PA
Michael Jackson's 81-year-old mother Katherine has told a reporter that his children, Prince Michael, 14, Paris, 13, and Blanket (Prince Michael II), 10, are 'good kids' and that she does not have 'much to worry about' in her role as their legal guardian.
Katherine has given a rare insight into the family's life in an interview with the Daily Mail, some two years after Michael's death. She insists she does not find looking after three children demanding, but admits she has a lot of help. She says the kids are well behaved and do normal things: 'They have their friends over. They ride their bikes.'
Katherine tells the paper she can see Michael - who died in June, 2009 - in all three of his children, and she is certain they are all going to be like him - particularly his daughter Paris, who has created something of a shrine to her dad in her bedroom.
'She has pictures of him hanging all over her wall. When I had a decorator come in who moved them, she put them all back. "I want Daddy hanging on the walls", she said. I don't know how she could, but she does. She took a pillow and one of his jackets, and said: "I don't want a jacket that's been cleaned. I want something with his scent on it." She put the jacket over the pillow and she breathes it. It's still there. 'She said: "I don't ever want it cleaned. He's worn it and it smells of him and I don't ever want the smell to go away." '
Katherine goes on to say that seeing her grandchildren happy is what makes her happy, despite the tragic circumstances in which they came to be living with her.
'I'm happy when Paris and Prince come home from school happy. Prince is a very good student. He's always saying: "Grandma I got a 98 in my test." It makes me happy to see them smile.'
Amazing to think of these three children living anything like a normal life, isn't it?
Do you think it sounds like Katherine is doing a good job?