|
LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson’s family on Thursday
announced a free public memorial service for the tragic pop icon in
Los Angeles, as a custody battle loomed with his former wife seeking
their children.
Ending a week of feverish
reports, the family confirmed the ceremony on Tuesday (Wednesday in
Manila) as a video was released which appeared to show the
50-year-old in good health at a rehearsal just days before his
death.
The family, in a brief statement,
said that 11,000 tickets would be distributed for free to fans who
want to mourn Jackson at the Staples Center, home of the Los Angeles
Lakers and Clippers basketball teams.
The family was mum on where
Jackson would be buried and said organizers would announce the
logistics of distributing tickets on Friday.
The musical clan earlier quashed
the idea of a poignant final farewell at the singer’s Neverland
Ranch, which posed logistical headaches due to its remote location
in the ritzy Santa Barbara wine country.
But Jackson’s elder brother
Jermaine said he would still like the pop legend to be buried at
Neverland, a tribute to Jackson’s fascination with childhood that
in its heyday had giraffes, tigers and a private amusement park.
“I feel his presence because
this is his creation,” Jermaine Jackson told CNN in an interview
at the ranch.
“I really feel this is where he
should be rested because it’s him,” he said. “It’s
serene.”
In memory of Michael
French
fashion mogul Christian Audigier, meanwhile, announced plans to buy
the vast mansion in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills
where Jackson died.
Audigier, who designed outfits
for Jackson, will convert the house into “a place dedicated to the
memory of the star to which the public and fans will have access,”
his Spokesman Laurent Guyot told Agence France-Presse in Paris.
Jackson spent little time at
Neverland after he was acquitted of molesting children there in a
sensational trial. He had been paying US $100,000 a month to rent
the Holmby Hills mansion, owned by Audigier’s associate Hubert
Guez.
Battle for custody
As the
funeral took shape, legal battle lines were drawn over the King of
Pop’s legacy and the fate of his offspring, with former wife
Debbie Rowe declaring she planned to seek custody of the star’s
eldest two children.
Rowe, who has remained largely
silent since Jackson died from an apparent cardiac arrest on June 25
at aged 50, told NBC television in Los Angeles that she would seek
custody of Prince Michael, 12, and Paris, 11.
“I want my children,” Rowe
was quoted as saying in a 90-minute phone interview with the
station. “I am stepping up. I have to.”
She was married to Jackson
between 1996 and 1999 and was omitted from a 2002 will filed in Los
Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday in which Jackson named his
79-year-old mother Katherine Jackson as guardian.
Jackson’s will specifically
leaves his second wife out of any inheritance, stating that “I
have intentionally omitted to provide for my former wife, Deborah
Jean Rowe Jackson.”
Temporary guardian
Earlier
Monday, Jackson’s mother was appointed temporary guardian of the
two children and their 7-year-old sibling, Prince Michael II or
“Blanket,” who was born to an unidentified surrogate mother.
Rowe, a former nurse of
Jackson’s dermatologist, signed a contract to give up her parental
rights when she divorced from the singer, but later challenged the
agreement, which was thrown out by an appeals court in 2006. Jackson
retained custody of the children, while Rowe was given visitation
rights.
Her lawyer Eric George later told
reporters in a conference call Thursday no final decision had been
made.
Legal experts say that Rowe’s
chances of winning custody could hinge on her relationship with the
children. Several reports say she has not had any contact with the
children for years.
“If she has a strong
relationship with her children and . . . she has seen them somewhat
regularly then she has a very strong chance of getting custody,”
said Scott Altman, a law professor at the University of Southern
California.
A custody hearing slated for
Monday (Tuesday local time) was rescheduled to July 13 at the
request of lawyers on both sides.
Final footage
Rowe’s
comments came as new footage of Jackson taken two days before his
death emerged, showing him rehearsing a vigorous routine which
appeared to refute suggestions the star was in ill health during his
final days.
Concert promoters AEG Live said
the footage was recorded on June 23 at the Staples Center as Jackson
prepared for a 50-date set in London starting in July.
Jackson, while thin, is seen
dancing with energy in a tightly choreographed sequence with a group
of performers. Jackson sings on a headset and at one point pushes
back his jacket to reveal his red shirt underneath.
A final cause of death for
Jackson has not yet been determined but attention has focused on
whether he was taking powerful painkillers.
--AFP WITH XINHUA
|
