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Jackson’s parents trade barbs over son’s death

With the one-year anniversary of Michael Jackson's death just days away, the King of Pop's father, Joe, has opened up about his son's death and the status of Michael's children.
/ Source: Access Hollywood

With the one-year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death just days away, the King of Pop’s father, Joe, has opened up about his son’s death and the status of Michael’s children.

“I wanted [Katherine] to step in and go in and ... keep him cheered up,” Joe said of his wife and Michael’s mother, Katherine Jackson, in a video posted on News of the World’s website on Sunday. “She didn’t want to do that because she was afraid she was invading his privacy.”

He added that the pair fought over the subject — and that things might have been different had she gone to Michael as the pop star prepared for his planned “This Is It” concerts at London’s O2 Arena, which were set to kick off last summer.

Photos: Michael Jackson's Children

“We argued about that several times. ‘Katherine, if you don’t go see him, he won’t be with us too long,’” Joe can be heard saying in the News of the World video. “I thought he was looking kind of funny and frail a little bit. I told her, ‘This would have not have happened if you had been with him a while because he would have been more relaxed. By you being with him, things would’ve went much better than what they did. We gone lost our son now.’”

On Monday, however, Katherine’s attorney issued a statement to Access Hollywood, over her husband’s remarks.

Photos: The Jackson Family

“Joe Jackson’s statements and conduct toward Mrs. Jackson are outrageous,” Katherine’s attorney, Adam Streisand said. “The world knows Mrs. Jackson has always been a loving and caring mother and grandmother, and she had a very special relationship with Michael. The world also knows who Joe Jackson is and he seems bent on never letting us forget.”

Joe appeared to be in better spirits when he spoke about Michael’s children — Paris, Prince Michael and Blanket, revealing that they had spent time with Paris and Prince Michael’s birth mother, Debbie Rowe.

Photos: Michael Jackson's 'This Is It' Premieres Around The World

“The kids are doing fantastic,” he said in the video on the site. “Debbie Rowe [visited] the kids and the kids saw her. She brought them some gifts and things.”

However, he explained that the children went back to play with their cousins shortly after the meeting.

Photos: In Memoriam: The Stars We Lost During Summer 2009

“They said hello to her. They didn’t just sit up on her or lean on her. But they did acknowledge her and went back to playing their little games,” Joe said.

In News of the World’s article, which accompanies the video clip, the paper reported that Joe said, “They knew that she was their mother.” That quote, however, does not appear in the video posted on their website on Sunday.

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