendship began unraveling when the star, now 37, got into his teens and, for reasons that remain unclear, the two severed ties in 2001.
"He did real damage in my overall life," Feldman said last year. "Michael would sit and talk to me for hours and he would listen. Then he would get bored. The biggest thing that Michael's done to children is befriending the ones that are in need and then abandoning them."
Feldman and Macaulay Culkin were among the child stars who visited Jackson at his Neverland Ranch home during the infancy of their careers. Feldman was often spotted at Hollywood events with the singer.
When the "Lost Boys" star was called to testify at Jackson's child molestation trial in 2005, he said the case made him rethink his relationship with Jackson. He said then that there were things Jackson did during the early stages of their friendship that made him uncomfortable.
"If you consider it inappropriate for a man to look at a book of naked pictures with a child that's 13 or 14 years old then your answer would be, 'Yes,'" Feldman said during a 2005 interview.
In the same interview, Feldman denied he had been abused by Jackson.
Feldman reignited rumors of abuse when he said on an episode of "The Two Coreys" last year that he was abused as a child. The actor denied Jackson was his abuser.
Jackson was accused of abusing three young boys -- but never convicted of any wrongdoing-- and said it was innocent that he had "many children" in his bed.
Despite their rocky friendship, Feldman said he was grief-stricken by news of Jackson's June 25 death and regretted not mending their friendship.
"I am trembling and shaking at the moment and it's very hard to type," Feldman wrote on his website when he learned of Jackson's death. "I am filled with tremendous sadness and remorse. All I choose to remember from this point is the good times we shared and what an inspiration he was to me and the rest of the world."
First Published: Jul 7, 2009 1:23 PM CST
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