Michael Jackson's Mother and Children at Oprah

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Michael Jackson's Mother and Children Share Memories

The Oprah Winf rey Sho w | November 08, 2010

It was an unassuming home. Nestled on aquiet neighborhood street in Gary, Indiana,

the small, single-story residence was made up

of nothing more than two bedrooms, a living

room and a kitchen—and a family of 11. Who

would have guessed that the close-knit group

living in the tiny house would soon become

one America's most famous families?

The Jacksons—mother Katherine, father Joe

and their children, Rebbie, Jackie, Tito,

Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, Michael, Randy

and Janet—lived in that four-room house untilthe early '70s, shortly after the five oldest

sons formed a singing group called the Jackson 5. Under father Joe's strict management, the

Jackson entertainment empire was born.

The Jacksons—mother Katherine, father Joe and their children, Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine,

La Toya, Marlon, Michael, Randy and Janet—lived in that four-room house until the early '70s,

shortly after the five oldest sons formed a singing group called the Jackson 5. Under father

Joe's strict management, the Jackson entertainment empire was born.

While with the Jackson 5, Michael, the group's rising star, began his solo career and releasedhis LP Thriller in 1982—to date, the best-selling album of all time. He became known around

the world as the King of Pop and, despite his tragic death in June 2009, is still recognized by

the Guinness World Records as the most successful entertainer of all time.

After the Jackson family became a household name, they packed up and moved into a new, 2-

acre estate in Encino, California, which has been their home since 1971. Today, 10 members

of the Jackson family live in the home, known as Hayvenhurst, including Michael Jackson's

mother and his three children, Prince Michael, Paris and Prince Michael II, who goes by the

nickname Blanket.

Sitting in the home the Jackson family moved

into 40 years ago, Katherine recalls some of

her fondest memories of her children growing

up within those walls. From Michael and

Randy writing 1973's "Dancing Machine" to

the children's frequent dance rehearsals, it's

clear that Hayvenhurst holds happy memories

for this family.

These memories are the subject of Katherine's

new book, Never Can Say Goodbye, a tribute

to Michael that includes personal stories

and never before-seen photographs from his

life. Oprah asks Katherine why she wanted to



share these stories with the world.

"I wanted to do it for his fans and for the people that misunderstood him," Katherine says.

"Do you think he was misunderstood?" Oprah asks.

"Yes," Katherine says. "I do."

Though Never Can Say Goodbye features

many images of Michael throughout the years,

Katherine says one image of her son as a littleboy is the portrait she has in her mind when

she thinks of him.

"I think of my son all through the day, all the

time, and I don't like to talk about him

because I get all choked up," Katherine says.

She pauses and continues, "A baby in my

arms, naming him with my mother. ... That

comes to my mind every day. ... And

sometimes during the day, I can hear his

laughter in my mind."

Michael had many different looks throughout

the years, and Katherine says he was insecure

about his features—insecurities that stemmed

back to his teen years. When Oprah

interviewed Michael in 1993, she says he

didn't want any pictures of himself as a

teenager to be shown. "He thought of himself

as ugly," Oprah recalls.

It's something Michael would say to Katherine

all the time, she says, but she wasn't able toconvince him otherwise. Then, one day,

Michael decided to do something about it. "He

made up his mind, and he just left [the house]," Katherine says. "And when I inquired about

where he was, [he said] he had gone down to get his nose done."

That surgery sparked a series of surgeries that seemed to transform Michael right before his

fans' eyes. His nose got smaller and smaller—"like a toothpick," Katherine says.

Katherine says she tried talking to her son about putting an end to the surgeries, but she

believes he became addicted and could not stop himself. So, Katherine says she reached out to

his plastic surgeon.

"I said [to Michael's plastic surgeon]: 'If he comes there and wants you to work on his nose,

just tell him you did it and do the same thing. Don't change it, and just tell him, 'Okay, I've

finished,' and that's it,'" Katherine says.

"But they didn't listen to you," Oprah says.

"No," Katherine says. "They should have."



In the midst of Michael's fame, scrutiny and

surgeries, he married Lisa Marie Presley in

1994. Katherine, along with the rest of the

world, was surprised by the nuptials.

"He called me after he had married her,"

Katherine says. "He said, 'I'm going to put her

on the phone,' and he put her on the phone. I

said, 'That's not [Lisa Marie].'"

"Had you met her before?" Oprah asks.

"No, I hadn't met her before," Katherine says.

Despite how quickly the relationship progressed, one thing Lisa Marie knew early on is how

much Michael loved his mother, even telling Oprah that his love for Katherine was

unconditional and there was nothing he wouldn't do for her.

"Did you feel that?" Oprah asks Katherine.

"Yes, I did," she says. "And everybody I talked to that knew him would tell me the same thing.

I felt it too. I truly loved him."

On the day Michael died, Katherine received a

phone call from her husband, Joe, telling her

someone had been taken from Michael's

house in an ambulance. That person was

covered with a sheet. At first, Katherine says,

she told herself it might not be her son, but in

her heart, she knew it was.

Then, she got a call from the hospital,confirming that it was Michael who had been

taken away in an ambulance.



Unsure whether he was alive or dead, Katherine arrived at the hospital and waited to learn

about her son's condition. "We stayed in there a long time before [the doctor] came in to tell

us," she says. "I guess he didn't want to either. But the doctor had to tell us—Dr. Murray."

Dr. Conrad Murray was Michael's personal physician. He's been accused of administering lethal

levels of propofol, a powerful anesthetic, and was charged with involuntary manslaughter for

his role in Michael's death.

"Dr. Murray told you?" Oprah asks.

"Yes," Katherine says. "He came out, and he was talking. It took him so long. And I'd say:

'Well, what's happened? ... Did he make it?' And he said: 'No. He's gone.' That's all I

remember."

Michael's three children, Prince, Paris and Blanket, were also at the hospital that night. While

Dr. Murray was telling Katherine of Michael's death, someone else told them. "They were

crying," Katherine says. "I thought [Paris] was going to pass out. She was just saying: 'Daddy,

I can't make it without you. I want to be with you. I want to go with you.' I felt so bad for

them."

That same night, the children went home with Katherine and have been living with her ever

since.

Soon after Michael's death, an autopsy

revealed that a lethal dose of propofol caused

him to go into cardiac arrest and die.

Katherine says she was shocked. She knew

Michael had trouble sleeping, but she didn't

know he may have taken prescription drugs to

help him sleep or get through the day. In fact,she says it took her awhile to realize Michael

became addicted to painkillers after he

suffered severe burns while shooting a Pepsi

commercial in 1984.

"Remember when he got burned in the head?" Katherine asks Oprah. "He had been taking

those drugs, and it was a long time before I knew he was addicted to them."

When she tried to talk to Michael about his painkiller addiction, Katherine says he denied it. "I

was very serious about it," she says. "I was telling him I didn't want to hear one day that he

had overdosed, because it would break my heart. But he kept saying he wasn't on anything."

"You didn't believe him," Oprah says.

"No," Katherine says. "I didn't."



Katherine always stood by her son's side even

when some supporters turned their backs. In

2005, Michael was on trial for allegedly

molesting a minor, intoxicating a minor,

abduction, and conspiracy to hold the boy and

his father captive at his home, Neverland

Ranch. Throughout the entire ordeal,

Katherine showed up in court every day tosupport her son. She never once believed he

could be guilty of molesting or hurting a child.

"He loved children," she says. "Michael would

always say: 'Mother, why are they accusing

me of something I love the most? I'd rather slit my own wrists than to hurt a child.'"

The trial seemed to take its toll on Michael, his mother says, changing who he was as a

person.

"He used to trust people," Katherine says. "And after that trial, he didn't trust anybody. ... He

would always tell me: 'Mother, I don't trust anybody. The only person I trust is you.'"Before taking in Michael's children, Katherine

says she had a good—but not close—

relationship with Prince, Paris and Blanket. "I

can't say that I knew them real, real well,"

she says, "But I knew them well enough. I

would always go visit them, and Michael

would always talk about them to me."

Katherine also says she did not like it when

the children wore veils while out in public with

Michael. "I didn't approve of that, but I didn't

say anything to him about it," she says."Then, their biological mother told me it was

her idea [to cover them up], not Michael's."

Going from this veiled life to living at their grandmother's with several cousins seems to have

been a relatively easy transition for Prince, Paris and Blanket. "They just bonded the minute

they got here," Katherine says. "They had a lot of fun."

The man by Katherine's side for the last 60

years—from their two-bedroom home in Gary

to their California estate—is her husband, Joe.

The two have been married since 1949.

Despite rumors of a troubled marriage, bothsay they are still together and have never

filed for divorce.

"She's a wonderful person," Joe says of

Katherine. "I think she's too easy with people.

She's just like Michael. She's too easy."

Like his wife, Joe says he thinks about Michael every night.

"I just can't picture him gone," Joe says. "Every time I go into some place—a restaurant or a

casino or something—his music is playing. ... It brings back memories because I remember thesongs. I was at every recording session he ever did."



During his interview with Oprah in 1993,

Michael talked about his complicated

relationship with his father. He even

confessed that he was scared of Joe, saying,

"There have been times when he's come to

see me, and I would get sick."

"Do you think [Michael] was afraid of you?"

Oprah asks Joe.

"I don't think he was afraid of me," Joe says.

"Maybe [he was afraid] of doing something

wrong, and I'd chastise him. Not beat him. I

never beat him."

"He told me that you beat him," Oprah says.

"[Joe] used a strap," Katherine says.

Joe says the way he disciplined his children has kept them out of trouble and out of jail. "Nine

kids, never been in jail," he says.

"Do you regret those strappings on your children?" Oprah asks.

"No, because it kept them all out of jail," Joe says. "I raised them right, and they were good

kids all the way."

In the Jackson family, a new generation of

talent is emerging with Katherine and Joe's

grandchildren. Prince Michael, Michael's

oldest, says he wants to produce movies and

direct when he gets older. Paris says she

would like to be an actress and reveals that

she used to do improv with her father.

Now that they live with their grandma,

Michael's children are adjusting to a new

"normal." Until this year, Prince and Paris

were home-schooled, and despite some first-

day jitters, they say the transition into the

classroom has gone well. Blanket, the youngest and shiest of Micheal's children, is still home-

schooled.

"You all lived, from what I can gather, a very sheltered, literally veiled life," Oprah says to the

children. "Did you know at the time why you were putting on the mask?

Prince answers: "Because then if we went out without our dad, nobody would really recognize

us."

"Did you appreciate being behind the veil or mask at the time?" Oprah asks.

"I appreciated it," Paris says.



The public may have been bewildered by

some of Michael's parenting decisions, but

Paris says she feels like no one understands

what a good father he was.

Paris' favorite memories of her father are

when the two of them spent quality time

together. "One time, we went on the roof [of

our house] when we were in Las Vegas, and

we just saw the Luxor lights," Paris says. "And

sometimes, he would take me to an art

museum because we both loved art."

Without hesitation, Prince shares his fondest memory of his father. "We were in Bahrain. We

used to wake up early and walk the beach—with Coca-Cola and Skittles or Snickers," he says.

Whether he was cooking breakfast for his kids—"He was a great cook!" Paris says—or

protecting them from media scrutiny, Michael left his children with a wealth of happy memoriesand cherished moments.

"He was just a normal dad," Paris says. "Except for he was, I would say, the best dad ever."

For the first time, Katherine Jackson opens up about her grief, grandchildren and her son

Michael Jackson.

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Michael Jackson's Mother and Children at Oprah