But when Jackson came backstage, he wasn’t accompanied by a publicist, manager, or anyone from his label. Instead, he had a team of bodyguards. There were probably a dozen men who looked nearly identical to one another, and all of them were outfitted in the same military-esque look that echoed Jackson’s style at the time. They brought an aggressive and hostile energy to the proceedings, as if they thought the star’s life was in danger. It was disorienting. They all claimed to speak for Jackson, though none of them did. It was as if a coordinated disinformation campaign had been orchestrated, creating an inscrutable buffer around him. It was a baffling breach of protocol in this kind of situation — of course, he didn’t have to do press, but it was bizarre to make himself utterly unapproachable. It demonstrated that when you exist on another plane of celebrity, there is no such thing as normal behaviour.