Wade Robson Is One of Michael Jackson's Alleged Victims, and He Hasn't Given up the Fight

According to Esquire, in the summer of 2000, Michael Jackson befriended a young boy who was battling cancer. Gavin Arvizo was 10 years old at the time and three years later, the two were still close. When Jackson spoke with British journalist Martin Bashir in 2003 for the Living with Michael Jackson documentary, Arvizo was sitting next to him. They were holding hands. By November of that year, Arvizo was accusing Jackson of sexually abusing him multiple times.

The People v. Jackson trial began on Feb. 28, 2005, after Jackson was charged with sexually assaulting Arvizo. One witness for Jackson's defense team was a 23-year-old dancer named Wade Robson. When he was only 10, Robson spent a lot of time at Jackson's house, which is where the King of Pop's maid believed the two showered together based on things she saw. Robson denied anything ever happened between them but later admitted to lying on the stand. Where is he now? Here's what we know.

In 2013, Robson filed a sex abuse claim against Jackson, four years after the singer's death, reported CNN. It was dismissed in 2017 due to the act that it was filed past the statute of limitations but in 2023, a three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal found they should not have been dismissed, per PBS. A California law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations restrictions and allowed the lower court to restore the lawsuit.

Robson first came clean about lying on the stand in 2005 in the 2019 HBO documentary Leaving Neverland. In it, Robson and another victim describe years of alleged abuse perpetrated by Jackson. "Michael told me that I had to lie and that’s what I did," said Robson in the documentary. Robson didn't want to defend Jackson during the Arvizo trial and said as much to the performer. He relented after Jackson convinced him it was necessary.

A follow-up to the documentary was released in March 2025 in the U.K. and on YouTube. Whereas Leaving Neverland is about the alleged abuse, Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson is about Robson's pursuit of justice in the form of his lawsuit against the Jackson estate. "Michael's dead," he says. "There's nothing that can be done about him or his actions now. But he had a massive corporation around him that enabled him to abuse children. There's no way he could have done that on his own."

While Robson waits for his civil trial, which is scheduled for some time in 2026, he continues to offer support to anyone in need. Per his website, he offers mentoring sessions that use a "variety of healing modalities, including deep listening, supportive feedback, empowering conversation, guided meditation, somatic awareness, and independent daily practices," aimed to get folks on the right track.

He is still choreographing and dancing and often uploads videos to his Instagram. Speaking of social media, Robson posts inspirational videos for his more than 67,000 followers that are encouraging and kind. The dancer did a 28 days of healing series that includes lessons on vulnerability, working on trauma, and discipline, to name a few. Robson currently lives in Hawaii with his wife and their son.