[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/15/katherine.joe.jackson/art.jacksonparents.courtesy.jpg caption="An image of Michael Jackson and his parents was on the big screen during his funeral in Los Angeles."]
Lisa Respers France
CNN
Michael Jackson's upbringing was shaped by two very different parents.
His mother, Katherine Jackson, has been portrayed by her children as the loving glue that bonded the family together, while her husband, Joe, was the harsh disciplinarian whose iron hand not only shaped one of the most successful musical families in the world, but also elicited enough fear in his superstar son that it sometimes made him ill.
Now the couple of 60 years stands at the center of a custody drama surrounding their grandchildren.
Michael Jackson's will, filed in 2002, designated his mother as caregiver for Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and "Blanket," 7.
It is the latest installment in the many trials that have tested the Jackson family, not least of which has been the unexpected loss of its most famous member.
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Filed under: 360° Radar • Michael Jackson |
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As someone who suffered spousal abuse and divorced because of it; I fail to understand why she could have stayed married to a man like that and how she could have let him abuse their children.
Her family and friends praise her but I am wondering if she is a weak person afraid to take a stand.
I would like to know more about her.
I hope Katherine gets custody of the children but not with Joe. I can understand why Debbie Rowe might be trying to negotiate an agreement where only Katherine will have the everyday responsibility of raising the children and that Joe Jackson not be around them on a regular routine basis. Joe did Michael few favors; it would be criminal to put his children in the same sort of environment.
Joe Jackson is a sleazy person, I get very bad feelings from him.