'I can no longer defend him.' Inside Michael Jackson's relationship with the two Coreys.

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They were two of the biggest names in the 80s teen movie scene, but the troubling tale of The Two Coreys is one that has plagued Hollywood for decades.

Corey Haim and Corey Feldman starred together in a handful of films that reached cult status – the most famous being the 1987 horror film, The Lost Boys.

But in the years following the success of the young actors, reports they had been sexually abused and molested at the hands of several powerful men in the industry began to emerge, leading them both down a dark path dotted with drug and alcohol addiction.

Their abuse was widely known in Hollywood.

Alison Arngrim, who starred in Little House On The Prairie, once said she heard the Coreys were regularly molested, and plied with drugs before men had sex with them.

“People said, ‘Oh yeah, the Coreys, everyone’s had them,’” Arngrim told Fox News in 2011. “I literally heard that they were ‘passed around’. The word was that they were given drugs and being used for sex.”

While none of their rumoured alleged abusers have faced charges, one name among them kept coming up - Michael Jackson.

Feldman, now 48, first met Jackson through Steven Spielberg, who he grew close to while filming Gremlins in 1984. A huge fan of Michael Jackson's music, Feldman begged Spielberg for an introduction and was eventually invited to Neverland Ranch. Haim tagged along with Feldman and the two became regular guests.

Feldman and Haim spoke often of their friendship with the controversial pop star, but when questioned about the nature of the friendship, both denied anything sexual occurred.

In 2009, Haim defended Michael Jackson in an interview shortly after the singer's death, saying he believed Jackson had been unfairly treated.

"[People] weren't capable of being polite to the man until he passed on," Haim said.

"A lot of the general public just didn't treat him well."

Watch the trailer for My Truth: The Rape of Two Coreys below. Post continues after video.

However, in 2017, a producer revealed Haim had claimed he was abused by Jackson as well as actor Charlie Sheen.

Ed Meyer told The National Enquirer: "Corey said, 'I have a problem with Michael Jackson and with Charlie Sheen. I was assaulted by these guys and a few others.'"

Haim was 36 at the time and filming a reality show in LA. He told the director about what Sheen and Jackson allegedly did to him, according to Meyer.

The actor said "it was a dark time" but "he was moving on and looking for work", Meyer said.

Sheen denied allegations he sexually assaulted Haim, while Jackson passed away a year after Haim reportedly made this confession on the set of his reality show The Two Coreys.

The confession was never aired, but it was rumoured Feldman, too, was abused by Sheen.

Haim - who had been in-and-out of rehab for cocaine addiction for years - died of pneumonia in 2010 aged 38. He had reportedly been living in sobriety at the time of his death.

In 2017, Feldman alleged one of his abusers was actor Jon Grissom in an appearance on The Dr. Oz Show. He said he was groomed by him with cocaine and crack. On the show, it was revealed that Grissom had been previously arrested for child molestation.

That same year Feldman said he was also abused by child talent manager, Marty Weiss, a convicted sex offender.

But he remained adamant Michael Jackson never touched him.

In early 2019, following the release of documentary Leaving Neverland, which alleged Jackson abused Wade Robson and James “Jimmy” Safechuck in the mid-to-late 1980s, Feldman's friendship with Michael Jackson was again scrutinised after he wrote a series of tweets about the allegations presented in the two-part expose.

He later clarified the tweets - which seemed to defend Jackson - in an interview with Headline News.

“I don’t want to be perceived as I’m here to defend Michael Jackson, because I can no longer do that,” he said. “I cannot in good consciousness defend anyone who’s being accused of such horrendous crimes.”

Referring to the criticism he received following his comments, he said, “I certainly want to apologise if anybody took anything that I said out of context in those tweets, because it certainly wasn’t meant in any way to question the validity of the victims".

He said he found the documentary’s two alleged victims - James Safechuck and Wade Robson - to have “very compelling stories".

"Both of these guys sound very believable, because they are talking about a cycle that’s called grooming. And the grooming process certainly fits the mold, and that’s why this case must be taken seriously — that’s why all cases must be taken seriously," he said.

But he concluded by saying he felt he wasn't the best judge of character given his own past of sexual abuse.

“All that said, as I’m watching it I’m thinking this doesn’t make sense to me, that this isn’t the guy that I knew. But look, I’m a guy that at 14 years old was molested, did have a pedophile completely lie to me about who he was; I trusted him, I believed in him as a friend and I thought he was a good person, and then he molested me. So it all proves that I’m not the best judge, and that’s why I shouldn’t be the judge in this situation, especially given the fact that I’m so close to him.”

Feldman has since created his own documentary about sexual abuse in Hollywood, and said it's why he felt so strongly about Leaving Neverland.

“My issue when I wrote those tweets was with the way that the documentary laid it out. Because as a filmmaker I was making a judgment in the sense that I know that to stay journalistically proper, to stay true to form, we must investigate all sides," he added.

“So I know certainly, to have credence in my own film, we are going above and beyond to make sure that we reach out to the people that we are accusing, and also to people that knew those people... Thank God they’re doing this and getting it out there.

“All I can say is I wish it had happened while Michael was alive so that he could have been in trial and faced it and defended himself. That can’t happen today, so I don’t know where this leads. But I do know that it’s important that we keep talking and keep hearing the voice of each victim.”

On March 9, Feldman will release a documentary, titled Truth: The Rape of Two Coreys, about the Hollywood pedophile ring he claims abused him as a teenager.

The documentary, which will air at the same time worldwide via a global stream on March 9, will feature interviews with former co-stars of the Coreys, including Keith Coogan, Jamison Newlander, Susie Feldman, and the late Kristoff St John, speaking about the topic of child abuse in Hollywood.

"I am able to say the names of who did what and the details of who did what," Feldman confirmed about the film.

"There is going to be people who are going to be very unhappy that this is coming out. People who want it silenced. Nothing can stop it at this point. That’s why we’re only showing it one time. We want to get it out. I’ve done my job, I’ve kept my promise."

Speaking to Rolling Stone in April 2019, Feldman said he believed he could bring down a paedophile ring that he had been aware of since he was a child.

"Right off the bat, I can name six names, one of them who is still very powerful today. [It’s] a story that links all the way up to a studio [and] connects paedophilia to one of the major studios," he said.

Speaking to The View, Feldman added that the men accused are "still out there" and "some of the richest, most powerful people in the business".

"The one name that is the most dangerous, the one I'm most scared about – it's going to be like Harvey Weinstein all over again," he told NBC4 California.

According to Feldman, Haim begged him to tell his story if he died first.

"Nobody knows what it feels like to constantly console somebody whose life has been ruined by rape." Feldman told Rolling Stone last year, "unless you’ve been there, holding them when they cry, bringing them back to life over and over, stopping them from walking around with a knife."

"I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask to tell his story. I didn’t ask for any of it."

Feature Image: Getty.

For more on this topic:

• On March 9, 2020, Corey Feldman will name alleged Hollywood pedophiles in his new documentary.

This post was originally published on May 9, 2019, and updated on March 9, 2020.

If this post brings up any issues for you, you can contact Bravehearts (an organisation providing support to victims of child abuse) here.

If you are concerned about the welfare of a child you can get advice from the Child Abuse Protection Hotline by calling 1800 688 009, or visiting their website. You can also call the 24-hour Child Abuse Report Line (131 478).