Rashida Jones was bitten by Bubbles the Chimp
Rashida Jones was bitten by Michael Jackson's pet chimpanzee when she was a child.
The 'Sunny' actress - whose father Quincy Jones produced the 'Billie Jean' hitmaker's iconic albums 'Off the Wall', 'Bad', and 'Thriller' - had a "traumatic" experience with the late singer's beloved Bubbles after she let him out of his cage and her attempts to stop him causing chaos backfired.
Asked her memories of Michael during her childhood, the 48-year-old star told The New Yorker: "He was really young. My dad met him on 'The Wiz'. He was maybe 19. He was like a big kid with lots of animals.
"Sorry, I was just sighing, because I was just thinking about how I was bit by his monkey."
Asked if she meant Bubbles, she clarified she did and added: "It was my fault. Well, no, it’s not my fault. I am not the one who put a chimpanzee in overalls and a diaper.
"But I did antagonise him. I was nine. He was in a cage, and he took my hairband out of my hand. Everybody else had left the room, and I was, like, 'Give it back!' He was playing with it and wouldn’t give it back to me. So I opened the cage, and he came out.
"Then he started running around the room and throwing books. A bit of a nightmare, now that I think about it.
"I went up to him and was, like, 'No! No!' — because I’d seen Michael say 'No!' to him. And I slapped him on the head, just a light, little slap. And he took my hand like a sandwich and bit into it.
"I know. Traumatic. He’s 40 and he lives in Florida now, I think. He’s retired. [From what?] Biting children?
"I saw that he’s the alpha male of his group, in whatever chimp retirement home he’s at."
Rashida recalled finding Michael "very scary" when she got to visit her dad on the set of the famous 'Thriller' music video.
She said: "I remember we went to the set of the video, in Griffith Park. We were reading the storyboards, and right when we got to the part where he turns around and he’s a werewolf, Michael walked into the trailer with those crazy yellow eyes. Very scary!"
The 'Parks and Recreation' actress regrets not holding onto her memorabilia from that time.
She said: "It changed everything for my dad. I remember watching the Grammys at home, and he won every single Grammy.
"I had so many 'Thriller' T-shirts and memorabilia. I don’t think I have any of that anymore. That’s really sad."
