Michael Jackson #42 Waar we kibbelen over de kinderen

quote:

Have you spoken to Michael's children since their father's death?
"Yes, two days afterwards on the Saturday, I spoke with Paris who told me 'Mark, don't worry, Daddy has gone to live with the angels now. Can we still come and stay with you?' If anything, she was comforting me. Paris was incredibly strong and consoling and pleased to know that all of them are welcome to stay with us any time."

There have been reports that Michael is not their biological father. What do you believe?
"As Michael would say: 'More rubbish, Applehead.' I've steered clear of reading most of the tabloids because much of their information is incorrect and ghoulish, although I realise as much as Michael did that it sells newspapers."

How well do you know the children?
"We've spent many family holidays together and always managed to evade the press thanks to Michael isisting that his children should be protected from the media. That's why they wore masks; they didn't walk around in them at home, it was purely to avoid them being photographed. It meant that when they came to stay with us, we could go out without anyone knowing who they were and frequently did so. When they came over in March, we took them with my children shopping for clothes in the West End and visited a circus. Nobody batted an eye because nobody knew who they were. They loved it."

Do you worry about the children's exposure now?
"The children have led a sheltered life from the media but that's all. Otherwise, they've been brought up like ordinary kids. They squabble and bicker, usually Blanket giving Prince a thump, and have a great sense of mischief which Michael encouraged. I remember when we were all staying in the presidential suite at the Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles a few years ago and Michael and the kids filled about 40 balloons with water and were chucking them over the balcony. One landed on a man who'd gone to get the porter and who was pointing up. Michael leant over and lobbed a water bomb which landed straight on him."

What kind of father was Michael?
"I always felt he put me to shame a bit because he was such a hands-on dad. He often dismissed the nannies when we were all together and changed nappies, cut up the children's food and fed them himself. He was also hot on manners and the kids were taken to task if they forgot to say 'please' or 'thank you'.
As they got older, he'd play computer games with them, although he was a right technophobe! He could use a Playstation but didn't know how to turn on a computer and only just managed his mobile phone - he called me once to ask how to turn it off! He was always excited by Christmas and anniversaries and liked to make a big deal of them because he'd been brought up as a Jehovah's Witness where such things aren't celebrated. He over-compensatedreally by being extremely generous and lavishing gifts on his friends, including my family, but he was also a firm father with his kids. If they squabbled, he'd intervene and if they were very naughty he'd ground them."

Did Michael worry about the effects of his fame on the children?
"Yes, in the sense that he wanted them to be able to enjoy a childhood free of hassle from the media. You have to remember he grew up with that kind of publicity glare so wanted to protect his children from it and let them enjoy an ordinary childhood. He often held barbeques while we were at Neverland to which the families of his friends were invited. Marlon Brando's son has children who are close to Blanket, Prince and Paris. The children are also very bright and well educated by private tutors - Blanket could read and write by the age of four - but not brattish or snobbish."