(Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Bulgari)
As Joe Jackson is allegedly dying of terminal cancer, some of his children have been prevented from visiting with the Jackson family patriarch.
Jermaine Jackson told The Daily Mail Wednesday, June 20 that no one has been allowed to see his ailing father at his home in Las Vegas. A source confirmed Joe’s cancer to Variety.
“No one knew what was going on — we shouldn’t have to beg, plead, and argue to see our own father, especially at a time like this,” he said of his dad who has since been moved to a nearby hotel. “We have been hurting. We were not being told where he was and couldn’t get the full picture. Even from the doctor. My mother was worried sick.
“He’s very very frail, he doesn’t have long,” the 63-year-old son of Joe added. “The family needs to be by his bedside — that’s our only intention in his final days. It’s what any family would want, but some people around him think they know better…and they don’t.”
Joe’s wife Katherine Jackson and his daughters Rebbie and Joh’Vonnie Jackson — whom Joe had after an affair with another woman decades ago — and his granddaughter Yashi Brown, were able to visit the patriarch Tuesday after intense four-day discussions where his daughters begged to see their father.
The 88-year-old is said to have made a phone recording, which was allegedly heard in part by family members, with explicit instructions barring family — including Janet Jackson — from having access to him or his medical records.
A source close to him told the newspaper that those around Joe are “acting in his interests and no one else’s.”
“The Jackson family doesn’t have the capacity to deal with this on its own, so certain people are taking charge of the situation,” the insider continued. “It’s delicate… and not as black and white as people are making out. The Jacksons are now in dialogue with the people looking after Joe, and they are being kept informed.”
Still, a Jackson family member expressing some doubt said they want to know how the instructions from the recording was collected.
“He’s a proud man who is all about image — was he saying he doesn’t want anyone to see him like that, or was he saying he doesn’t want family near him?” they said. “Something is not right about this, and the family wants to have guarantees that they will continue to have access. I can’t believe we’re even having to say that.”
This is the latest health scare that Joe has suffered in recent years. In 2016, he was hospitalized after complaints of feeling ill. He’s also had a heart attack and series of strokes including one in 2012, several in 2013 and another in 2015. Joe, who sufferes from dementia, was also injured in a car accident last year.
