My Brother’s Dead. Who’s Got The Real Will?: The Jackson Family Fights Each Other For A Piece Of Michael’s Fortune
In stupid celebrity news this week, the Jackson family went crazy and began fighting each other for a piece of brother Michael’s fortune. Get ready, this is a long, convoluted story of forgery, kidnapping, custody, bitch slaps and right hooks to the mouth. But it’s Michael Jackson’s family, would you expect anything to be quiet and simple?
The Jackson siblings have suddenly gone batshit in a bizarre brouhaha over Michael’s will being fraudulent, their mother and MJ’s children supposedly being manipulated by a nephew of Papa Jackson’s — who is mama’s closest confidant/advisor/master manipulator — and the executors of MJ’s estate. Not to mention the millions pumped into it since the King of Pop’s death from a drug overdose in June, 2009, that has reportedly ballooned his fortune to 1 billion dollars.
MJ’s estate plan is a “trust-based estate plan,” which means that it has a “pour over” aspect – the will “pours over” the assets of Jackson’s estate into the hands of the Trustees of the Michael Jackson Family Trust.
It seems that five of the siblings, including Janet, Jermaine, Randy and Rebbie, signed, sealed and delivered a letter last week stating that Michael Jackson’s will was a forgery — the will that named Michael Jackson’s mother and three children the sole beneficiaries and custody of said minors to Katherine — and calling for MJ’s lawyers to step down as executors of the estate. They claim to have proof of this fraud and the abuse/manipulation of their mother, Katherine. The assertion that Michael’s will is a forgery come from the fact that on the day the will was supposedly executed and witnessed in Los Angeles, the King of Pop was actually in New York City at an event hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton‘s National Action Network where Michael spoke about his feelings toward Sony executive Tommy Mottola and the record industry. It was the weekend of July 5, 2002. There is video footage to support this claim and Rev. Al corroborates the story.
The brothers and sisters disseminated this new round of conspiracy theories accusations via the internet, just like any normal human with a family problem would do in 2012. Jackie, Marlon and La Toya Jackson did not sign the letter, nor did their parents. Tito Jackson originally signed the letter along with his outraged siblings, but has since disavowed himself of any involvement in the current family ruckus. It should be noted that the family members lobbing these latest slights are those allegedly left out of their brother’s will. I find this laughable considering that Janet Jackson has quite enough of her own money, so why would she need big brother Michael’s?
This whole kidnapping fiasco began with Katherine Jackson being whisked off by her daughter Rebbie to a spa in Arizona ten days ago, purportedly on doctor’s orders, for some rest and de-stressing amid the accusations of abuse by her advisors and the estate lawyers and to prepare for the impending legal battle. Apparently the medically dictated de-stressing consisted of no contact with the outside world, including the grandchildren she has sole guardianship of, which scared and infuriated them so much that Paris took to Twitter to voice her anger and threats if grandma wasn’t produced PDQ.
This, of course, went over like a ho in church with the feuding members of the family. The 14-year old teenager tweeted this soon after the letter from her aunts and uncles hit the interwebs:
Reportedly, all the tweets by the grandchildren and some of the adult Jackson family members over the last couple of weeks were orchestrated by Joe Jackson’s Machiavellian nephew, Trent. Along with a couple of other advisors, he is exactly who the Jackson siblings are trying to protect mama from. Interesting, no?
After grandma Katherine went “missing” and incommunicado, Paris tweeted her growing concerns and pleas for help, along with a message about Katherine’s doctor and her late father, Michael (On July 21, 2012, Trent filed a missing persons report on his Aunt Katherine which was later dismissed by the LA Sheriffs department):
The last tweet about grandma Katherine’s physician makes little to no sense, especially since her daddy was a proven prescription drug addict. And why would the doctor who testified FOR Dr. Murray be treating the mother of the son he supposedly murdered through malpractice? Like I said, it makes no sense. At all.
As time went on, Paris tweeted a sort of running tally of the days without grandma. And a vague threat to those who were keeping her “hostage” at the Arizona spa:
On Monday, Janet, Jermaine and Randy stormed through their mother’s front gate to get to the children as they were dropped off from school. Allegedly, the determined group rammed the gate down to get in to the compound. The confrontation with the children was caught on surveillance cameras and shows Auntie Janet attempting to rip Paris’ cell phone right out of her hands. This did not go well. It appears, according to the released tape, that both Janet and Randy Jackson were recording everything on their own cell phone cameras. Supposedly, the aunt and uncles were attempting to bring Michael’s children directly to their grandmother in Arizona. The children refused and there are reports that Auntie Janet — Miss Jackson, if you’re nasty — pimp slapped Paris and called her a “spoiled bitch”. To which Paris allegedly replied, “This is our house. Not the Jackson family house. Get the fuck out!” and slapped her auntie dearest back. I haven’t seen confirmation of this, but it could have happened. Janet was raised by a very abusive father, so it’s not much of a stretch. However, the video does not show the supposed altercation. Of course there is no audio, so who the hell knows what was said to whom.
Inside their mother’s home, and out of the view of the cameras, Trent Jackson allegedly got cousin Randy in a headlock and punched his other cousin, Jermaine, smack in the mouth! So much for the close-knit Jackson family they’ve always tried to play, eh? Then again, Trent is from Papa Joe’s side and we all know he isn’t a passive guy.
Wednesday, TJ Jackson, Tito’s 34-year old son, went to court to gain temporary custody of his young cousins citing his grandmother’s forced absence and the odd conversation he and the children had with her the night before. His guardianship of Michael’s was kids granted, for the time being, pending Katherine Jackson’s reappearance In Los Angeles. This did not go over well with the instigating siblings or Mama Jackson. Consequently, we were all subjected to an even more bizarre “press conference” by Katherine denying the kidnapping charges, decrying her grandson’s interim guardianship of the kids, her manipulation by anyone and the unauthorized dismissal of her nannies, maids, cook and security team while reading from a spiral bound notebook and flanked by her children, Janet, Jermaine and Rebbie. Regarding the loss of guardianship, Katherine said, ”The ruling in court today was about the guardianship, and I think it was based on a bunch of lies. But I have a good idea who’s doing that … who’s behind it.”
No questions were allowed by the ABC affiliate reporter and I doubt any will ever be granted. This whole situation gets more and more ludicrous by the day. I keep wondering what the next made-for-reality-TV bombshell will be.
Eventually, after what was likely a well-received reunion, the younger Miss Jackson tweeted her joy that grandma was finally home and an odd public apology for her “attitude” over the previous days:
Yesterday, Prince Michael, the eldest of Michael’s children, posted a bizarre rant — that was deleted, then re-posted this morning amid claims that his Twitter account had been hacked — about truth, being warned by his father about certain family members and a screenshot of a family text/chat proving grandma had been purposefully kept away from them. If any of this is true, it’s pretty damning. However, the fact that Prince did not include the entire chat gives me, and many others, great pause.
As more information is leaked out, the real reason for this family implosion is becoming clearer. And it’s not really hard to guess the answer: money. Apparently, both Jermaine and Randy Jackson have asked their brother’s estate to pay their back child support so they could avoid possible jail time. While this is not exactly shocking, the fact that both brothers owe child support to the same woman is shocking. Can you say sloppy seconds? They each have two kids with this woman — Alejandra Genevieve Oaziaza.
Both Randy and Jermaine were behind on their child support payments – the only way they felt they could pay it was through Michael’s estate,” an insider revealed. Jermaine’s kids Jaafar and Jermajesty and Randy’s sons Donte and Randy Jr. were moved into a condo in San Fernando Valley owned by the estate to help with the legal fees a few years back. But, despite that, Randy and Jermaine felt they needed extra help and they pleaded with the estate’s lawyer for help. They were concerned that they could face jail time or even more charges in fines for falling behind on child support. However, their request was shot down immediately as the estate has no legal obligations to Michael’s siblings,” the source said.
Although Radaronline states that the two were given the boot, a CNN story says that Mama Katherine intervened. When Jermaine got stranded in Burkina Faso, Africa last winter, because the U.S. would not let him back in unless he paid his back child support, she went to the executors and asked for the $91,000 Jermaine owed in child support. The estate only gave her $80,000, which Katherine then handed over to Jermaine. She apparently did the same thing for her son Randy. The brothers clearly feel that this should continue, and want mama to keep paying their child support and other bills.
The estate has had no such problems with Michael’s other siblings. Jackie Jackson has actually done work for them. Marlon and Tito each have jobs of their own, and long ago weened off the Jackson money teat. Rebbie’s husband, Nathaniel, has had a series of jobs including mail carrier, which is actually a good civil service job and used to be coveted in the current economy — until the financial problem of the U.S. Mail Service came out, that is. Rebbie’s son-in-law, Rex Salas, is a music producer. And we all know that Janet has her own fortune and is in no need of her big brother’s cash. So why is she siding with her deadbeat brothers on this? Could it be because she doesn’t want to have to support her brothers and their problems for the rest of her life? I think I’d get a bit tired if my middle-aged brothers thought of me as their personal ATM, too. Just sayin’.
WOW. Perplexed much yet?
Screw Jersey Shore and any of the Housewives, get those Jacksons their own reality show! I’d pay a dollar to see a good old-fashioned smack down from an original Motown family. It could be titled “My Brother’s Dead. Who’s Got The Will?” or “Give Me My Money, Bitches!“.
It’s reality television GOLD, I tell ya!
I truly feel sorry for the children and what they have been and are now going through. Being a teen is hard enough, adding the fact that they’re Michael Jackson’s kids and this newest family meltdown has to make it nearly unbearable. However, the older kids seem to be convinced that there was not a thing wrong with their dad and his death was a complete act of murder. I beg to differ. Michael Jackson had well-known drug addictions and his death, unfortunately, was inevitable considering the path that he put himself on. I only hope that Prince, Paris and Blanket will get the care that they are truly entitled to and will be told the truth about everything, not some fantasy made up by a not-so-forthright-adult to simply put on appearances. No child deserves a childhood filled with lies.
Category: Celebrities, The Free Range Stupid
Ill watch that reality show…They are a train wreck. Unforatnly those children have had to join in that chaos.