Michael Jackson’s chimp Bubbles used to party with rock stars all night but new photos show him enjoying quiet retirement in Florida where he’s in bed by 6pm

He was known for partying hard and touring the world as Michael Jackson’s sidekick, but now chimpanzee Bubbles is living a quiet retirement in Florida.

As he approaches his 43rd birthday in April, he has become a shadow of his former self from nights of partying with Bon Jovi and now spends his days at the Center for the Great Apes in Wauchula, Florida, where he loves nothing more than spending the wee hours of the night.

The centre’s founder, Patti Ragan, shared the latest photos of Bubbles with the Daily Mail this week, saying: ‘Bubbles is aging gracefully.

‘Bubbles naps in the afternoon and usually sleeps until the early hours at 6pm, setting up her den for the night.’

When she’s not sleeping or eating, she said she likes to watch Disney’s Chimpanzee and paint.

“But his favorite activity is hanging out with his chimpanzee friends, eating food,” Ragan said.

‘He spends his days with his long-time chimpanzee family (Oopsie, Boma, Kodua and Stryker).’

The chimpanzee, who is around 50 in human years, spends his days being groomed by Oopsie and Kodua in the morning and wandering the sanctuary’s airways to see other chimpanzees and caretakers during the day, he said.

Bubbles has often been seen wearing human clothing. The chimpanzee currently lives at the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, Florida, and will turn 43 this year.

“Bubbles is aging gracefully,” the center’s founder, Patti Ragan, told the Daily Mail. He is seen at the center in the last photo the center shared with the Daily Mail this week.

The center said Bubbles had been at the sanctuary since 2005 after he was deemed ‘no longer fit to live around humans’.

The 185lb chimpanzee is the leader of the pack at the event, which is not open to the public and has a ‘calm and artistic presence’.

Despite his once public life, he is described as “shy and withdrawn” and spends most of his time on creativity ‘colourful works of art.’

‘He only delivers his canvas when he has actually finished it, and his expressive style sometimes goes beyond limits!’ the center said on its website.

Jackson got Bubbles in 1983, when the chimpanzee was just eight months old. Bubbles slept in a crib in the singer’s room and was often seen wearing human clothing.

At the age of four, Bubbles traveled to Japan with the King of Pop and even appeared in some of Jackson’s music videos.

In a 2024 interview, Jon Bon Jovi reminded Jimmy Kimmel that he partied with a chimpanzee at a hotel in Tokyo in the 1980s.

‘Bubbles come down and wreak havoc. “He crashes parties like a rock star,” Jon Bon Jovi told Kimmel.

In this latest photo, which the center shared with the Daily Mail this week, the chimpanzee, which is around 50 in human years, can be seen.

Bubbles has lived at the center since 2005 and the Michael Jackson Estate pays for her care

Michael Jackson took Bubbles on tour with him. Jon Bon Jovi recalled partying with a chimpanzee in a 2024 interview

Kimmel, a little confused, asked, ‘Wait, how did Bubbles get here?’ he asked. So Bubbles is loose in your room?’ Jon Bon Jovi said ‘Oh yeah’ to that.

She described how Bubbles was ‘jumping on the bed’ and ‘putting on a show’.

The Bad Medicine singer-songwriter went on to describe how Bubbles was “struggling.”

According to Jon Bon Jovi, Bubbles was partying in the room for a long time. It even got to the point where the hotel management threatened to kick the group out of the hotel.

And this wasn’t the first time he caused chaos. Actress Rashida Jones, whose father Quincy produced some of Jackson’s songs, was bitten by Bubbles when she was only nine years old.

In an interview with The New Yorker in 2024, he said: ‘I’m sorry, I was just sighing because I was thinking about how I got bitten by his monkey.

‘It was my fault. No, it’s not my fault. ‘I’m not the one putting a romper and a diaper on a chimpanzee.’

Bubbles is at the center with other famous chimpanzees such as Ripley, who starred in the movies Ace Ventura and Junior.

Bubbles spends her time in the painting in the sanctuary. Some of his works were sold

Bubbles (pictured in 2022) is also housed with other famous chimpanzees, including Ace Ventura and Ripley, who appeared in Junior.

Jeff Koons’ sculpture ‘Michael Jackson and Bubbles’ was painted at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 2014.

BamBam is also there and starred in the soap opera Nurse Precious for three seasons. He came to the center the year Bubbles came.

Jackson was forced to let Bubbles go after she started acting aggressively, but not before seeking help from famed primatologist Jane Goodall, who died aged 91 in October.

Goodall had visited her and later made an accusation that Bubbles had been beaten while under the Hollywood star’s care.

Bubbles’ care at the center is funded by the Michael Jackson Estate.

It’s unclear how much the estate contributes each year, but the center’s website estimates it costs $30,000 annually to care for each chimpanzee. The Daily Mail has contacted the Michael Jackson Estate for comment.

After Jackson’s death in 2009, Bubbles was rumored to have been given $2 million from the King of Pop’s will, but Ragan closed this out in 2019.

He wrote at the time: ‘The truth is that Bubbles’ name was not included in Jackson’s will.

Although Bubbles doesn’t seem to be coming out of retirement for the upcoming Michael biopic, it looks like the animal will be making an appearance.

Actress Lilly Colucci is currently listed on IMDB as playing a chimpanzee. The movie is planned to be released in April.