They Were Michael Jackson’s ‘Second Family.’ Now They Say He Abused Them.
The Cascio siblings are suing Mr. Jackson’s estate after standing by him for years as he faced accusations of child molestation
In December 2010, Oprah Winfrey invited Dominic and Connie Cascio and three of their five children onto her talk show to discuss Michael Jackson.
The pop star and Dominic, a manager of a Manhattan hotel where Mr. Jackson often stayed, had become good friends. For more than two decades, Mr. Jackson had eaten at the Cascios’ New Jersey home, brought them to his Neverland Ranch, took them along on tours around the world and celebrated with them on holidays.
The Cascios had become, as they often said, Mr. Jackson’s “second family.”
So a year and a half after Mr. Jackson’s death, the family came forward to talk to Oprah at length about their special relationship — and also to shield their friend from the ugly sexual abuse accusations that had long trailed him.
“Were there ever any improprieties with you and Michael Jackson?” Ms. Winfrey asked the Cascio siblings, Eddie, Frank and Marie Nicole, who were now adults, at the interview.
They responded in unison: “Never.” They each shook their heads.
Their friend Michael, Eddie asserted, “was a target.”
More than 15 years later, the Cascios now say that was a lie. All five of the Cascio children say they were groomed to protect Mr. Jackson and became, as they call it, his “soldiers” — the front line of his defense.
Four of the five siblings now say in a lawsuit and in an interview with The New York Times that, in fact, Mr. Jackson had repeatedly sexually assaulted each of them. (The fifth sibling told The Times he was abused, but for legal reasons, his lawyers say he cannot join his siblings’ suit.)
Some of the siblings say they recognized at an early age that Mr. Jackson’s behavior was wrong but felt too overwhelmed by his celebrity and signs of affection to come forward publicly, or to one another. Others say they did not recognize that what had happened to them was abusive until they watched a 2019 documentary containing allegations by two men who said Mr. Jackson had molested them.
Aldo, now 35, said he was around 7 and in bed with Mr. Jackson one day, playing a Game Boy, when Mr. Jackson began giving him oral sex. He said the sex acts continued for years, and he eventually became aware that what he was enduring was wrong. But he said he so convinced himself that he could never disclose it that he came to believe: “I’m just going to live to die.”
Court documents say the abuse happened at a variety of places, including Mr. Jackson’s home, on trips and during tour stops. Just days before the pop star died in 2009, Aldo said, Mr. Jackson requested they go to “Disneyland” — which he described as a coded request for sex.
Mr. Jackson and, since his death, the Jackson estate have consistently denied all allegations that the pop star molested children. Marty Singer, a lawyer for the estate, characterized the lawsuit as “a desperate money grab.”
“The family staunchly defended Michael Jackson for more than 25 years, attesting to his innocence of inappropriate conduct,” Mr. Singer said in a statement. “This new court filing is a transparent forum-shopping tactic in their scheme to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars from Michael’s estate and companies.”
Debate over the truth of Mr. Jackson’s life has been revived not just by the lawsuit, but also by a biopic, “Michael,” set to debut on Friday. The film, which is expected to have a sequel and was produced in partnership with the estate, ends in 1988, before the first of the allegations surfaced.
Years before filing their lawsuit, the Cascio siblings told the estate that, actually, they had been abused by Mr. Jackson. But the parties reached an agreement in 2020 and the siblings received, in total, roughly $16 million in payments over five years. The accusations were never aired. In the estate’s view, Mr. Jackson’s family avoided being confronted by more “false allegations.”
But the payments ended in 2025 as the siblings were seeking additional compensation, and negotiations became strained. Now what was once a quiet dispute has erupted into bitter litigation.
Mr. Jackson and his estate have said that none of accusations made against him by people who say they were sexually abused are true.Credit...Steve Granitz/WireImage
Four Siblings, Now Plaintiffs
In an interview this month, the Cascio siblings suing the Jackson estate each provided grim details of what they say they endured.
Marie Nicole Porte, now 37, said she was 12 the first time Mr. Jackson abused her inside her family home, where he stayed for months following the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Jackson, she said, would have her spread her legs and sometimes masturbated while looking at her naked.
Dominic, 39, said he was on a trip to Euro Disney with Mr. Jackson when he was about 8 years old when the pop star began having them lie nude in bed together. In later encounters, he said, Mr. Jackson would have him suck and manipulate his nipples while Mr. Jackson masturbated.
The Cascio family’s relationship with Mr. Jackson led its members, by their accounts, into a world of closely guarded secrets. None of the children told their parents or one another what was happening, they said. When their parents did ask about their relationship with Jackson, the children said they denied that anything untoward had occurred.
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The parents, Connie and Dominic
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