 | | Ola Ray is the girl from Michael Jackson's world-famous "Thriller" video. | |
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It's the most famous music video of all time...Michael Jackson's Thriller!
But whatever happened to the girl from the video? Her name is Ola Ray, and in the wake of Jackson's death she sat down with INSIDE EDITION for an exclusive interview, and remembered the first time she met Michael.
"He looked so cute and he had a little bow tie and he's like, 'Hi, Ola' and I'm like, 'Hi,' " she says.
It was 1983 and Jackson was already the biggest star on the planet. Ray was best known as a Playboy Playmate when Jackson cast her to play his girlfriend.
And in this case, art imitated life. Ray says she wanted to hook up with the King of Pop, but he was interested in another girl.
"I had a crush on Michael myself and I would have loved to have been his girl but at the time he was interested in Brooke Shields," Ola explains.
Ray was at her home in Sacramento, California when she heard the shocking news about Jackson's sudden death.
"I was crying and I couldn't stop, it was like, 'Why did you leave me?' I almost feel like I'm abandoned, I never thought that he would pass," she says.
And Ray claims she was abandoned by Jackson in a different way. In a startling claim, she says she hasn't been paid royalties for Thriller. Two months ago she filed a lawsuit against Jackson.
"Our lawsuit alleges Miss Ray has not been paid royalties or a share of the profits for at least four years," says Ray's lawyer, Jason K. Feldman.
The Jackson estate isn't commenting, and Ray says the lawsuit isn't personal, just business. Still she has nothing but fond memories of being Jackson's girlfriend...at least for 14 minutes in a video that made history.
"I feel like I'm in a dream and I'm thinking when I wake up I'm going to find out that he's still alive and he's not gone."
The death of Michael Jackson does not end the lawsuits against him. Jackson's legal problems will survive his passing.
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