Michael Jackson's Fatherhood: New Details Emerge in Courtrooms

Michael Jackson's Fatherhood:
New Details Emerge in Courtrooms


Courtrooms have supplied the epilogue to Michael Jackson's
life.
They've provided the forum where his debts have been
settled, his final days dissected and his life depicted as a
cautionary tale.

In nearly four years of court proceedings, two juries have
watched Jackson come to life on video screens.
They've watched him spin, dance, and then disappear.
They've heard his voice, seen his handwriting and viewed
photos of his lifeless body.

His role as a father has been described in little more than
platitudes. Until now.

The jury hearing a civil case filed by the superstar's mother
— against AEG Live LLC, the promoter of Jackson's ill-fated
concerts — are experiencing details of a world previously
held under lock and key. They've heard of extravagant
birthday parties, secret family outings and the leg-clinging
devotion of his children.
Jackson shielded the youngsters from the public eye, home-
schooling them and often hiding their faces in public.

Away from the cameras, Jackson tried to create an
environment of love, attention and special moments for his
children, Michael Joseph "Prince" Jackson Jr., Paris-Michael
Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael "Blanket" Jackson.

The following are some of some of the stories they've told.
They present a portrait of Jackson as a father that
outsiders never saw.

The final month of Jackson's life was a busy time. There
were rehearsals for "This Is It," planning meetings and film
shoots for a series of mini-movies that would precede some
of his greatest hits at the London shows.

Jackson brought his children to the shoot for a "Smooth
Criminal" video that culminated with Jackson leaping
through a window while being shot at by Humphrey Bogart.

Alif Sankey, a backup dancer on the original video who was
working on the comeback concerts, sat next to Paris during
the shoot. The 11-year-old wanted to share a secret and
opened up her purse.

It was filled with candy, Sankey recalled. Jackson didn't
want his children to eat sweets, and Paris asked Sankey to
keep it quiet.

The dancer noticed something else inside the purse — tiny
picture frames with images of her father. "Her purse was
full of candy and pictures of Daddy."

Despite being home-schooled, there was no shortage of
companions for Jackson's children. Chef Kai Chase recalled
numerous pets in the mansion that Jackson was renting
while he prepared for his "This Is It" shows. There was the
talking bird, Siberia, who whistled at pretty women. The
children also had a chocolate Labrador named Kenya, whom
Chase bought a cookbook for so she could bake him treats
and a birthday cake. Two cats, named Katie and Thriller,
also roamed the house.

During opening statements of the civil trial, some of the
jury's first exposure to life in the Jackson home came from
footage shot on a Christmas morning several years ago.
Jackson's ode to his children, "You Are My Life" played as
jurors watched a video of a Christmas morning from years
ago of Prince, Paris and Blanket gleefully receiving their
gifts, which included the puppy, Kenya.

Chase had been working at Jackson's home for only a few
days when it came time to prepare for Paris' 11th birthday.
She wanted a Michael Jackson-themed party. All around the
dining room, posters of the King of Pop were hung
alongside album covers and other pictures. Jackson's hit
songs played as the family ate cheese pizza, hot wings and
banana splits, Chase recalled.

Paris' birthday cake was decorated with Lilo & Stitch, her
favorite Disney characters. But the festivities weren't over.
Jackson escorted the children into the backyard, where they
watched a private Cirque du Soleil-style circus, complete
with men on stilts and a woman performing in a giant
balloon. Chase watched from the kitchen window and later
described the scene as "the most beautiful expression of
love I've ever seen."

Jackson spent the final months of his life in a rented
mansion in the upscale Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles.
The mansion had all the amenities fit for a pop superstar —
a palatial entryway, staircase and parlor and in the
basement, a home theater and dance studio. The house
was a hub of activity, with security guards posted outside,
a pair of housekeepers, a nanny for the children and on
many days, a personal chef stationed in the kitchen.

Dinners at the home occasionally featured special guests,
including Jackson's personal physician Conrad Murray and
choreographer Travis Payne. But staffers and guests other
than Murray weren't allowed upstairs, where the bedrooms
were. When Chase wanted to prepare a soul food menu for
Jackson and his children, she wrote him a note in Magic
Marker and left it at the foot of the stairs.

AEG Live's lead defense attorney has pointed to the secrecy
of Jackson's upstairs lifestyle — where the superstar was
receiving nightly doses of the anesthetic propofol in his
locked bedroom — to support the company's contention it
couldn't have known about Jackson's drug treatments.

Having a stable home for his children was a major
motivation for Jackson returning to the concert stage, AEG
executives say. After his acquittal of child molestation
charges in 2005, Jackson had become a nomad, spending
time in various cities, including Las Vegas, often staying
with friends.

"He wanted his kids to have a permanent place to live and
a sense of community," AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips
recalled Jackson telling him during one meeting held while
the family was living in the guesthouse of a rich benefactor.
It was Halloween and the children darted in and out of the
rooms, wearing masks. Later that night, they'd go with
their father to a party at Elizabeth Taylor's home. "I felt
incredibly bad that this incredible star was at this point
where he couldn't buy a house," Phillips said.

Jackson was always a magnet for photographers and fans,
but he managed to sneak his children into a movie just
weeks before his death. The family and a few others went
to see the animated film "Up" at the El Capitan Theatre on
a touristy stretch of Hollywood Boulevard. They came in a
back door and remained in a private room while moviegoers
filed into the theater. When everyone else was seated, the
entourage, including his longtime makeup artist Karen
Faye, director Kenny Ortega and others, hit up the
concession stand. The group watched the movie without
distraction. "No one knew Michael was there," Faye
recalled.

Jackson and choreographer Travis Payne were scheduled to
rehearse one-on-one several days a week in the dance
studio that was in the basement of Jackson's mansion. It's
unclear how often the pair worked out, but when they did
they often had a companion, 7-year-old Blanket. He liked to
watch his father dance, Payne later recalled, and tried to
always stay close to his dad. During their workouts, Payne
said Jackson talked to his son, mentoring him.

Preparations for the shows meant that Jackson was
frequently out of the house at meetings, film shoots or
rehearsals. When he returned home, Prince, Paris and
Blanket would rush their father. "They would take off like
lightning," Chase recalls, "... and grab him around the
ankles and around the waist." They'd be hanging off of him,
not unlike a picture shown to jurors during opening
statements. In the photo, Jackson was handing Blanket,
then a newborn, to President Bill Clinton. Clinging to
Jackson's right leg was Paris.

When it came time for a science project, Paris settled on
studying snails. She enlisted Chase to help her find snails
in the mansion's backyard. The pair carried large flashlights
and found several of the slimy creatures and prepared to
bring them inside. Jackson was waiting for them.

"At this point, I knew I was going to get fired," Chase
recalled. The singer looked at the snails and had a different
reaction — he helped make them a home.
The snails ended up in jars made cozier by moss in the
bottom and tiny cocktail umbrellas. They lived on the
kitchen counter, not far from other reminders of the
children. Blanket's colorings hung on the refrigerator.

On a chalkboard where Chase would write out menus, Paris
scrawled a message that remained on the board the day
her father died. "I love daddy," the 11-year-old wrote.
"Smile, it's free."



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