Barbara Walters’ Patrick Swayze interview: heartbreaking, heartwarming
In case you missed it, the love story was lovely, but true to Barbara’s unique style, it was tough to watch without crying (and not in a fraudy Glenn Beck kind of way, either.) Here’s the link to ABC’s site, where you can see clips.
There goes the 80s … Patrick Swayze dead at 57
Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, now Patrick Swayze? Yep. My childhood is dead. Swayze was an icon of the 80s and early 90s, between “The Outsiders,” “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost,” (and even “Road House,” and was so inculcated into the culture for Gen Xers, the Wu Tang Clan and hip-hop fans turned his last name into an adjective (ironically, “I’m Swayze” means “I’m gone.”) Now, the actor, who bravely fought both disease and premature rumors of his demise, has passed away at the same age my mother did – 57. Cancer is a bitch.
Read tributes from his friends and colleagues here.
Run, Janet Jackson … run!!!
Diane Dimond’s troubling, sad report for The Daily Beast raises the question: can Janet Jackson prevent herself from replacing Michael as her family’s meal ticket?
Conrad Murray’s business ‘all in the street’
From his 1994 arrest (and mugshot, above) to his serious financial woes, Michael Jackson’s personal doctor, Conrad Murray is the center of attention for all the wrong reasons. The UK Mirror supplies the I-candy, and the background:
This is Michael Jackson’s personal physician in a mugshot taken when he was arrested on domestic violence charges in 1994.
Dr Conrad Murray stood trial over an incident involving his thengirlfriend, but was cleared.
But he has also been ordered to jail twice for non-payment of child support for a son he fathered in California with nurse Nenita Malibiran.
Meanwhile, what do you think are the odds that Jackson’s very telegenic personal chef, Kai Chase, who was in the home on the morning Jackson died, is about to become the next Bravo or Food Network superstar? Wouldn’t you love to be the agent or publicist earning a commission on promoting her career?
And there apparently is a second chef, whose accounts are adding to speculation about Murray’s role in Jackson’s life (and death).
Debbie Rowe’s final kiddie fire sale: $4 million
Reports say the Jackson family has finally determined the price of ridding themselves of Debbie Rowe, the self-described “thoroughbred” Michael Jackson’s two oldest children rode in on. Debbie will reportedly get $4 milion to drop any custody fight that would keep Prince and Paris Jackson out of the custody of their grandmother. From the New York Post:
Lawyers for both sides tried to spin it that no money had changed hands, but in a carefully worded statement, the family admitted yesterday they would continue paying her dough promised to her by Jacko — a verbal contract that died with him. “The parties have neither sought nor agreed to any compensation to be exchanged, apart from the continuation of spousal support payments that had previously been personally agreed to between Michael Jackson and Deborah Rowe,” lawyers for both sides said.
The Post first reported the $4 million settlement two weeks ago.
Sources said Rowe, who was left nothing in Jacko’s will, claimed the pop icon had been paying her $1 million a year, but she had no written proof of the arrangement, so Jackson’s brothers argued they try to ice her out. Even the family’s lawyers argued they had grounds to fight it, but Jacko’s mother, Katherine, 79, decided to give Rowe what she wanted to make her go away for good, the sources said. “They just want to get rid of her. They recognized early in this process that she had no interest in playing a real role in their lives and that it was all about money,” one source said. In the end, the family agreed to fork over several hundred thousand dollars a year for a fixed period.
Katherine will remain the guardian of Prince, 12, and Paris, 11, and Rowe will be allowed supervised visits.
The Post claims that Rowe’s erstwhile pledge to fight for custody of her children was really about pressuring the family to keep on paying. The Superficial concurs on the money, and adds that Rowe also poked her head up so as not to look like she abandoned the kiddies altogether.
Meanwhile, TV One pimps its softball interview with MJ’s insane father Joe Jackson for all its worth (even getting its interviewer booked on CNN), complete with a phony “choke up” and claims that 25-year-old Norwegian rapper Omar Bhatti really is Jackson’s love child. The lead-in says it all:
Meet the real Joe Jackson — beyond the rumors, beyond the stereotypes, beyond the usual answers to the typical questions.
In a joint NewsOne/TVOne exclusive, Joe Jackson reveals more than ever before of himself and his relationship with his late son Michael. Joe Jackson talks candidly with NewsOne’s Smokey Fontaine about:
- … the young man, Omer Bhatti, who has been rumored to be Michael Jackson’s biological child
- …Michael’s death, and how his son would be alive today if he had been there for him
- …Michael’s grandfather, “Professor Jackson,” who was, in many ways, Michael’s inspiration
Cue the violins. Problem: Omer Bhatti has an opinion on the matter of who his father is, and he says it’s NOT Michael Jackson. One would think TV One/”News” One would be more skeptical of claims by Joe, who had approximately zero relationship with his son.
Previous: How to ditch a gold digger
More: Michael Jackson’s death
Conrad Murray’s Michael Jackson problem
UPDATE 8/1: Reports say Dr. Murray deep, deep in debt.
He skeedaddled, and quick, after the King of Pop died, and has only spoken out through his attorney. Now we may be finding out why. The Mirror UK tabloid claims Dr. Conrad Murray, who briefly served as Michael Jackson’s personal physician, is now considered a suspect in his death:
Police probing Michael Jackson’s death last night officially named his personal doctor as a manslaughter suspect. Officers were given court permission to search Dr Conrad Murray’s property for any evidence of an offence involving the powerful sedative Propofol. Legal documents filed in a Houston court revealed the 51-year-old cardiologist is now the main focus of the probe.
A warrant allowed police to seek “property or items constituting evidence of the offence of manslaughter that tend to show Dr Conrad Murray committed the said criminal offence”.
… Police and drug agents raided Dr Murray’s Texas clinic and a storage unit owned by him on Wednesday. Officials said they were looking for information on Propofol. The papers said officers seized “implements and instruments used in the commission of a crime”. Dr Murray’s lawyer Ed Chernoff would last night only confirm a warrant had been executed and none of the items seized had previously been requested.
The documents also detailed other items taken. Among them were 27 weight-loss tablets, a muscle relaxant, medical records, emails and a pamphlet for a Houston sleep centre.
And it gets worse, since a consensus is building that Murray delivered the last dose of Propofol that MJ ever took. From the NYDN:
A law enforcement official familiar with the probe of Jackson’s death told The Associated Press that Murray gave Jackson a dose of propofol sometime after midnight on the day he died.
The official said Jackson regularly received propofol to sleep – not its intended purpose. A doctor would administer it when he went to sleep, then stop the intravenous drip when he wanted to wake up.
The Daily News also reported on the “chaotic” scene inside Jackson’s rented mansion:
The official also provided details about the chaotic scene inside the rented Bel Air mansion where Jackson died on June 25, describing Jackson’s room as outfitted with three oxygen tanks and an IV drip. A porcelain doll wearing a dress was found on top of the covers of the bed.
The bedroom was a mess, as was another bedroom that had some 20 handwritten notes stuck on the walls. One read: “Children are sweet and innocent.”
How to ditch a gold digger
You pay her off. From the New York Post:
Michael Jackson’s baby mama Debbie Rowe has sold her kids again — this time squeezing about $4 million from her former mother-in-law in exchange for giving up her parental rights, a family source told The Post yesterday.
“It’s one final payday,” the disgusted Jackson confidant said.
The family isn’t happy about the mega-payout — which was set to be sealed in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon — but they consider it a necessary evil, the source said. “They felt it was like a ransom-type thing. [Rowe] jumped back into the picture because she wanted money,” the friend said.
Rowe allegedly got $8 million plus $900,000 a year to give up her parental rights the first time (although there were some questions as to whether all the money was paid) and then she resurfaced after Michael Jackson faced child molestation charges in 2001, and tried to reclaim her rights. That gambit resulted in another $4 million, plus a $900,000 house for Debbie, according to the Post. This time, the paper says the deal will cut her off from the kids — and their money — for good:
“This would be it. This takes away any rights she has to challenge custody at any given time,” the source said.
“If something happens to Katherine, [Rowe] can’t challenge the next [guardian], whether that be Diana Ross or someone in the family.”
According to the story, Ms. Rowe did NOT push to have Joe Jackson barred from the kids. If true, it really has been all about the Benjamins for Debbie.
Previous:
Debbie Rowe: just like June Cleaver, only cursier!
An L.A. TV station catches Debbie Rowe at her most loving and maternal:
Yeah. Give Michael Jackson’s kids to that lady.
Previous:
I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger… Debbie Rowe wants the kids
The King of Plop
Peter King calls Michael Jackson a pervert … think he’ll get some campaign heat going against him in New York in 2010 (especially if he runs for Senate?)
And now for the backlash!
I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger… Debbie Rowe wants the kids
The lady with the Jay Leno Chin, who has alternately described herself as merely a “vessel” and a “thoroughbred,” for the production of Michael Jackson’s progeny; who said she merely “offered her womb to Michael as a gift” (and for the gift of money for herself,) and who has said that she has no relationship with the children she served as surrogate mother for, and that she doesn’t want to see them, now says, totally coincidentally a day after Jackson’s will was released, and perhaps after figuring out exactly how much money is on the table, says she wants “her” children. Debbie Rowe is apparently willing to separate Paris and Prince Jackson from their younger brother and the only family they know, and take them from their grandmother … because…?
Rowe would apparently have a strong legal case, if not a moral one, even though she may be no more the biological mother of those children than Jackson was the biological father (though he actually was a parent to them, unlike, say … her…) and we could even see the surrogate mother of the third child, “Blanket,” come forward for her piece of the action … I mean the love of her child … too. Well, if it’s headed to court, here are a few alleged Debbie Rowe statements the court might want to take into consideration:
On her maternal instincts and parenting ability:
“”I was just the vessel. It wasn’t Michael’s sperm. Just like I stick the sperm up my horse, this is what they did to me. I was his thoroughbred.”….“I know I will never see them again. I was never cut out to be a mother – I was no good. I don’t want these children in my life. My children are my animals now.”
On her rent-a-womb:
“I offered him my womb – it was a gift. It was something I did to keep him happy.”
“I got paid for it, and I’ve moved on. I know I will never see my children again.”
And this:
“I was never a good mother, I never felt any attachment to them. It was a better feeling giving them to him than it was keeping them as my own.
So what changed, Debbie dear? Well … maybe it’s this, as reported by TMZ:
We’ve learned who’s getting what in Michael Jackson’s trust. Here’s how it breaks down.Katherine Jackson will get 40% of the assets.
Michael’s 3 kids will get another 40%.
And the remaining 20% goes to several children’s charities. We’re told the charities have not been designated yet and are not specified in the trust.
What’s 40% of $1 billion? I’ll bet Debbie’s done the math … and would it be too much to create a charity called The Deborah Jean Rowe Foundation, like, yesteray???
Care to vote on whether she should get custody of the money … I mean the kids? Here you go!
Flashback: Debbie before she gave birth to their second child, pretends to be really married to Michael, but admits their “friendship is more important.” Now, of course, she’s blabbing to anyone who’ll talk to her that their marriage was a sham (not to mention outing Jackson as not the kids’ bio father.)
Flashback 2: Debbie defends giving up custody of her kids back in 2003, adding: “my kids don’t call me mom because I don’t want them to.” Watch:
Plus: will the nanny also enter the custody sweepstakes?
Ah, dying rich!
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