Michael Jordan’s Lost Interview From 1996 Was Just Released—What He Said Changed Everything
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The Lost Interview: Unveiling Michael Jordan’s Hidden Truth
The tape had been hidden for nearly thirty years, filed away in a dusty archive beneath the bustling city of Chicago. Labeled simply “Not for Broadcast,” it was a forgotten relic of a time when the world’s greatest basketball hero was at the pinnacle of his career but hiding a secret few could imagine. Now, after decades of silence, that tape was about to reveal a truth that would forever change how the world saw Michael Jordan.
Mia Rodriguez wiped the dust off another box of old videotapes, her back aching from bending over the storage bins in WGN TV’s basement archives for the past three hours. As the newest sports journalist at the Chicago station, she’d been assigned what many considered the worst job—organizing decades of forgotten footage.
“Find anything interesting down there?” called Eddie, the station’s elderly security guard who had worked at WGN since before the Bulls’ first championship.
“Just a bunch of boring city council meetings from the ’80s,” Mia replied, pushing her dark hair away from her face. “And about a million Cubs games.”
Eddie laughed. “Keep digging, there’s gold in them hills. That’s what my daddy used to say.”
Mia smiled politely and returned to her work. Growing up on Chicago’s Southside, she had watched Bulls games with her father in their tiny apartment. While other girls plastered their walls with boy band posters, Mia’s walls were adorned with images of Michael Jordan soaring through the air, tongue out, ball in hand. She had studied journalism at Northwestern, dreaming of becoming a sports reporter, but five years after graduation, she was still paying her dues.
She pulled another dusty box from the shelf labeled “1996 Sports MISK.” Inside were several tapes in plastic cases with handwritten labels—mostly regular game highlights and postgame interviews. Nothing special. Then, at the bottom of the box, she found it. The tape’s label was different from the others. Instead of the standard WGN format, this one had red letters written in marker:
“Jordan Interview June 16th, 1996 – Not for Broadcast.”
Mia’s heart skipped. June 16th, 1996—that was right after the Bulls had won their fourth championship, beating the Seattle SuperSonics during their historic 72-10 season, still considered one of the greatest team performances in NBA history. But what did “not for broadcast” mean? Why would an interview with Michael Jordan, the biggest sports star on the planet, never air?
Without thinking, she slipped the tape into her bag. It wasn’t stealing, she told herself. She was just borrowing it to see what was on it. She’d bring it back tomorrow.
“Find anything good?” Eddie asked as she headed for the elevator.
“Nah,” she lied. “Just more old Cubs losses.”
That night, in her small apartment, Mia stared at the tape on her coffee table. She still had an old VHS player connected to her TV—a relic from her college days that she kept for watching her dad’s collection of old Bulls games. She poured herself a glass of wine, took a deep breath, and pushed the tape into the player.
Static filled the screen before clearing to show a familiar studio setup—two chairs angled toward each other, plants in the background, a standard interview setting. And there was Michael Jordan sitting in one of the chairs.
Mia leaned forward, nearly spilling her wine. Something was different about him. This wasn’t the smooth, confident Jordan she remembered seeing in interviews. He looked tired. His eyes were red, his shoulders slumped slightly forward. The camera pulled back to show the interviewer, Tom Hanigan, a legendary Chicago reporter who had covered the Bulls since the franchise began. Hanigan had died in 2008. Mia remembered.
“Michael, thank you for sitting down with us today,” Hanigan said. “It’s been quite a season.”
Jordan nodded. “Thanks for having me, Tom. Four championships now, the greatest regular season in NBA history. You’re back on top of the basketball world after your return from baseball. How does it feel?”
Jordan was quiet for a moment—too long for a normal interview pause. Mia could see Hanigan shift uncomfortably in his seat.
“It feels…” Jordan started, then stopped. He looked directly at the camera, then back at Hanigan. “Can we start over?”
The tape jumped ahead. Same setting, but Jordan looked more composed.
“Four championships now, the greatest regular season in NBA history. You’re back on top of the basketball world after your return from baseball. How does it feel?”
“It feels good,” Jordan said, but his voice was flat. “Winning always feels good, but this one must be special.”
Hanigan pressed, “After everything you’ve been through?”
Something changed in Jordan’s expression—a crack in the famous Jordan armor.
“Yeah,” he said quietly.
“Because of your father?” Hanigan asked.
The camera zoomed in on Jordan’s face. Mia held her breath.
“You know, Tom, everyone thinks they know my story,” Jordan said. “They think they know why I left basketball, why I came back. They think they know who I am. And they don’t.”
“Not even close,” Hanigan said.
The interview continued, but Mia was barely breathing. This wasn’t the polished corporate Michael Jordan she’d seen in commercials and standard interviews. This was raw. Real.
Suddenly, her phone rang, startling her. It was her editor, Dan.
“Hey boss,” she answered, pausing the tape. “Rod, I need that piece on the Bears’ new defensive coach by tomorrow morning.”
“It’s almost done,” Mia lied, glancing at her laptop where the unfinished article sat with just three paragraphs written.
“It better be, and don’t forget I want that archive inventory on my desk by Friday.”
After she hung up, Mia stared at the frozen image of Jordan on her TV screen. An idea began to form. What if this interview contained something so personal, so revealing, that it never aired? What if it showed a side of the greatest basketball player ever that no one had seen before?
She grabbed her laptop and started typing a new document—not the Bears article, but a pitch to Dan:
Michael Jordan’s Lost Interview: The Truth Finally Revealed.
If she could verify this tape’s authenticity, track down why it was never broadcast, and put the pieces together, this could be more than just an article. This could make her career.
Mia pressed play again, watching as Jordan began to talk about his father’s murder in 1993 and how it had nearly destroyed him. He mentioned a promise he had made that no one knew about.
“What promise?” Hanigan asked.
Jordan looked directly into the camera, and for a moment, Mia felt like he was looking right at her across the decades.
“That’s what no one understands,” Jordan said. “That’s what changed everything.”
Mia grabbed her notebook and began frantically writing. Whatever this promise was, she was going to find out—even if it meant digging through every archive, tracking down every person connected to that interview.
The truth about Michael Jordan—the real Michael Jordan—was sitting on a forgotten tape. And she was the only one who knew.
Over the following weeks, Mia’s investigation deepened. She met with Tom Hanigan’s widow, Eleanor, who handed her a sealed envelope marked “Jordan Interview 1996.” Eleanor warned her to be careful—powerful people didn’t want this interview seen.
Mia traveled to North Carolina to Wendell Phillips Park, where Jordan had met a sick boy named Marcus Littlefield. She uncovered letters Jordan had written to Marcus, medical records, and a promise that had motivated Jordan’s famous comeback.
Interviews with former Bulls teammates like Scottie Pippen and Steve Kerr confirmed parts of the story—Jordan’s secret struggles with panic attacks, anxiety, and the heavy burden of maintaining a perfect public image.
Despite mounting evidence, the story faced fierce resistance. The station pulled the piece after legal threats from Jordan’s attorneys, Nike, and the NBA. But Mia and a documentary filmmaker named David Warner refused to give up.
Together, they released a documentary online that went viral, sparking worldwide conversation about mental health, vulnerability, and the real cost of greatness.
Finally, Michael Jordan himself reached out. After years of silence, he acknowledged the interview’s authenticity and the promise he had made to Marcus—a promise that had changed basketball history.
“Basketball gave me a global stage,” Jordan said in a public statement, “but my greatest achievement wasn’t scoring points or winning championships. It was keeping a promise to a brave young man when no one was watching.”
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Mia placed a signed basketball on her desk, the note from Jordan beside it: “Some truths take time.” She smiled, knowing she had uncovered not just a hidden chapter of sports history, but a deeper truth about heroes, humanity, and the promises that define us all.
