Rebbie Jackson on the kids and Michael
Rebbie, the first child of the Jackson family who will turn 60 next month, appeared on the Today Show. In her remarks, 10 months after their father’s death, she said that 13-year-old Prince, 12-year-old Paris, and 8-year-old Blanket are continuing to recover after the loss of their father. Michael raised his children with great care and plenty of education, and the Jackson family is following the same approach.
After Michael’s death, Rebbie canceled her stage performances and came from her home in Las Vegas to Los Angeles to help her mother, who is the guardian of the children, during this difficult time. She stayed three months in Encino and has now returned to her home.
Rebbie says that surrounding the children with family members and their cousins helps them come to terms with the truth of their father’s loss and heal from this pain. But at the same time, she admits that things are still very hard. Rebbie says that after Michael’s death, her children went through very bitter and difficult days.
“It was very difficult. It was very hard. But you can see that day by day the family members’ mental state is improving. It seems the kids are doing okay.”
She also says that the outcome of the Conrad Murray trial—where her brother is being prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter—will be of interest to everyone.
Rebbie is the most anonymous member of the famous Jackson family and entertainment dynasty. She says that in her teenage years, after her mother returned to work at school, she looked after her eight siblings at home.
Centipede—an acclaimed song with Michael’s help
She continued her music career from 1974 to 1998, and released her first album at age 34 in 1984.
The song that Michael wrote and produced for her titled “Centipede” (Millipede), which Rebbie released first as a single and then in an album of the same name, was Rebbie Jackson’s first and most successful work in the music world. The song reached number 4 on Billboard’s R&B Songs chart and number 24 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Michael and her sister Latoya sang in the background for this song. The album, which Michael produced several of his songs for and where he was one of the two producers alongside Vince Henderson, also went gold in sales.
“I have to say that at first it was very hard to listen to Michael’s voice, and it’s very difficult to avoid hearing it because everywhere—stores, television, radio, and so on—his music is playing.”
Nearly a year after her brother’s death, she says she goes to sleep with sadness in the middle of the night. She says that the family’s and her own efforts to get Michael to stop taking painkillers were unsuccessful.
Michael’s history of illness
From 1984, after an incident where his head caught fire during a Pepsi promotional shoot, and on a doctor’s orders, Michael turned to painkillers and was forced to take them for a long time. Throughout his career, and because of the difficulties caused by performing on stage and physical pains resulting from various fractures—back spasms, as well as a common condition known as “dancer’s foot,” which causes discomfort in dancers’ feet—he used pain medications.
In 2002, after he was bitten by a venomous spider, he had to use very strong medications for treatment.
He suffered from a disease that is a deficiency of the immune system (rare in America with a prevalence of 0.05%) called lupus, which causes many problems including skin damage and joint pain. He also had vitiligo, a rare skin depigmenting condition (1% prevalence worldwide), which, alongside lupus, caused his skin to become highly vulnerable and sensitive to sunlight. During the day, Michael used an umbrella and full coverage clothing.
He also suffered from severe insomnia, and according to his doctor’s prescription, Conrad Murray used sedative drugs, which ultimately led to Murray’s death at the hands of the doctor. After Michael’s death, his close ones emphasized that he took these drugs not to create a feeling of pleasure or euphoria, but to defend himself against the very severe pains.
Rebbie says that with time, she can now listen to Michael’s songs again, and with the resumption of stage performances she is thinking about arranging a tribute to her brother. She is also eager for the long-standing idea of the Jacksons returning to the stage—of course without Michael’s presence, but with his memory—to one day come true.
Source: eMJey / msnbc / NY Post