It was 1987 and Michael Jackson - the biggest pop star in the world at the time - was on tour in Australia in support of his Bad album.

Carmen Nixon, now in her 50s, travelled from Orange to Sydney to see Mr Jackson's two Sydney shows at Parramatta Stadium.

"I met some girls in the foyer of the Regent Hotel where he was staying, and we've become lifelong friends," she said.

After the two Sydney shows Ms Nixon's new friends told her they had decided to follow Mr Jackson - who died in 2009 - as he headed north for three shows at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

"I thought, 'Oh well, I might as well go'," she said.

In Brisbane they followed Mr Jackson, "but we were respectful of his privacy and didn't hound him", Ms Nixon said.

"We tried to meet him when he got back to his hotel but he was ushered in the back way."

The following day, while Ms Nixon was making her way to a bank across the NSW border in Tweed Heads, her friends were walking back to their motel when Jackson's car stopped alongside them at a set of traffic lights.

"He put the window down and was talking to them and he said 'Come to my hotel at 7.30 tonight'; when I got back they told me about it and we went and met Bill Bray his security at 7.30 and he took us up to [Mr Jackson's] room.

"Going up in that elevator, he was on the top floor of course, it just seemed like we were never going to get there.

"Bill Bray got us out and said 'Follow me' and he opened the door and we went into a room, and there were posters everywhere [Mr Jackson] had been signing."

In the suite was the portable dance floor Mr Jackson was famed for travelling with, and on the TV screen the 1985 movie King David with Richard Gere was playing.

"Bill said 'Just sit there and he'll come out'; we were all nervous, chattering away wondering what was going to happen, and then I saw his shoes."

Mr Jackson was hiding behind a curtain, and let his shoes poke out from under it.

"I elbowed a friend and said 'Look, there's Michael's shoes', and then they moved.

"I just froze and looked up and he peeked out from behind the curtain and was waving at me.

"I couldn't speak, I couldn't do anything; my friends weren't taking any notice and then he just jumped out and said 'Ooh I frightened you guys!'"

Jackson sat and chatted with the group, posed for photographs and signed autographs.

Despite ongoing controversy about the nature of Mr Jackson's relationships with boys, Ms Nixon has stayed true to the performer.

Her refusal to believe the accusations had led to arguments with family and friends, she said.

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