Michael Jackson may never have won an Oscar, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t end up with one. They say money can’t buy happiness, but we’d bet Jackson was fairly pleased when he got his hands on the famous golden statuette after shelling out $1.5 Million. But, why did Jackson buy an Oscar and where is it now? Though the answer is somewhat obscured, learn more about Jackson’s mysterious Oscar, below.
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The Oscar That Michael Jackson Bought for $1.5 Million–That Later Went Missing
In 1999, Jackson became the proud owner of an Oscar, thanks to a Sotheby’s auction from the estate of producer David O Selznick. What did Selznick produce? Oh, just a little-known film called Gone With the Wind…It’s an interesting move for a producer’s estate to sell a “Best Picture” Oscar to, potentially, a stranger, but it was to Jackson’s gain.
While the Oscar was up for auction at a measly 300,000, Jackson upped the bid to $1.5 million. Quite the overshot, but Jackson wanted to ensure that the Oscar would end up in his hands. His ploy paid off.
Though not just anyone can buy or trade an Oscar these days–due to The Academy’s strict stipulations on doing so–Gone With the Wind was made before they implemented them. So, Jackson had no barrier in buying his way to movie stardom.
[RELATED: Unsurprisingly, Quincy Jones Was Not a Fan of Michael Jackson’s Pet Snake]
Where Is It Now?
Who owns the Oscar now that Jackson has passed? Well, no one knows. In the wake of his death, Jackson’s estate began taking account of everything he left behind. The statue was mysteriously unaccounted for. (Which makes a case for those “Jackson’s not dead” conspiracy theorists. How could he leave such a prized possession behind in his escape from the limelight?)
All conspiracies aside, the estate has called on those with any information to come forward. “The estate does not know where the Gone With the Wind statuette is,” Jackson attorney Howard Weitzman once said. “We would like to have that Oscar because it belongs to Michael’s children. I’m hopeful it will turn up at some point.”
To this day, the Oscar has never been found. Did someone steal it? Did a family member take it as their portion of his estate? We don’t have the answer yet, but it can be added on top of the many unanswered questions about Jackson and his eccentric life.
(Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
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