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In an interview with The Guardian, Richie got candid about his late pal, whom he met in 1971 when his band, The Commodores, opened for The Jackson 5. At the time, Richie was 22 and Jackson was 12.
“I watched him struggle,” Richie said of Jackson. “Before I got into the fame business, at least I had my friends from school and college. I had some experiences. I had the opportunity to hang out at a football game [and] I knew what a date was. I’d been jilted. He missed it all. He. Missed. It. All.”
“I was there with him when he was going to that studio every day after school and he’d pull in like a machine at 3pm and stay there till six,” he continued. “Just imagine a kid like that and all you hear is, ‘Watch out the girls are coming! You can’t trust her, you can’t trust them!’ I saw it.”
Throughout the years, Richie claimed he witnessed many people stealing from Jackson, though he wasn’t in a position to help him with bad actors.
“When you’re in the war and you’re both ducking bullets it’s hard to give advice to the other soldier,” Richie explained. “The same crooks that were trying to take advantage of him were coming to take advantage of me.”
Lionel Richie Gets Candid in New Memoir
Richie’s statement came amid a promotion tour for his new memoir, Truly.
In the book, Richie discusses his childhood in Tuskegee, Alabama, his time with The Commodores, his solo career, and his life today.
Speaking to Good Morning America, the Grammy, Golden Globe, and Oscar winner shared how all of those experiences help him in his current role, serving as a judge on American Idol.
“The kids remind me of two things. How blessed I am. And what I need to do as a mentor,” he said. “I’m not there to humiliate them. They’re already scared to death.”
“And then I realize that they need something, probably more than a criticism,” Richie continued. “They need a hug and you feel them sink into your arms.”
