Stars At ‘Eclipse’ Premiere Remember Michael Jackson’s Death: One Year Later

Friday marks the one year anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson, so despite being surrounded by vampires and werewolves at “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” premiere on Thursday night, many stars who hit the event’s black carpet in Los Angeles were thinking of the King of Pop.

“We were in the clubhouse at Yankee Stadium and it came through the wire that said Michael Jackson passed away,” slugger Alex Rodriguez told Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson on Thursday at the “Eclipse” premiere. “Immediately, we all thought it was a very mean, cruel joke and… about three or four hours later they confirmed it and it was just very upsetting, very sad.”

Despite being a superstar in his own right, A-Rod said he regrets having never crossed paths with the pop superstar.

“The one thing that I’m really sad about is that I never had an opportunity to meet him,” Alex said. “But I’m a huge fan and although he’s gone, his legacy and his music will last forever.”

Olympic gold medal figure skater — and “Dancing with the Stars” runner-up — Evan Lysacek too remembered where he was on that fateful afternoon, one year ago.

“I was actually close by here training and I was really, really, really upset by it because I knew several people at Staples Center that were ecstatic about the progress he was making on the tour that was about to start,” Evan said. “I’ve been a huge fan of his for years. I’ve skated to many of his songs and been inspired by others… [It’s] just very, very sad, but hopefully we can, the next couple of days, remember him in the most positive light.”

Evan’s fellow figure skater, Kristi Yamaguchi, also remembered getting very emotional.

“I was actually in line at Southwest Airlines at Burbank airport and I was looking at the CNN news ticker… I turned to someone, I’m like, ‘Did Michael Jackson pass away?’” Kristi recounted. “Without even thinking, I was just all choked up. He had such an influence on many different areas of your life and not just music. He’s an icon.”

Former MTV VJ LaLa Vasquez happened to be Tweeting when she heard the tragic news, which happened to fall on her birthday.

“I was in my house in Denver on the computer and Twitter was going crazy and I’m like, ‘These people! This can’t be true!’ And then it was true,” she said. “I’ll always remember it because it’s my birthday as well. I remember clearly and I can’t even believe that a year has passed that quickly.”

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