What happened to Bubbles? Chimp’s life after Michael Jackson revealed

He has taken tea with the Mayor of Osaka, starred in a pop video alongside Elizabeth Taylor and took part in a concert tour that set a record as the most successful ever staged.

But for Bubbles the chimpanzee, once a pet of the late pop star Michael Jackson, it is his current lifestyle at an ape sanctuary in central Florida that allows him to live his best life.

He is now among fellow chimpanzees, exploring the sanctuary’s aerial tramway and producing abstract paintings.

Patti Ragan, founder and president of the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, firmly believes that Bubbles is more content than ever. At 43, he is an elder statesman of the sanctuary, having lived beyond the average 33-year life expectancy of male chimps in captivity.

Fear of females

It was not always thus. When he first entered the sanctuary, he “had difficulty” adapting to being among his own species and was frightened of the female chimpanzees in his group.

“This is one of the many downsides and problems resulting from having chimpanzees as pets in human homes. They are smart and entertain their owners who undoubtedly love them. But even as youngsters, chimps become very strong and definitely have a mind of their own.”

Patti recalls that there were reports of Bubbles biting Michael’s visitors. At the age of about six, he was taken to a ranch belonging to the animal trainer Bob Dunn, who had looked after Bubbles when he was on the pop star’s Bad concert tour and had taught him to moonwalk.

© Jim Smeal

The chimp was kept at the ranch at the northern tip of Los Angeles alongside a fellow male named Sam until 2004, when Dunn “made the compassionate decision” to stop working with great apes, Patti says.

“When Bubbles arrived here 21 years ago, he was introduced into a group of six chimpanzees from the same trainer and had difficulty living with the females. He was actually afraid of them and spent much of his time alone. 

“However, after growing even larger and gaining more confidence over the first few years, Bubbles finally emerged as the leader of his group and has held that position now for many years.”

New friends

His group consists of one fellow male, Stryker, and three females: Oopsie, Boma and Kodua. There is no prospect of Bubbles having children: the females are all on birth control. Patti founded the sanctuary for apes that could not be released in the wild and has no wish to breed more to live in captivity alongside the 70 that currently live there.

© Center for Great Apes

Patti suggests that Bubbles has put fame behind him. At the height of his celebrity, he appeared in the video for Liberian Girl, sitting on a sofa with the actress Suzanne Somers and appearing on set alongside Steven Spielberg, Whoopi Goldberg, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. He joined the Bad concert tour, appearing on stage and in press conferences. 

Patti says that although “there are those MJ fans who always ask to see Bubbles” on rare occasions when visitors are permitted, the chimp does not value their attention. 

“He’s not very interested in visitors. He may (or may not) appear outside in his habitat… and often enjoys napping out in the woods and under the shade. He is 100% chimpanzee now, and I don’t know that he remembers much of his life from four decades ago.”

Bubbles the artist

Patti says that painting is a form of enrichment activity, alongside food puzzles and children’s paddling pools, that the apes only do if it appeals to them.

“Bubbles is one of the apes here who likes to paint. The artwork is usually swathes of colour like impressionistic art. Often they are then ripped or tossed aside by the ‘artists’, but sometimes they hand them back to the caregivers.

© Center for Great Apes

“And occasionally, the paintings by the orangutans and chimpanzees have been auctioned off for fundraising purposes for the sanctuary. Many people have asked us to buy Bubbles’ art, but we only have it when he chooses to paint.”

A few years ago, he successfully sold five paintings for a total of £2,000, a value that many professional artists would be delighted to achieve.