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Wade Robson lost his father, Dennis, many years ago. Dennis Robson’s cause of death was suicide. In 2002, Dennis was found hanged.
Wade Robson, and Australian-born dancer and choreographer, previously blamed his dad’s tragic death on the allegations that pop icon Michael Jackson had molested him.
“The thought that Plaintiff [Robson] might have been sexually abused by Decedent [Jackson] was a huge source of anxiety and depression for his father,” court documents read, according to Radar Online.
The site also points out that another Jackson accuser, Jordy Chandler, also lost his dad to suicide. Chandler’s dad, David Schwartz, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2009.
Here’s what you need to know:
Dennis Robson Was Diagnosed With Bipolar Disorder & His Emotional State Was Challenging for Wade
Wade Robson was just a kid when his dad was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Those who suffer from bipolar disorder are known to experience extreme mood swings that include emotional highs and lows, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Having a parent suffering from bipolar disorder isn’t easy and Wade Robson had a hard time dealing with it.
“Dadʻs mental and emotional health continuously declined. Weʻd talk on the phone every now and then; Mostly, I remember just trying to get it over with. Dad and I would see each other about every two years; some of the experiences were okay, some were challenging, depending upon his mental and emotional state. Often, I felt embarrassed of him. I couldnʻt understand his mental and emotional challenges; They confused me, scared me and I regretfully didnʻt want to deal with them or him,” Wade wrote in a blog post last year.
In the aforementioned blog post, Wade Robson wrote that his relationship with his dad began to deteriorate rather quickly. At the time, Wade’s budding career was a priority and he was getting very close to Michael Jackson. In the blog, Wade talked about how he grew distant from his actual father and closer to Jackson, who told him he could call him “dad.”
It wasn’t until Wade was a teenager that he felt he could reconnect with his dad — but he wasn’t given enough time to do so.
“When I was about 19 years old, I had a phone conversation with my Dad where he told me a few stories about some of the mentally ill people he supported and had friendships within the community he lived. The stories were heartbreaking and beautiful and I was intrigued to learn more about Dadʻs life. All of a sudden, I felt as though I now had the capacity to begin to develop an adult relationship with him. About six months later, Dad took his life,” Wade wrote.
When Dennis died, Wade felt sad, but the feeling didn’t last very long and he was able to bury the feelings for more than a decade.
“I cried a lot that first night after receiving the news. I cried a lot at his funeral. After that, I didnʻt cry much more about him for the next 10 years. I came up with a tidy resolution for his death that satisfied my intellect and enabled me to stay numb,” Wade wrote.
Wade Still Struggles With the Loss Today but Uses His Dad’s Memory to Help Him Be a Better Dad to His Son
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It wasn’t until Wade had a child of his own that he found himself flooded with emotions about his dad again. It was around this time that Wade decided to tell the world his truth about the relationship he claims to have had with Michael Jackson, one that he says was filled with seven years of sexual abuse and molestation.
“This opened up the flood gates of healing in every aspect of my life and Dad came rushing back in full color. I was faced with guilt, shame and sadness due to how I pulled away from him over the years, how I called Michael ‘Dad,’ how I was too busy to talk so many times, and how I couldnʻt seem to bring myself to care enough to try and understand him while he was alive. Now that I was a Father myself, I wept numerous times, as I could now imagine how he felt as his little boy, little girl and the woman he loved walked out the door and moved to the other side of the world,” Wade wrote.
He added that his dad’s sister told him that the claims about Jackson caused his dad to have a lot of anxiety and that Dennis was also molested when he was a kid.
Wade has used the relationship that he had with his father as a way to help inspire him and help him heal.
“As a Father figure, Michael Jackson taught me about dance, music, film, hard work, visualization, study, busyness, external giving, external achievement and validation, lying, numbing, not trusting people, child sexual abuse, and conditional love intertwined with abuse. As a Father, my Dad is still teaching me about play, pain, unconditional love, forgiveness, dedication, laughter, life eternal and dancing (literally and figuratively) with abandon, and joy,” he wrote.