'I blame my wife for Michael's death'
In a world exclusive interview just 12 days before the first anniversary of the singer's death, Joe tells for the first time how he BLAMED the King of Pop's mum Katherine for FAILING to save him from the prescription drugs that killed him.
Joe Jackson blames wife Katherine for Michael's death
The shattering accusation emerged when the couple came face-to-face as Michael lay on a mortuary table.
"Katherine was weeping uncontrollably and highly upset. But I didn't give her a hug because I was MAD at her crying," snaps Joe, 80, who says he had spent months urging her to get the singer into rehab for his prescription drugs addiction.
"I said, 'If you had listened to me Michael would be living now!' I kept thinking about the times I had stood in front of her saying something was wrong.
"I couldn't bottle up my feelings. Katherine didn't say a word - I had to get away from her. If she'd done what I asked, Michael would be here today. I am incensed with her. She could have made a difference."
Worrying
But Joe also confesses that HE too failed his son as he opens his heart over the year of anguish the Jackson family have faced since the tragedy.
He tells how Katherine, 80, is still deep in grief while Michael's children Prince, 13, Paris, 12, and eight-year-old Blanket are recovering well from the loss of their father.
And he reveals that Paris and Prince have MET their biological mum Debbie Rowe, 50, for the first time since Jacko's death.
For years Joe - former manager of the Jackson 5 - has been painted as the demonic father of Jacko, regularly beating the star during his childhood.
But he still vehemently denies the accusations - and looked shell-shocked as he relived the worrying months leading up to 50-year-old Jacko's fatal heart attack on June 25 last year - brought on by an overdose of sleeping drug Propofol and a cocktail of sleeping pills.
Joe says: "I only saw him a couple of times in his last few months - and he looked weak, thin and like he needed to get some sleep.
"He really never had that glow in his eyes, which he had on stage. I didn't know that he was addicted to drugs, but something was wrong.
KIDS HE LOVES: Paris, Prince and Blanket
"I booked him an appointment to see my doctor, but when I said 'Let's go' he made some story that he had his own doc and they said he was OK. "When I asked him what was up - he said he was fine, but if I pressed him, he'd walk out of the room or disappear. It was very frustrating."
Meanwhile Jacko was growing more and more paranoid. "He kept saying he was going to be killed, and was afraid he would be shot on stage," says Joe. "He always told us, 'They are after my music catalogue', but he never said who he meant."
Joe's worries for his son had only increased after Jackson agreed a £25 million comeback deal with concert promoters AEG in December 2008 for his comeback This Is It shows in London the following summer.
He kept saying he was going to be killed
When they increased the number of shows they wanted him to do from 15 to 50, Joe says his distressed son asked him to get his workload reduced because he feared exhaustion.
So Joe met AEG boss Randy Phillips to fight his corner at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
"Michael told me he had signed for just 15 shows, but was doing 50, and it was too much in one go," says Joe. "I warned Randy that Michael would be pushed to the edge. I got angry and started shouting, but Michael and his mother just sat in the corner laughing out loud.
PARANOID: Jackson was afraid he would be shot on stage
"Just like Katherine, he couldn't cope with confrontations. Randy said he would look into these things, but nothing ever happened.
"After that I left the room, and I said goodbye to Michael. I told him I'd speak to him soon - but I never did. It was the last time I saw him.
"I wish I had made him walk away from those shows. I knew he would never make them, but I never thought he'd die." Just after midday on June 25 last year, Joe took a call at his Las Vegas home as he watched the TV news.
"It was a fan who told me Michael was being carried out of the house on a stretcher. Then it came on the news saying that he had a heart attack," says Joe.
"I knew I needed to get to LA. But on the way I found out by phone from La Toya he had passed in the car. I felt numb and unreal."
Devastated Joe headed to the Jackson family compound in Encino as other members said their final goodbyes to the King Of Pop in the emergency room of the UCLA hospital in Westwood. "I didn't want to see Michael laid out on the slab like that - that was not how I would want to remember him," he says.
"I didn't shed any tears, but maybe I should have. I just felt furious that my son was gone."
And he focused that fury on Katherine. "In Michael's final months alive I said to her many times that I couldn't get through to him - and that she needed to help her son," storms Joe.
CONFRONTATION: Furious Joe told crying Katherine she could have saved their superstar son
"I had begged her to go over and stay with him, but she insisted he needed his privacy and gave him the slack she thought he needed. A child will listen to his mother more than his father - and Michael was a mummy's boy. He listened to her.
"I still haven't been able to talk about it to her as she doesn't want to hear what I have to say."
Joe says Katherine has not recovered from her son's death.
"She is a shell of the woman she was. She has headaches, can't sleep and won't deal with these problems - like Michael she would rather run away."
But Michael's children are going from strength to strength. "They adored their daddy - but they have recovered well. The first few months were hard, but now they are enjoying their life in Encino," says Joe. "Michael made sure they had a strict upbringing, and made sure they studied hard and were only allowed to watch TV at weekends.
"He was a great, but strict father. Now those kids are the smartest and Michael's trained them to be aware of the world and its perils."
The children adored their daddy, but they've recovered well
He adds: "We have given them more freedom and they seem to love it. They now have TVs and computers. Paris is the leader of them. She is growing up fast and has to be watched closely.
"I am pretty sure she can be anything she wants to be. Like all the Jacksons she has that showbiz gene.
"Prince is quieter, but every time I see him he has a different musical instrument in his hand. Blanket is the most like his dad.
"When I look at him he reminds me of what my son was like at that age. Just like Michael he can dance good too. It's possible they'll go into showbusiness. It would make Michael proud."
Proud
He reveals that Paris and Prince met their biological mum Debbie Rowe, 50, earlier this year for the first time since Jacko's death.
"Debbie came over with some presents and talked with the kids. They knew that she was their mother, but didn't make a big fuss," he says.
"It was all done in about ten minutes, but it was a good meeting. Whatever has been said, nobody has stopped Debbie from seeing the children. Katherine and she have a good relationship."
Now Joe is busy battling for justice for his son whose doctor Conrad Murray, 56, was charged with manslaughter last February.
He has already filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Houston- based doctor Jackson handpicked for his tour medical duties.
And he is taking legal action against concert firm AEG as well as challenging lawyers over Jackson's 2002 will which gave Katherine 40 per cent of Michael's estate.
"She still hasn't seen a dime. Michael looked after Katherine throughout her life - he would be disgusted by this," says Joe.
He claims he also blames himself for Michael's death. "I tried to help Michael, but I feel I could have been more aggressive in getting access to him," he says.
"Only once did I shed a tear for him and that was in the Bahamas collecting an award for him. When his songs came on I just choked up and tears ran down my face. I was surprised by that.
"I feel more anger that he is dead. He won't rest in peace until I find out what really happened."
Joe remains unaffected by the public's perception of him as an unemotional, callous tyrant.
Unhappy Michael fired him as his manager, admitting he made him faint with fear and never felt any love.
But Joe says: "I don't know why Michael said those things. If I wasn't strict Michael may have ended up in street gangs as a kid. I put an awful lot of work into getting him developed for show business.
"He knew I loved him. I regret that I didn't say goodbye properly. I want his legacy to live forever."
Source & video at: <!-- m -->http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/showbiz ... death.html<!-- m -->
Joe Jackson blames wife Katherine for Michael's death
The shattering accusation emerged when the couple came face-to-face as Michael lay on a mortuary table.
"Katherine was weeping uncontrollably and highly upset. But I didn't give her a hug because I was MAD at her crying," snaps Joe, 80, who says he had spent months urging her to get the singer into rehab for his prescription drugs addiction.
"I said, 'If you had listened to me Michael would be living now!' I kept thinking about the times I had stood in front of her saying something was wrong.
"I couldn't bottle up my feelings. Katherine didn't say a word - I had to get away from her. If she'd done what I asked, Michael would be here today. I am incensed with her. She could have made a difference."
Worrying
But Joe also confesses that HE too failed his son as he opens his heart over the year of anguish the Jackson family have faced since the tragedy.
He tells how Katherine, 80, is still deep in grief while Michael's children Prince, 13, Paris, 12, and eight-year-old Blanket are recovering well from the loss of their father.
And he reveals that Paris and Prince have MET their biological mum Debbie Rowe, 50, for the first time since Jacko's death.
For years Joe - former manager of the Jackson 5 - has been painted as the demonic father of Jacko, regularly beating the star during his childhood.
But he still vehemently denies the accusations - and looked shell-shocked as he relived the worrying months leading up to 50-year-old Jacko's fatal heart attack on June 25 last year - brought on by an overdose of sleeping drug Propofol and a cocktail of sleeping pills.
Joe says: "I only saw him a couple of times in his last few months - and he looked weak, thin and like he needed to get some sleep.
"He really never had that glow in his eyes, which he had on stage. I didn't know that he was addicted to drugs, but something was wrong.
KIDS HE LOVES: Paris, Prince and Blanket
"I booked him an appointment to see my doctor, but when I said 'Let's go' he made some story that he had his own doc and they said he was OK. "When I asked him what was up - he said he was fine, but if I pressed him, he'd walk out of the room or disappear. It was very frustrating."
Meanwhile Jacko was growing more and more paranoid. "He kept saying he was going to be killed, and was afraid he would be shot on stage," says Joe. "He always told us, 'They are after my music catalogue', but he never said who he meant."
Joe's worries for his son had only increased after Jackson agreed a £25 million comeback deal with concert promoters AEG in December 2008 for his comeback This Is It shows in London the following summer.
He kept saying he was going to be killed
When they increased the number of shows they wanted him to do from 15 to 50, Joe says his distressed son asked him to get his workload reduced because he feared exhaustion.
So Joe met AEG boss Randy Phillips to fight his corner at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
"Michael told me he had signed for just 15 shows, but was doing 50, and it was too much in one go," says Joe. "I warned Randy that Michael would be pushed to the edge. I got angry and started shouting, but Michael and his mother just sat in the corner laughing out loud.
PARANOID: Jackson was afraid he would be shot on stage
"Just like Katherine, he couldn't cope with confrontations. Randy said he would look into these things, but nothing ever happened.
"After that I left the room, and I said goodbye to Michael. I told him I'd speak to him soon - but I never did. It was the last time I saw him.
"I wish I had made him walk away from those shows. I knew he would never make them, but I never thought he'd die." Just after midday on June 25 last year, Joe took a call at his Las Vegas home as he watched the TV news.
"It was a fan who told me Michael was being carried out of the house on a stretcher. Then it came on the news saying that he had a heart attack," says Joe.
"I knew I needed to get to LA. But on the way I found out by phone from La Toya he had passed in the car. I felt numb and unreal."
Devastated Joe headed to the Jackson family compound in Encino as other members said their final goodbyes to the King Of Pop in the emergency room of the UCLA hospital in Westwood. "I didn't want to see Michael laid out on the slab like that - that was not how I would want to remember him," he says.
"I didn't shed any tears, but maybe I should have. I just felt furious that my son was gone."
And he focused that fury on Katherine. "In Michael's final months alive I said to her many times that I couldn't get through to him - and that she needed to help her son," storms Joe.
CONFRONTATION: Furious Joe told crying Katherine she could have saved their superstar son
"I had begged her to go over and stay with him, but she insisted he needed his privacy and gave him the slack she thought he needed. A child will listen to his mother more than his father - and Michael was a mummy's boy. He listened to her.
"I still haven't been able to talk about it to her as she doesn't want to hear what I have to say."
Joe says Katherine has not recovered from her son's death.
"She is a shell of the woman she was. She has headaches, can't sleep and won't deal with these problems - like Michael she would rather run away."
But Michael's children are going from strength to strength. "They adored their daddy - but they have recovered well. The first few months were hard, but now they are enjoying their life in Encino," says Joe. "Michael made sure they had a strict upbringing, and made sure they studied hard and were only allowed to watch TV at weekends.
"He was a great, but strict father. Now those kids are the smartest and Michael's trained them to be aware of the world and its perils."
The children adored their daddy, but they've recovered well
He adds: "We have given them more freedom and they seem to love it. They now have TVs and computers. Paris is the leader of them. She is growing up fast and has to be watched closely.
"I am pretty sure she can be anything she wants to be. Like all the Jacksons she has that showbiz gene.
"Prince is quieter, but every time I see him he has a different musical instrument in his hand. Blanket is the most like his dad.
"When I look at him he reminds me of what my son was like at that age. Just like Michael he can dance good too. It's possible they'll go into showbusiness. It would make Michael proud."
Proud
He reveals that Paris and Prince met their biological mum Debbie Rowe, 50, earlier this year for the first time since Jacko's death.
"Debbie came over with some presents and talked with the kids. They knew that she was their mother, but didn't make a big fuss," he says.
"It was all done in about ten minutes, but it was a good meeting. Whatever has been said, nobody has stopped Debbie from seeing the children. Katherine and she have a good relationship."
Now Joe is busy battling for justice for his son whose doctor Conrad Murray, 56, was charged with manslaughter last February.
He has already filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Houston- based doctor Jackson handpicked for his tour medical duties.
And he is taking legal action against concert firm AEG as well as challenging lawyers over Jackson's 2002 will which gave Katherine 40 per cent of Michael's estate.
"She still hasn't seen a dime. Michael looked after Katherine throughout her life - he would be disgusted by this," says Joe.
He claims he also blames himself for Michael's death. "I tried to help Michael, but I feel I could have been more aggressive in getting access to him," he says.
"Only once did I shed a tear for him and that was in the Bahamas collecting an award for him. When his songs came on I just choked up and tears ran down my face. I was surprised by that.
"I feel more anger that he is dead. He won't rest in peace until I find out what really happened."
Joe remains unaffected by the public's perception of him as an unemotional, callous tyrant.
Unhappy Michael fired him as his manager, admitting he made him faint with fear and never felt any love.
But Joe says: "I don't know why Michael said those things. If I wasn't strict Michael may have ended up in street gangs as a kid. I put an awful lot of work into getting him developed for show business.
"He knew I loved him. I regret that I didn't say goodbye properly. I want his legacy to live forever."
Source & video at: <!-- m -->http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/showbiz ... death.html<!-- m -->
Comments
Or did they put in in the article? <!-- s:| -->:|<!-- s:| -->
A great way to twist the truth.
Its newsoftheworld they twist words and stories and why do they call them Jacko again?
<!-- s:x -->:x<!-- s:x -->
Im worried about Katherine. I think she might die of a broken heart soon. <!-- s:? -->:?<!-- s:? -->
I too worry about Katherine. An 80 year old woman does not need to deal with all of this stress. I keep her in my prayers.
Im beginning to believe less and less in the hoax. Sorry. Im beginning to accept it in my heart now that he has died. I wont leave the site, i will keep investigating.
But this is heartbreaking and so real. Its clear the family is grieving and its causing all this upset.
Joe is a strong man. He speaks his mind. I have no doubt that he tried in some way to steer Michael away but at 80 years old he had little hope.
Katherine has always seemed to brush things under the carpet and not face up to situations. She never left Joe even though he repeatedly cheated on her during their marriage. Michael was like his mother.. he couldnt do confrontation. Joe was like the antithesis to them both. Thats why Michael struggled with his relationship with his father. The two struggled to understand each other, but i think they loved and respected each other deep down.
Joe has explained here why his behaviour has been off... he is a grieving man dealing with the situation his way.
Also... interesting how he confirms Michael was insistent that someone was trying to kill him for his catalogue. He says paranoid... but its not paranoia if its the truth.
I dont know guys.. i really think Katherine is in danger of going under. She is struggling.
Yeah, but its called grieving and part of that process is anger... you have to go through these stages to understand your own emotions and figure out how to get through the pain and loss. Its not unusual, which is why this feels real to me. <!-- s
His words in the video are "i said to her, Katherine if you dont go and see him, he aint going to be with us for too long. I told her this would never have happened if you had went had been with him Why? Because he would have been more relaxed and maybe.. by you being with him things would have been much better than they did. We gone lost our son now."
He doesnt specifically say those words in the headline, but its a tabloid and they use those words to grab your attention.. its how it works. The video is a bit short, it would be nice to see the whole thing.
But what he does say, sounds like blame to me! He is definitely deferring blame onto Katherine.
Ok.. i think this is worded in such a way as to infer that.. but actually it doesnt say that Joe saw him on the mortuary table.
These are the words: The shattering accusation emerged when the couple came face-to-face as Michael lay on a mortuary table.
It doesnt mean that they came face to face in the same room as Michael in the mortuary.. it means that they came face to face and had an argument WHILST MJ was on a mortuary table...
as in Michael had died, and then Joe and Katherine had an argument elsewhere... not at the mortuary.
I hope i have explained that clearly enough and you understand??
Its like saying "the couple came face to face after Michaels death" but they have used the imagery of the mortuary slab to add sensationalism. Its all about reading between the lines with the tabloids as they word things a bit slyly.
It says this later in the article, which confirms what Joe had said before about not seeing the body:
Devastated Joe headed to the Jackson family compound in Encino as other members said their final goodbyes to the King Of Pop in the emergency room of the UCLA hospital in Westwood. "I didn't want to see Michael laid out on the slab like that - that was not how I would want to remember him," he say
i really don't know what to say about all this!!..so much...
i will only state what i know for fact...at least where i worked at different hospitals and had to deal with very ill children of all ages even adults..
the main things that stands out in my mind is that they seen him at the mortuary on the slab..i have never in my life seen a family view a loved one that has passed inside the mortuary or on the slab..they never let the family in the room..since there is usually more then one passed person there..for identification with a loved one sometimes they take a picture from the face up and show the family or some do have a window with a curtain that can be open and the passed person is moved close to the window but very few have the windows..for missing persons that are DOA that go straight to the mortuary pretty much the above still applies..
in the hospital from the ER or from the regular floors in the hospital..when one passes if the patient has family in the room or lounge area ..if they are still working on the patient no family is allowed in the room..if they can not revive the patient but the patient is on life support they will allow the family back into the room after the Dr has spoke with them about there options ..like to keep on life support or such..but they do cover up the patient with the hospital blanket up to the neck area and pick up the room so the family does not see the efforts that the staff has done to try and save a life (most things when saving a life gets thrown on the floor at times) until the whole family is there (if available) then the family can come into the room and have there time..and are able to be there if they wish to when and if the person is on life support to remove the patient off life support ..but not on no slab or in the mortuary table..
about how Michael is strict and from what they are saying on here they have given the kids more freedom they have computers and TV...and Paris has to be watched closely..
this is just my thoughts on this
as we all can tell by the youtube videos that they do use the computers (idk if that is a good thing with out having an adult next to them being so young or parent controls set) and Paris has to be watched closely..hmm..
huggs to all
keep the faith!!
suzz
is this from a trash mag??!!!
I think Joes turn of phrase of "slab" is just how he speaks.. i would probably say that... he didnt go, so thats the imagery of the situation he had in his head.
Yeah, well i add extra weight to this one because they have a video of Joe actually saying some of these things. Money is his motivation because he would have been paid for this, but because they have that video we cant say that they just made the whole thing up.
"It was a fan who told me Michael was being carried out of the house on a stretcher. Then it came on the news saying that he had a heart attack," says Joe.
Now this is another stuff up because on Larry King, Joe states he found out by a fan. He also stated he didn't watch the news on the TV.
I believe the most important part here is "Michael Jackson thought he would be shot or killed on stage"
This is really relevant. Could have something to do with the allleged "Terrorist Attack Threat" against him and London.
We need to find out Who Made These Threats??? And from that, we have our answer as to why he had to fake his death.
Recently, all we keep hearing from friends and family, is that Michael feared for his life.
How many more times do we have to hear that before the general public see the truth..
That's what I thought of when I was reading the article..
Joe does not shed a tear when her son "was gone "...... <!-- s8-) -->8-)<!-- s8-) -->
Michael and his mother sat in a corner laughing ..... <!-- s
Michael ?,.... killed on stage this reminds me of John Lennon, killed by a "crazy fan" <!-- s:geek: -->:geek:<!-- s:geek: -->