Joe Jackson, the father of Michael Jackson, passed away this Wednesday at the age of 89, according to an exclusive report by the Magazine. The patriarch of the saga of artists was hospitalized in Los Angeles, suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer.
A few days ago, his son Jermaine confessed the problems coming to visit him. "The family needs to be by his side. That is our intention in his last days. We should not beg, beg, or fight to see our father, especially at a time like this. It hurts... My mother is very worried," said.
The daughter that the old man had as a result of an extramarital affair that lasted more than 25 years, has not had access to her father in all this time either. Finally, both his wife and some of his children and grandchildren were with Jackson until the end in the hospital, a man considered instrumental in the careers of both the 'king of pop' and the rest of his siblings, including Janet Jackson, but who the person in charge of Thriller did not forgive his system of discipline and physical abuse when he was little.
Jackson had had health problems for years. In total, he had suffered three heart attacks and had a pacemaker implanted. In addition, he was hospitalized in 2016 for a high fever problem, although he managed to recover shortly after.
Apparently, Joe said goodbye to his followers on social networks with the following text: "I have seen more sunsets than I have left to see. The sun rises when the time comes and, whether you like it or not, the sun sets when the time comes." Some words that have raised the suspicions of Paris Jackson, granddaughter of the deceased, who also said on the networks: "This is a beautiful tweet. But it bothers me to see whoever is in charge of this account taking advantage of this. My grandfather did not tweet this I'm not sure if he ever used this account."
A hazardous and controversial life
The former 'manager' of the Jackson Five was born in Arkansas in 1928 and married Katherine Scruse in 1949, with whom he had nine children (there was another, JohVonnie, he had her with a mistress he kept for 25 years). He was part of his own 'blues' band in the 50s, which did not succeed. When Michel was born in 1958, Joseph was working as a crane operator, Laura Novo reports.
More luck in the world of entertainment had his children. In 1964, the three oldest (Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine) founded the 'Jackson Brothers', which would become known as the 'Jackson 5' after the accession of little Marlon and Michael, who was barely five years old at the time. For Jackson and Scruse, this meant a way out of the poverty of Gary (Indiana, United States), the city where they lived.
The iron hand with which Joseph managed his children reached the point where he would not let them call him "dad" since he wanted them to be "tough boys", as Joseph himself pointed out in an interview in the ' New York Post'. Joseph abused his children physically and "wrecked" them with his belt buckle if they made mistakes on daily rehearsals (the latter, Michael acknowledged in an interview with Oprah Winfrey).
La Toya, one of the Jackson sisters, pointed out when publishing her memoirs that her father touched her inappropriately and accused him of having left her in the hands of representative Jack Gordon, whom she would end up marrying, who physically abused her regularly.
Michael, for his part, came to confess in an interview with Oprah that she was so afraid of him that she even felt physically ill at times when she saw him. Some tabloids even suggest that Michael's numerous aesthetic operations were aimed at ending any resemblance he might have with his father and other tabloid publications have toyed with the theory that Joseph's excessive control pushed many of the Jacksons to marry very young in an attempt to find any kind of relationship that would allow them to escape their father's sphere.
