Roger Friedman: A Look at Jermaine Jackson’s New Book and His Relationship With Michael

Roger Friedman writes: There aren’t many facts in Jermaine Jackson’s new book, You Are Not Alone. It’s only an attempt to reach money by exploiting the name of his brother. For anyone who has written news and articles about Michael Jackson over the past 20 years, this book is a collection of fantasies and half-truths. In this book, while he talks about his father’s bad behavior, he defends him and criticizes people who were closest to Michael, such as the Cassio family. These things are mostly because Michael had nothing to do with Jermaine since 1991 and the release of the song "Word to the Badd" (read more below). After that, Jermaine was pushed out of Michael’s life. But Jermaine still insisted on getting into Michael’s inner circle, commenting on sensitive topics, and exerting influence. In this book, Jermaine Jackson clears his father of any wrongdoing and says the problem was that Michael had ‘misunderstood the situation.’ Otherwise, he says, their father only wanted them not to go down the wrong path—so he beat them. Katherine Jackson and Marlon—one of the sons—have confirmed that Joe Jackson beat Michael. Joe personally admitted in an interview with Oprah after Michael’s death that he had whipped Michael. Jermaine also obtained incorrect information about Frank Dileo, Michael’s manager, and the This Is It concerts. He says it was Tom Tom who brought up the idea in 2008, but in reality, AEG’s CEO, Randy Phillips, first raised the idea of the concerts in 2007. And it wasn’t AEG that brought Frank Dileo and John Branca back to Michael’s team in 2009. Michael personally invited them back. He also says that his current wife, Halima (and in the book there’s no mention of Aljandra, the mother of his two sons, and that Jermaine’s and Randy’s sons are brothers with each other) introduced Tom Tom to Michael in 2008. In an interview I did with Tom in 2009, he said that in fact he had known Michael and the Jackson family for years. You can only feel sorry for Jermaine. While he reveals the details of his father’s violence, he defends him. He says Randy and Jante also felt the sting of the belt, and that it was mostly because they didn’t follow his instructions. "There’s no doubt that Michael was afraid of his father. But if he had really freed us, we wouldn’t be talking to him today." Michael never spoke to his father until the moment he died, and if he had seen how Joe behaved after his death, he would have suffered greatly. Word to the Badd Jermaine denies his own problems and Michael’s problems. He wrote Word to the Badd about Michael’s life, and then blamed Babyface for it leaking. The result of meetings held with Michael and their parents present. According to Jermaine, his brother forgave him, and after that they lived together happily, and this book is evidence of that claim. A while ago, you read a memory from Jermaine on this page claiming that he came out of the house, dove into the ocean, pulled Michael out of the water, and took him to the hospital—thus saving his life from certain death. (here) You also read that Michael, years ago in his memoirs, wrote in Moonwalk that while swimming he had suffered shortness of breath, got himself to the shore, went into the house, looked for Jermaine, and when he found him, he asked him to take him to the hospital. (here) Joe Jackson had discussed this incident in 1977 with Jet magazine, and the description was published in an article titled "Michael Jackson Okay After Lung Collapse". The article said: After overcoming a lung problem that caused the cancellation of the Jackson family’s concert, Michael Jackson still feels full of energy. His father Joe told Jet: "Michael’s lung problem was caused by overwork on a series of family television shows and other projects. Over time, a bubble forms inside the lung and then bursts. Each time this happens, part of the lung is destroyed. People don’t know how the pressure of television work damages the body—even in a 30-minute program." Michael, who had been ordered by his doctor to rest for a month, returned to work in New York to continue filming The Wiz. Regarding Jermaine, it should be noted that during the 2005 trial he accompanied and supported his brother. After Michael was acquitted, he sent him along with his children to Bahrain to rest and get away from the controversy of American media. It was said that Jermaine, who had been Muslim for a long time, has a friendly relationship with Bahrain’s royal family, the Al Khalifa. In 1991, a song titled Word to the Badd by Jermaine Jackson, addressed to Michael, was played on the radio. Michael has a famous song and album called Bad. The lyrics of Jermaine’s song were: "A word to the bad.. I don’t know who you are. Maybe they like you, but they don’t know you. You’re a lonely, reclusive superstar. You only think about your number ones. You forgot where you started. You only think about your own desires and your royal bed. Did you change your color? Was your color wrong? You can’t go back now. This is a fact. You’ve gone too far. You know I tried to stand by you like a brother, but you always pushed me aside. I think about what you stole from me. A brother’s theft from his brother. Hard to believe. Giving is harder than taking. The mirror is dusty. It’s time to clean it and start again with the man in the mirror (Man In The Mirror—the Michael Jackson song from the album Bad). When I think about how close we still were. Nobody knows what will happen in the future. There’s no guarantee that you’ll still be flying. But I laugh because I know you’re still just a kid. You said you’ve grown up. But you’ll never become one." Download the radio version of Word to the Badd In the song, it’s not exactly clear what Jermaine is complaining about. In 1975, Michael and his brothers, the Jackson Five, left Motown. But Jermaine, who had become the son-in-law of the owner of the company, stayed at the company. In his memoirs, Moonwalk, Michael wrote that they felt it was time to write their own songs and create their own music, and they were fed up with Motown dictating a policy to them. In the newly formed group of the brothers, called the Jacksons, Randy replaced Jermaine. It has been said that after hearing Word to the Badd on the radio, Michael went to Haynehurst and, without saying anything, preferred to call Jermaine into a room and talk to him. After that, the song was released in Jermaine’s album with a few changes, as if it were addressed to a former lover. Source: eMJey.com / showbiz411.com