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The secret turmoil of Michael Jackson’s grieving children can be revealed today by the King of Pop’s closest sibling.
Behind the closed doors of the Jackson family’s Californian compound, Prince, Paris and Blanket have been left shattered by grief at the death of their superstar father.
In a searingly honest interview, Michael’s sister La Toya confides that, four months after his death, each child is having counselling
to help them cope with their loss amid worldwide attention.
And she admits that while daughter Paris, 11, appears to be handling her heartache, the family are worried about the two boys.
Prince, 12, has bottled up his pain, refuses to talk about his feelings and can’t even bring himself to look at a picture of his dad.
And traumatised little Blanket, the youngest at seven, spends long periods sobbing, unable to comprehend that he’ll never see again the only parent he has ever known.
Speaking at a London hotel during a whirlwind visit to Britain, La Toya says: “Paris thinks and talks about her father all the time. She’s doing very well, writes a lot and she wears his shirts every day. They still smell of him and it helps her feel close to him.
“Her bedroom is covered in posters of Michael and she watches tapes of him all the time. After he passed, the kids went up to the house to get whatever they wanted.
“Paris took anything with a picture of her father on and brought it back to her new room at my mother’s house.
“She was so upset that she would never see her father on stage. She said, ‘Now I’ll never get the chance to see Daddy perform live’.
“Prince just doesn’t want to speak about it. He won’t even watch the DVDs – he just walks right past the TV. It’s too soon, too touching. I do worry about him very much.
therapy
“And Blanket is just a very sad, shy little boy. He cries – he really does cry. It’s so painful for him. No one can bring his daddy back and it hurts so much.
“They all go to therapy and I truly hope Prince especially will be able to open up.”
Routine, says softly spoken La Toya, has helped the home-schooled children deal with the horror of their dad’s death, currently at the centre of a murder investigation.
Michael’s mother Katherine, 79, is their legal guardian but the whole of the family have dedicated themselves to raising the children exactly how their father would have wished.
They’re even planning a lavish Christmas Day, the kind Michael loved, despite the annual festive celebration being against Katherine’s Jehovah’s Witness religion.
“They still have the same nannies so it’s the same routine,” says La Toya, 53. “They don’t watch TV apart from the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon and only for two hours a day.
“They’re with each other all the time. All of them are taught at home together, although they say Blanket goes to school upstairs because he has his lessons on the next floor.
“They never fight. Michael has preached nothing but love and, boy, did he instil right from wrong in those kids. He did an incredible job of raising them.
“They have so much innocence but are also highly intelligent. Prince especially knows everything about everything. He can tell you fascinating things about the moon in great detail or where certain rocks come from.
“Michael made sure they were always reading books and he was very particular about what they read. I’m not even sure if they read things like Harry Potter – it was always about knowledge and how that is key.
“We grew up Jehovah’s Witnesses and so didn’t celebrate Christmas. But I think it’s very important that Michael’s children celebrate it because that’s what he did with them.
“I want them to continue to have that. I’ve spoken to my mother about Christmas and she said she will be celebrating.”
The children were in the LA mansion 50-year-old Michael was renting when, drugged to the eyeballs with prescription medication, he collapsed with a heart attack on June 25. La Toya was one of the first on the scene and has played an instrumental part in supporting the children through the last few months – including their appearance at Michael’s memorial service, seen across the world.
La Toya adds: “Paris talks about her dad a lot, even little things. I’m terrified of cats and Paris has two kittens.
“She said, ‘Daddy told me you pretended to be allergic to cats when really you’re just afraid of them’.
“Or she’ll say, ‘Daddy says everything always has to be neat for you Auntie La Toya’. She remembers him all the time. I try to stay strong as they have lost their father. It’s like a bellyache that doesn’t go away.” The family know that Katherine’s age means she may not be fit enough to care for the children in the long-term.
La Toya, who has no children, would be more than happy to step into the breach.
She says: “According to the will, Diana Ross will be the guardian if anything happened to my mother. I know Diana would do a good job with them but I think the kids will stay in the family and I’d be more than delighted to look after them.”
La Toya brushes off any suggestions that the children’s natural mothers – whoever they are – might help out.
And she admits the family were baffled by ex-Oliver! star Mark Lester’s claims that he had donated sperm to Michael in the mid-90s and could be the father of Paris.
“My mother didn’t understand it,” says La Toya. “It was a very sensitive time to be bringing that up. Why not approach my parents for a private conversation? It’s interesting how many people suddenly want to be the parent.
“Thank God the children haven’t heard about it as they don’t watch TV. Do you know how many people in America have said they’re the parents? It’s amazing. All these women saying, ‘I’m the mother. I’m the mother’. Michael was always the father and the mother to those children.”
La Toya has vowed that they will never forget their famous dad. “The children will always remember him because the world won’t let anyone forget him,” she says.
“You will always hear his music and see his posters, which is wonderful. They’re young and may forget the moments he caressed them or disciplined them or took them shopping and the house which was filled with laughter. Sadly those memories will fade. But they’re surrounded by their cousins and they adore having all these children to play with.”
La Toya accepts they will now grow up in the public eye but, despite the problems fame and fortune created for Michael, she would support them if they wanted to pursue a career in showbiz.
La Toya, whose single Home is available on iTunes with profits to Aids Project Los Angeles, says: “Paris doesn’t know it but she has all the makings of a star. If she wants to go into showbiz I can see that happening. The boys like the idea of directing which is what Michael wanted to do.
“Kids are resilient. He gave them so much love and that is helping them.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news...michael-s-children-exclusive-115875-21769302/
