Sheryl Crow on touring with Michael Jackson: I saw 'really strange' things

Sheryl Crow's early career included a stint as a backup vocalist for Michael Jackson on his Bad tour in the late '80s and an appearance in his "Dirty Diana" video, making the late singer – and his complicated past – an essential part of her origin story.

As Crow told the Telegraph in an interview published Saturday, although she hasn't watched the 2019 documentary "Leaving Neverland" that alleged new abuses against Jackson, she did see some questionable behavior in her time with him. 

“I haven’t seen the documentary and I don’t want to see it,” she said. “I was around for some things that I thought were really strange, and I had a lot of questions about.”

Crow's new album "Threads," which she has previously claimed to be her last studio album, comes out Aug. 30, featuring collaborations with Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards (on a song co-written by Mick Jagger), Joe Walsh, Don Henley, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Chris Stapleton and the late Johnny Cash. 

More:10 most anticipated albums of fall 2019: Taylor Swift, Tool, Luke Combs and more

In a previous chat with the Guardian earlier this month, Crow expanded on her relationship with James Safechuck, who toured with her and Jackson and was one of the men at the center of "Leaving Neverland," along with Wade Robson.

“It’s like a death in the family, you know? It’s sad. (Safechuck) was a great kid and the whole time he was with us – which was the better half of an 18-month tour – I always wondered: 'What in the world are his parents doing,' you know?” she said. 

Crow claimed that "there were a lot of exceptions made" for Jackson, and that his strange behavior "was part of his aura – this almost being untouchable and almost alien-like (figure)."

"And, yeah, I mean, I’m sad, and I’m mad at a lot of people," she added. "I feel like there was just a huge network of people that allowed all that to go on. It’s just tragic.”

The most recent updates in the dramas surrounding the "Leaving Neverland" release involve three Michael Jackson fan clubs in France suing Robson and Safechuck, under a French law that prohibits the public denunciation of a dead person.

More:French Michael Jackson fans sue 'Leaving Neverland' accusers Wade Robson, James Safechuck