tonight on "nightline" -- cia sex scandal. shocking new details in the extramarital affair that brought down the head of the cia. a high-profile mistress, her alleged harassing e-mails and the fbi investigation that unraveled it all. michael unmasked. a superstar who gave us "thriller." ♪ thriller >> obsessed with pills, shopping and his lost childhood. the explosive new book blowing the lid off the secret life of michael jackson and the question that still haunts his fans. >> did michael jackson ever molest a child? and kirstie tells all. fresh off her turn on "dancing with the stars," she tells barbara walters ant her battles with weight and falling for patrick swayze and the love of her life, john travolta.

there is breaking news right now. for that, we go to the abc news desk. >> good evening, everyone. i'm paula farris. we have breaking news tonight on that widening e-mail scandal rocking washington and the world. a scandal that led to the resignation of cia chief david petraeus. late this evening, abc news learned that general john allen, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan, is being investigated for possibly inappropriate e-mail communications with one of the women linked to the petraeus scandal. it's the latest bombshell. kelly is a family friend of petraeus and notified the fbi she was receiving threatening e-mails. martha raddatz has the story. >> reporter: when general david petraeus granted paula broadwell exclusive and extraordinary

access to pep his biography, he likely never imagined it would lead to his downfall. but tonight, his reputation is sullied. the fbi is under scrutiny, and agents have descended on broadwell's home to gather more material, material broadwell is now willingly providing them in this increasingly strange scandal. the affair first came to light this summer as part of an fbi investigation prompted by a complaint from this woman, jill kelly. a private citizen and military supporter who had befriended petraeus and his wife, holly. kelly received harassing e-mails from an anonymous account, and took them to a friend at the fbi in may or june. the bureau obtained a court order and electronically traced the account to petraeus' biographer. broadwell eventually turned her computer over to the fbi where they were stunned to discover hundreds, if not thousands of

e-mails, some salacious, between petraeus and broadwell. >> the fbi, that's why they call it a preliminary investigation. they realized they had general petraeus caught up in this in some form and fashion and they caused them to take it all the way through. >> reporter: so many questions remain about how and when the affair began, and who the woman behind it all really is. paula broadwell was exceptional. high school homecoming queen, west point cadet, rising to a lieutenant colonel. she approached petraeus about research she was doing as a graduate student at harvard. >> i went up to him and said you should really read it, and it was kind enough to indulge me and take the paper and give me his business card. >> reporter: that research led to the unprecedented access to the general while he was commanding forces in afghanistan.

broadwell took six trips she described as embeds with the general. >> it's not a haigiografy. >> reporter: retired general john nagl has known the general for 25 years. were you surprised at the access? >> i was surprised at the access. my friends who were there tell me that she had extraordinary access and that it worried them. >> welcome. >> thank you. pleasure to be here. >> reporter: she embarked on a publicity tour, promoting the book. it's now clear the affair was ongoing at that time. she spoke about petraeus on "the daily show" with jon stewart. >> to get to know him, if you wanted to run with him, you ran together. >> i thought i would test him, but it was a test for both of us since we both ran quickly.

>> reporter: she also got to know petraeus' wife, holly. she talked about holly in an interview with don imus in january. >> is he married? >> he is married to holly petraeus, who is a wonderful military spouse. >> all of us who have known him and worked with him respect him and admire him. i think that's pretty universal. none of us, i don't think, other than paula would have presumed to speak for him in that way. >> reporter: controversy over how the fbi has conducted its investigation has engulfed washington. why did the fbi and attorney general eric holder wait until just this past wednesday to alert the white house, notably after the election? and why didn't they alert relevant members of congress at all? officials say broadwell had classified material on her computer, which is illegal, but the fbi does not currently believe that any of it came from

petraeus, and so far no charges have been filed against her. she has gone into hiding with her husband and sons, ages 4 and 6. shades on her family's charlotte home are drawn. a poignant note etched in chalk on their driveway, "dad loves mom." for his part, petraeus has reached out to old friends who say he is devastated. >> what's the first thing he said? >> he apologized. he said that he felt that he had let the team down and that he obviously wanted to make it -- to pull his family together and to try to recover from this. >> reporter: a long way from 2007 in iraq when he talked about the burdens of being the man then considered the nation's most trusted general. >> the job is so consuming. it is something that takes every waking minute of every day. >> reporter: either way, those duties took him away from his

wife and family for the majority of the last decade. i'm martha raddatz for "nightline" in washington. >> and thanks to martha for that report on the petraeus scandal. a lot of questions. we'll keep up with it. next up, his was the voice that propelled "thriller" to break records. now a shocking new book is revealing sides of michael jackson you've never seen before. [ abdul-rashid ] i've been working since i was about 16. you know, one job or the other. the moment i could access the retirement plan, i just became firm about it -- "i'm done. i'm out of here." you know, it's like it just hits you fast. you know, you start thinking about what's really important here. ♪ ♪

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bp has paid overthe people of bp twenty-threeitment to the gulf. billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. he was the undisputed king of pop, michael jackson, voice behind the best-selling album of all time, a superstar, a musical

genius who set the stage for pop music, left a lasting imprint on generations of performers, but despite the late singer's unparalleled talent, jackson's legacy was tarnished by addiction, his loneliness, the ultimate scandal, and now a revealing new book is shedding fresh light on his private struggles, so here's abc's nick watt. ♪ thriller >> there hasn't been anyone that famous in a single moment as he was during "thriller" time. i think that was probably the peak of celebrity for a human being. >> reporter: randall sullivan, the highly acclaimed journalist, spent three years getting behind the mask of the most celebrated entertainer our world has ever known. it's a tale of family, fame, lost childhood and startling accusations that you won't have heard before. the portrait of a prescription drug addict who could spend $250,000 on a shopping spree without thinking.

>> the shopping, like the drugs, were -- was a painkiller for him. >> reporter: apparently michael jackson would call business partners and ask them to bring around bags of cash. >> in one case that's a phone call asking for 7.5 million. for some reason it was like a french fry bag, and he gave it to michael, so that became an in joke of, i want you to supersize this order. he wanted money to put in his pocket. to him that was real money. >> reporter: that's like a child. >> he was, yes. >> reporter: a manchild who couldn't leave fame or family behind. >> michael was tired of being a song and dance man. he didn't want to perform on stage from the time -- well, from the time of the history tour, which was 1995/1996. ♪ >> reporter: jackson wanted to be an actor. he had wanted to buy the rights to every marvel character before anyone else thought of making them into movies. >> he wanted to play spider-man. how that would have worked, i don't know. >> reporter: he wanted to play willy wonka.

he didn't get that role either. jackson claimed to be a child trapped in an adult world. >> he never got to express, for example, his sexuality, and he sort of -- >> reporter: you think his sexuality was? >> i think he did all that he could to neutralize himself. i don't think michael was trying to be homosexual, heterosexual or pedophile. i think he was trying to be asexual or presexual. his insistence that he was peter pan was so total, he got peter pan's nose. >> reporter: there were, of course, the accusations that jackson's love of children was, in fact, sexual. there's no proof he molested anyone. he was cleared of the only accusation that made it to trial but admitted sharing a bed with prepubescent kids. he shared a bed with dozens of children. >> correct. he wanted to be a child himself and wanted to believe he was another 12-year-old or 13-year-old. that was the goal. >> reporter: he wanted a sleepover.

>> he wanted a sleepover. he felt he didn't get a childhood. >> reporter: because he was a star perhaps too soon. ♪ uh-huh >> he was the focal point of the family from the time he was 7 years old. >> reporter: a lead vocal on many hits including "i want you back." ♪ oh baby give me one more chance." >> people want to believe the jacksons are a family of very talented people, but really there was one very, very talented person. >> reporter: michael, desperately lonely, apparently sought the company of a handful of other people on earth who could understand his level of fame. he was, says sullivan, given the brush-off by jackie o. and princess diana. diana didn't want to be his friend. >> no, she didn't. you know, for lack of a better word, i think she was a little creeped out by him because of the intensity of his desire to be with her. >> reporter: in the book sullivan describes how various people, including michael jackson's wife, lisa marie presley, were beguiled by the

star's intelligence and charm. >> and developed a deep affection for michael that i didn't see coming. >> reporter: it seems that you've fallen for the michael jackson spell, as well. >> well, i hope that what i fell for was what was good about him. i don't think i ever was blinded to the aspects of michael's character that are not so attractive or that are questionable. the ultimate question is, did michael jackson ever molest a child? my conclusion is that i don't think he did. my answer is, probably not. i wish i could say conclusively, no, he didn't. i can't. there is -- there is a shadow of doubt, and i learned i had to come to accept that i was going to have to live with that, and i think anyone who is honest about michael will have to live with it too. >> reporter: i'm nick watt for "nightline" in los angeles. >> the king of pop. thanks, nick. just ahead, she took center stage on "dancing with the stars" tonight, and next kirstie alley tells barbara walters about the romance and the love of her life, john travolta.

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tonight on "dancing with the stars," kirstie alley took the stage dressed as an angel for a two-part in a routine that flaunted their naughty and nice sides, which are fair game and in a new book where she reveals the secrets of her past, including the famous old flames she told abc's barbara walters she still holds dear. >> in her new book, "the art of men," kirstie alley makes startling revelations. she shares the good, the bad and the ugly from drug addiction to her famously fluctuating weight to romances with john travolta, and a married patrick swayze. now 61 years old, the former movie and sitcom star has again thrust herself back onto center

stage. ♪ hallelujah >> reporter: kirstie alley is back, slim and sexy for her second spin on "dancing with the stars". ♪ i got some news for you >> reporter: from her debut last season, alley dropped more than 70 pounds. >> kirstie! i like what i see. >> reporter: the tabloids obsessed over her famously fluctuating weight. before you went on "dancing with the stars," you said you were broken. >> i did feel broken. i felt broken, and it did have something to do with men. i mean maybe there were people who wanted to have sex with me, but i certainly didn't want to have sex with them in that condition. >> reporter: then you did "dancing with the stars," and now the sex is good. >> now the -- >> reporter: alley has written about her love life including a new revelation about former co-star patrick swayze with whom

she starred on the tv miniseries "north and south." >> do you admire beauty? >> as a matter of fact, i do. >> though married to parker stevenson, kirstie fell for swayze, who was also married. >> we did fall in love with each other. >> reporter: he wanted you to get divorced and marry him for heavens sakes. >> i probably was more willing to break up my marriage, and i wasn't willing to break up his marriage. >> reporter: kirstie again tested the bonds of her marriage when she says she fell deeply in love with her on-screen husband john travolta in the film "look who's talking." >> i'm an instructor. i'm giving you your first lesson. give me your hand. put it on my stick. >> i'm not going to put it on your stick. >> believe me, it took everything i had inside, outside, whatever, to not run off and marry john. >> reporter: why didn't you do it? i mean he was single. >> because i feel like when you marry someone, you're supposed to work hard at it, and you're

supposed to make it work. >> reporter: there have been rumors that john travolta is secretly gay. this is a difficult question to ask. i love john travolta, so i wish him only good things. how do you answer that? >> i know john with all my heart and soul. he's not gay. i think that people think that's the supreme insult. he's gay, so i mean i see it all the time with men i know who aren't. >> reporter: kirstie and john have remained lifelong friends. now divorced from parker stevenson, she lives in this 20-room spanish mansion with her two children, 18-year-old lilly and 20-year-old drew and about 24 pets including 10 lemurs. >> you want to be hand fed. >> reporter: do you want to be married again? >> i sort of do want to be married again. i haven't met anyone that i would even really want to date, let alone marry.

it has to be someone who's funny and enhances my life in a big way. >> reporter: finish this sentence for me. >> okay. >> reporter: kirstie alley is -- >> wild. >> reporter: still? >> i think i'm wild. i consider myself very eccentric, and i could honestly be sitting here with you right now while there were ten cats jumping on the table and jumping on our heads. i think that's pretty eccentric. >> kirstie's book, "the art of men," in book stores now. thanks to barbara walters, and thank you for watching abc news. we hope you check in for "good morning america." they're working while you're sleeping. we're always online at abcnews.com. "jimmy kimmel live" is next. we'll see you here tomorrow.