Michael Jackson’s controversial relationship with 13-year-old Jordan Chandler is laid bare (
Image: Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Jordan Chandler got a $15million (£12million) payout after he became the first child to accuse Michael Jackson of sexual abuse – but has since tried to disappear from public view

The first child to accuse Michael Jackson of sex abuse – who then got a $15million (£12million) payout – continues to live in fear about attacks from the singer’s notoriously devoted fans.

Jordan Chandler made the allegations when he was just 13 after his dad Evan became suspicious of their friendship. Police found no criminal evidence so the Chandlet family filed a lawsuit, eventually settled to around £15million on January 25, 1994.

Since then, Jordan – or Jordy as he is known – has kept a low profile but sources close to him today spoke of his difficult journey since the legal fight. Friends say the man is still apprehensive about attacks from Jackson’s fans – more than 30 years on from the allegations.

He is said to be even more on edge as Michael, the new biopic of the singer, is soon due for release, with the star’s own nephew Jafaar portraying the musician.

Jordy, now 44, lives in California. He has never married or had children, according to sources. His dad, a dentist, took his own life in November 2009, months after Jackson’s suicide.

Jordan Chandler and Michael Jackson formed a friendship by chance ( 
Image:
Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Diane Dimond, who broke the story back in 1993 and has written a book about the Michael Jackson-Jordy Chandler scandal called Be Careful Who You Love: Inside The Michael Jackson Case, told Mail Online today: “I think maybe he’s realised – he’s been through a lot of therapy – what happened, with either the molestation or his father, wasn’t his fault.

“I remember in 1993, going to his house, seeing the hordes of fans sitting on the front lawn, throwing faeces at the front door. The world came down on his family’s head.”

The fateful encounter between Jordy, then 12, and Michael Jackson in the spring of 1992 was pure chance. Jackson’s limo broke down in Santa Monica and the driver asked for help at a depot of the car hire company Rent-A-Wreck. The boss was Jordy’s stepfather, David Schwarz. He arranged for his starry-eyed stepson to meet Jackson, who then appeared to develop an obsession with Jordy.

Jordy’s brother Ray said in an interview in 2004 his sibling struggled with the “weight” of being the boy, then man, at the heart of the scandal. He added: “Despite the fact that he’s got a lot of money he’ll always be the Michael Jackson kid,’ he says. ‘It’s a heavy weight to tote around.

“Whenever he starts with a new social group someone figures it out and he can’t stay in the group because people continue to talk about it. ‘How much money did you get? Did he do it?”

A Michael Jackson biopic exploring most parts of his life is out soon ( 
Image:
Getty Images)

However, the biopic will not feature anything about the case. Unbeknown to the filmmakers, the estate allegedly signed a contract with the Chandler family that prevents them from depicting him or any of his family in a motion picture. Now major scenes have had to be reshot.

Just as Jordy struggled to escape the limelight, Jackson was accused again of abuse by child cancer survivor Gavin Arvizo in 2003. He was later acquitted.

But despite allegations and his tragic death aged 50 in 2009, the singer’s popularity has remained immense. In 2016, the star’s estate earned $825 million, which was said at the time to be the largest figure recorded by a celebrity estate. Last year it made an estimated $600 million via streams including music and merchandise.