The owner of Spartan Health Club in Kingston and former head of the Miss Jamaica World beauty pageant Mickey Spartan has hurled some harsh criticisms towards the much anticipated Bob Marley: One Love Biopic which premieres on February 14.
Mickey who is also a friend of Cindy Breakspear mainly commented in defence of her and her son Damian Robert Nesta “Jr. Gong” Marley’s “exclusion” from the film in multiple lengthy statements shared on social media.
According to the fitness club owner, the movie is not an official documentary on the Reggae Legend for he finds it missing out on key moments in Bob Marley’s life.
His first of two posts on Facebook reads, “I am very disturbed by the fact that Cindy and her son Damion were excluded from the current movie on the life of Bob Marley. In 1976 Cindy was undoubtedly the most beautiful girl in Jamaica. Indeed, she won the titles of Miss Universe Bikini and Miss World during that year.”
Further on in the statement he stated, “The reality is that Cindy, at the peak of her beauty and who had some of Jamaica’s wealthiest bachelors pursuing her, chose Bob Marley and paid a high price for it socially. At the time Bob was not yet a rich international star though he would shortly become one.”
He concluded by saying, “With no disrespect to Rita, it seemed obvious to me that Cindy had replaced Rita as Bob’s intimate partner and that only the music and ultimately Bob’s illness and death terminated the relationship between Cindy and Bob. It is therefore a farce and rediculous to do a movie on the life of Bob Marley and exclude Cindy and Damion.”
See the full statement below:
His second statement was more subtle and he apologised for his previous statement, however, reiterated that Cindy and Damian should have been included in the biopic to make it “official”.
He wrote, “So my search on Google lists Ziggy, Cedella and Rita as producers of the Bob Marley One Love movie and describes it as a “family affair”. That being the case it cannot be considered an official documentary on Bob. It would have been very difficult for the family to include the character of Cindy in the movie as, no matter how they portrayed her, they would have been open to criticism.”
He continued, “I therefore sympathize with the family and apologise for my previous strongly worded post. I will consider taking it down. I hope I live long enough to see the official Bob Marley documentary which will surely include Cindy. Or maybe, there will be a Cindy Breakespeare movie which includes Bob.”