Jackson's children made ten morgue visits to see his body, reveals star's mother in first TV interview since his death

 

 

Emotional: Katherine Jackson said Paris was particular traumatised by her son's death in 2009

Michael Jackson’s three children went to visit their father’s body ten times in the morgue following his death, the singer’s mother revealed in her first TV interview yesterday.
The star’s daughter, Paris – who tried to commit suicide earlier this year – was
particularly traumatised by the tragedy.
‘She was screaming and crying when Michael died saying ‘I want to go with you daddy, I don’t want to live without you,’ said Katherine Jackson.
Speaking days after what would have been the King of Pop’s 55th birthday on August 29, the 83-year-old Jackson family matriarch added: ‘I was feeling so bad for her.
'Paris suffered a lot after his death. She had to have pictures of Michael all over her room. Every picture that was hanging on the wall had to be of Michael.’ 
Mrs Jackson, who has 26 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren, said all three children struggled to come to terms with their father’s sudden death in June 2009.
‘Michael’s kids went back to the morgue where Michael was about ten times. When I was in the room, I couldn’t go there,' she said, adding that she asked her daughter LaToya what the children were doing at the funeral home.
‘She said the children are all kissing and hugging Michael. Even though he is dead they are still doing that,’ she explained.
The grandmother said Paris is doing ‘much better’ after cutting her wrists and swallowing an overdose of pills in her failed suicide attempt.

The emotional interview was screened on the news show ’60 Minutes’ in Australia last night.
Mrs Jackson, who was appointed guardian for Prince Michael, 16, Paris, 15 and 11-year-old Blanket after their father died, is currently suing concert promoters AEG Live in a wrongful death civil suit in Los Angeles.

Grieving: (L - R) Prince Jackson, Blanket Jackson and Paris Jackson after ceremony honoring their father in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles 

The Jackson’s claim the entertainment giant was negligent in hiring Conrad Murray, the private doctor now serving four years behind bars for causing Jackson’s death by giving him an overdose of the anaesthetic drug propofol.
Mrs Jackson said it was ‘the worst day of my life’ when her son died.
‘I’ve never had that feeling before and I never want to feel like that again,’ she said.

Mrs Jackson defended her son over claims that he abused drugs and tried to surgically change his appearance

Despite her advancing years, she rejects claims that she’s too old to care for her son’s children adequately, but admits to doing some things differently.
‘I didn’t like Michael’s children wearing masks in public so after his passing I never put any on them,’ she said.
She said the vultures began circling soon after Jackson’s overdose. ‘People have been so greedy and have been taking things that don’t belong to them, and stealing things. All that happens when someone dies, especially when people think they have a lot of money,’ she added.
And she insisted she always believed in her son’s innocence in the face of claims that he molested young boys.
‘I know that Michael didn’t do it,’ she said. ‘I have no doubt.
‘I didn’t ask him but we talked about it all the time. We talked about a lot of things.’ 
She said it made her ‘angry’ that Jackson made a multi-million pound pay-off to the family of Jordan Chandler, one of his accusers.
Mrs Jackson also defended Jackson over claims that he abused drugs and tried to surgically change his appearance.
‘Michael was in a lot of pain so he was taking a lot of painkillers. Michael’s life changed when he was seriously burned doing the Pepsi commercial.
'It burned him so badly that his hair wouldn’t grow back at the top of his head and he didn’t like that part of it. That’s why he started wearing wigs,’ sher added.
‘People might think that Michael would over-indulge in plastic surgery but they don’t know what went on before. Michael also had a disease so the colour of his skin was changing.
‘I don’t know why people said he had too much facial surgery. He got his nose done so that being in the centre of his face would change how he looked but I don’t think he got too much done.’ 
She reminisced about how the singer refined some of his famous dance moves when he was still a child.
‘When he was a baby he used to dance to the sound of a washing machine. He used to dance to the rhythm of our old rickety washing machine so he started doing those rickety moves and dancing to the sounds,’ she said.
‘There will always be questions hanging in the air that I would like the answer to but I probably won’t get them,’ she said of the circumstances surrounding her son’s death. 

Katherine Jackson in first TV interview since Michael's death