… a life yielded up to His working is one of rest and power,” explains Jackson. “People don’t want to know the truth. Don’t go to war no more. Steady peace because peace is all we need.”
When Michael died, the whole world felt the loss, but not quite the loss a mother feels when you lose your child.
“He felt that people wanted him gone, wanted him dead. He would always say that,” Katherine told Dateline in 2010, speaking about her son’s final days in a rare interview. “And, for him to say that, he must have known something. It’s just some of the mean, evil, vicious people didn’t want him around for some reason. They’re greedy. That’s what it is. Don’t take that out. They are greedy.”
“Beyond our hardships, our family loved Michael dearly,” confessed Katherine. “And each of us shares a special bond with him. Through our memories, we will always cherish Michael.”
In 1990, Jackson released her autobiography My Family, The Jacksons, which documented her early years and her relationship with her husband and their children, eight of whom wrote salutes to their mother in the book’s foreword. She detailed that her husband on more than a few occasions had committed adultery. She decided to file for divorce on March 9, 1973 at the Los Angeles County clerk, but chose to rescind the divorce papers. The following year, Joh’Vonnie Jackson, Joe’s daughter with another woman named Cheryl Terrell, was born on August 30, 1974. This led Joe and Cheryl to a 25-year affair while raising their daughter Joh’Vonnie. Jackson attempted once again to divorce her husband in or around 1982, but again was persuaded to drop the action. As a result, Katherine and Joe remained officially married, but separated until his death in 2018.
As she continues on in life, she continues to live a modest life at home and manage the estate of Michael Jackson.