The story of the woman who claimed to be the subject of Michael Jackson’s hit 1983 song “Billie Jean” just took an even wilder turn. Now, the daughter of a woman who claimed she inspired the song is telling her mom’s side of the story.
The King of Pop’s “Billie Jean” tells the story of a woman who claims that a certain man has fathered her child. As one of the major singles from Jackson‘s iconic “Thriller” album, this record sparked decades of speculation about the woman behind it. In 1986, former legal secretary Lavon A. Muhammad, also known as Lavon Powlis, made headlines after she was arrested twice for trespassing on the Jackson’s estate in Encino, California, claiming she was his fiancé and he fathered her twin babies.
Jackson took out a restraining order against her before she was arrested again in 1988 for trespassing. She was then sentenced to 303 days in jail for violating her probation.
Decades later, her daughter, Le Naj Garrison, is now offering a deeply personal perspective on her mother, and her long obsession that will forever link her family to one of Jackson’s most talked-about records.
In a recent interview on the “Think Biblically” podcast with Sean McDowell, Garrison shares the truth about her mother with the public.
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“If they were to Google her, they would say she’s a stalker,” Garrison said. “The family knows her as someone who terrorized him, which is hard in my mind because I know her… as someone who was mentally ill.”
According to a 1988 Los Angeles Times article, prosecutors said Jackson never met Muhammed and that she was not the inspiration for the song titled “Billie Jean” or the lyric “The kid is not my son.”
But for Garrison, this was a journey about surviving her mother’s untreated mental illness.
@goldenerastories Lavon Muhammad, also known as Lavon Powlis, Gabrielle Jamilla Jackson, and legally, Billie Jean Jackson, first came to the public’s attention in 1987 when she filed a $150-million lawsuit against Michael Jackson, claiming she was his fiancée and he was the father of her three children. The former legal secretary claimed that she met him in New York in 1975, then he invited her out to LA and their children were conceived in a blue Rolls Royce parked in front of his home. In December 2008, she sued Michael for $1 billion, alleging she was his wife and mother of his youngest child Blanket. (
: @seanmcdowell) #michaeljackson #billiejean #mentalhealth #childhood #80s
She recalled growing up believing Jackson was her father because she was repeatedly told so. During a trip from Chicago to California, Garrison said her mother took the family to Jackson’s Encino home, believing they were finally returning. “We go to his house and she proceeds to walk us in the gate,” Garrison recalled. Moments later, security guards – who immediately recognized Muhammed from previous incidents – swarmed around the family.
The instability continued after they left Jackson’s property. Garrison recounted numerous instances in which, when she and her family were hungry, Muhammed would take them to a local restaurant, but she wouldn’t have enough money.
Most of the time, the restaurant staff would show sympathy for the family and provide them with free food. Despite occasional financial offerings from Jackson’s team, the family eventually became homeless, sleeping in a broken-down taxi cab before Garrison and her siblings were placed in foster care because of abandonment and neglect.
For years, Garrison navigated her mother’s mental illness and her undeniable conviction of being married to Jackson. “I have voice recordings of her cursing me out, telling me, ‘Your problems are because Michael is mad at you and if you would treat his wife [Muhammed] better, Michael would have been better to you,’” Garrison said. She also revealed that while incarcerated, Muhammed would use Jackson’s home address as the return address on her mail.
McDowell asked when she realized Jackson was not her father, and her response was unexpected.
“I don’t think anyone ever told me,” Garrison said. “I do remember people asking me, ‘Is it possible?’ and I’m like, ‘No.’”
Garrison believes her mother’s ability to maintain the story for decades stemmed from her career as a court reporter. She said Muhammed was articulate, detail-oriented, and didn’t fit people’s stereotypical image of someone living with severe mental illness, making her claims believable to many.
Muhammed died in a mental health facility in April 2024 after a year-long battle with mental illness. “It was a pretty painful end,” Garrison admitted, explaining that her mother wanted to leave the facility but continued blaming both her children and Jackson for her circumstances.
Despite everything, Garrison said she holds no animosity toward Michael Jackson or his family.
Fans flooded the comment section:
“I love that the daughter loves her mom, and respects her mom enough to explain the story with out being hateful,” one TikTok user wrote. “While also respecting MJ and his family by explaining that they were actually nice to her and her family.”
Another user chimed in, saying, “Yeah she did an excellent job at humanizing her mother while also being realistic. She didn’t sensationalize anything.”
Over on X, people questioned her resemblance to Jackson.
One X user wrote: “She looks more like Michael Jackson’s kid than Michael Jackson’s kids”
Another wrote, “She do kinda look like Janet.”
