MICHAEL’S LIVING LEGACY
Prince Jackson Testifies: ‘Nothing Will Ever Be The Same’
By Elizabeth Coady
MICHAEL JACKSON’S LEGACY EXTENDS BEYOND HIS MUSIC: HE LEFT BEHIND THREE CHILDREN WHOM he dearly loved and doted upon — and for whom he went to extraordinary lengths to protect from the public.
Now four years after the pop star’s death, Jackson’s composed eldest son Prince Jackson pulls back the curtain on his life growing up as the son of the famous pop star.
In 90 minutes of testimony today during Katherine Jackson’s wrongful death suit against concert promoter AEG Live LLC, the 16-year-old survivor says his father emphasized education, doing good in the world, and strove to protect them from a voracious public.
Jackson said his father made his children — Prince, Paris and Blanket — wear masks in public “so no one would know what we looked like so if we went out without him we could have a normal childhood.”
He also described the Neverland ranch as “a very homey place,” where his father posted inspirational messages and poems inside. One read, “When children play, tyrants cry, there is nothing to say.” Jackson opened his testimony with a presentation of private family photos and videos in a 15-minute presentation. And he said he and his siblings were only allowed to ride the amusement rides and visit the compound’s zoo on special occasions.
“My dad wanted us to remain humble,” said Jackson, who also revealed that he’s a member of the National Honor Society and the robotics team at the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks. When the family’s lawyer Brian Panish asked him if he wanted to become a performer, he deadpanned, “I can never play an instrument and I definitely cannot sing.” The jury reportedly laughed.
. “He would get off the phone, he would cry sometimes,” Prince said.
“He would say, ‘They’re going to kill me, they’re going to kill me.’
He also testified that his father “would cry sometimes” after getting off the phone with AEG executive Randy Phillips or his occasional manager Tohme Tohme. “He would say, ‘They’re going to kill me, they’re going to kill me.’ “
He also spoke of events of June 25, 2009, the day his father died of an overdose of the anesthetic propofol at his rented Holmby Hills estate. Jackson said he heard “screaming upstairs and went into his father’s bedroom. His father was laying halfway off the bed, eyes rolled up into the back of his head as his physician tried CPR,” the Associated Press reported.
Paris cried while his sister Paris screamed, and on the way to the UCLA Medical Center he said he tried to comfort his only sister. “I told my sister something that my dad always told us,” he testified, “that angels were still watching over him, and there had to be angels on Earth.”
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And when they arrived at the hospital, Dr. Conrad Murray appeared and told them, “Sorry kids. Dad’s dead.”
We just cried,” he said.
He also testified, “Nothing will ever be the same.”
