L. to R.: Paris Jackson, Katherine Jackson, Prince Michael Jackson II, Prince Michael Jackson, Joe Jackson attend Michael Jackson's Public Memorial Service held at Staples Center on July 7, 2009 in Los Angeles, California.
Time Reports
While his role as the driving force in the Jackson family success has never been in question, father Joe Jackson's parenting — especially with Michael — has long been a subject of scrutiny and controversy. So it's all the more surprising that the driven patriarch is now working to forge a larger role for himself in the lives of Michael's three children.
In a partial interview released on ABC on Friday, taken from a longer interview to be aired July 14, Joe says that both he and estranged wife Katherine should take on permanent guardianship duties now that Michael has died. "Their grandmother Katherine and I should raise them," Joe said. "Yes there's no one else who can do what we can do for them. We should keep them all together and make them happy. Feed them like they are supposed to be fed."
Previously there had not been a significant "we" in the children equation. As Michael requested in his will, Katherine has been granted legal temporary guardianship of Prince Michael I, 12, Paris Michael Katherine, 11, and Prince Michael II (also known as Blanket), 7. Deborah Rowe, the biological mother of Prince Michael I and Paris Michael Katherine, who had renounced her parental rights years ago, had stated an interest in taking custody of all three children in a recent interview and her lawyer is involved in the guardianship proceedings. A guardianship hearing set for Monday in Los Angeles was postponed until July 20. Katherine's lawyer said in a statement that the week delay would allow the opportunity to "privately and amicably" resolve the issue.
While still legally married, Katherine and Joe have long been separated, even residing in different states for the past few years. Michael was often vocal about his critique of Joe's parenting techniques, telling Oprah Winfrey in 1993 that there was "a lot of sadness" in his childhood. He revealed his father would tease him about his pimples and would even beat him. Jackson said his father was "very hard" and that he was "frightened" of him. In the same interview, he referred to his mother as "wonderful" and "perfection."
Jackson biographer and family friend Stacy Brown says Joe's re-emergence is not out of character. "No one can put reins on Joe," Stacy says. "With a potential custody battle and knowing that he would likely be among the negatives discussed [in any court battle], Joe does what Joe wants."
Mark Lester, godparent to Michael's children, says he is not concerned by Joe's statements. "In recent years, Michael and Joe had repaired a lot of the emotional trauma that had gone on before," Lester told TIME. He says that Joe has a different relationship with his grandchildren: "I've seen how Joe reacts with the kids, he's very loving with them."
In the ABC extract, Joe was asked if he felt the Jackson children could go into show business. "I don't know," Joe responded. "I keep watching Paris. She wants to do something." He added that Blanket can "really dance."
Joe more recently drew criticism when he plugged his fledgling recording company project at appearances following Michael's death. The circumstances behind his interview with ABC also raised eyebrows, as unconfirmed word leaked out that Jackson had received $200,000 for the use of family films, which critics have decried as profiteering.
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NYDailyNews Reports
Brazilian cops put the bloody purse strap and knife that killed Arturo Gatti on display Monday as his wife's lawyer insisted she's too "fragile, young and skinny" to kill a boxing champ.
Police said there's no way anyone but Gatti's 23-year-old wife, ex-stripper Amanda Rodrigues, was inside the couple's luxurious rental apartment when the former champ was killed.
"It was technically impossible for a third person to have been in the flat," lead investigator Moises Teixeira said Monday. "She did this alone."
There were no signs of forced entry. Electronic locks indicated no one else had entered the room.
Rodrigues' lawyer Celio Avelino said her client "is fragile, young and skinny. How could she kill a boxing champion?"
Police believe Rodrigues was capable of strangling her husband because he was drunk - and she stabbed him in the back of the head with a knife.
She then used her nylon purse strap to strangle the passed-out fighter, cops said.
Gatti's distraught sister Anna-Maria Gatti told CTV News Montreal that Rodrigues always provoked fights. "She always said, 'I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna kill you,'" said Gatti.
"My mother told him to leave her. The only reason that he didn't want to leave her was the boy," she added, referring to the couple's 10-month-old son.
The boxer, his wife and Arturo Jr. were to fly to Florida this week for Anna-Maria Gatti's wedding.
Rodrigues was arrested Sunday. She is being held near Porto de Galinhas, the seaside resort town where the couple went for a second honeymoon.
Rodrigues told cops she and Gatti had a fight Friday night at a bar, and that her husband pushed her, causing minor injuries to her elbow and chin.
Later on Friday night, they both made it back to the rental apartment, where they slept in separate rooms.
Rodrigues told police she slept in the bedroom with her son, while Gatti slept in the living room.
She said she awoke at 6 a.m. to feed her son and three hours later realized Gatti was dead. He had been dead for hours.
"When [Rodrigues] awoke, she presumed he had committed suicide. But she had nothing to do with it," her lawyer said.
Witnesses told a different story.
They said Gatti left his son to sleep in the apartment, then returned to the city center to find his wife.
She arrived at the apartment before he returned and waited for him, cops said, and they went upstairs together.
Gatti's brother Fabrizzio was on his way to Brazil yesterday to claim the body, the boxer's former manager said.
"They were getting divorced around a year ago, and somehow she lured him back in," Pat Lynch said.
"They were having problems from the beginning, almost from day one. I saw it, his family saw it, everyone saw it except him. It was just horrible.
"She was an evil person. She has no soul. Someone who's capable of doing this - I hope she rots in hell."
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The wife of slain quarterback Steve McNair may have only learned about the gridiron star's affair with a gorgeous young woman after the clandestine couple's grisly deaths, sources close to the football player said Sunday.
"She's blindsided by this," one source said of Mechelle McNair, who was holed up in her family's home just 6 miles from the condo her husband used to bed his mistress. "She's crushed. Her whole world is shattered."
Nashville cops confirmed that Steve McNair, 36, was killed by four bullets fired at close range, two of which hit him in the head, and ruled his death a homicide.
His lover, Sahel Kazemi, 20, died of a single gunshot from the same semiautomatic found on the floor under her body, police also said.
They stopped short of calling the slayings a murder-suicide carried out by Kazemi, but said they are not looking for any suspects.
Cops ruled McNair's death a homicide and have not ruled on Kazemi's death, citing the need for more tests.
Kazemi and McNair, a dad of four boys, were dating for several months, friends told cops; McNair apparently kept the affair a secret from his wife.
Photos obtained by TMZ.com show a smiling McNair parasailing on a recent tropical vacation with the curvy Kazemi, whom he met as she waitressed at a Dave & Buster's sports bar.
"He started to talk to her a little," Kazemi's aunt Sepideh Salmani told The Tennessean newspaper. "They exchanged phone numbers, and started dating from there."
Salmani said her beautiful, raven-haired niece believed that McNair was in the process of getting a divorce.
Kazemi's sister told The Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville that Kazemi had expected to wed McNair.
"She said they were planning to get married," Soheyla Kazemi told the paper."
County records do not indicate that a divorce is pending, but the McNair family home is up for sale for $3 million.
Investigators said McNair had been drinking at a pair of Nashville bars - Blue Moon Lagoon Bar and Loser's Bar - into the early-morning hours of Saturday and then returned to the downtown condo he shared with a pal.
Although neighbors have not reported hearing gunshots, cops believe McNair and Kazemi died about 2 a.m., nearly 12 hours before their bodies were found.
There was no sign of forced entry at the condo, and investigators are checking whether the couple had been having a "lovers' quarrel," cops said.
It was not immediately known whom the pistol belonged to, although McNair did have a permit to carry a gun, police said.
Kazemi, who was raised by an aunt in Florida after her parents were killed in Iran, moved to Nashville with her ex-boyfriend, Keith Norfleet.
Norfleet, whom investigators want to interview, had a "volatile" relationship with Kazemi but was trying to win her back from McNair, Norfleet's stepmother said.
"They had a lot of jealousy in their relationship and they'd fight and break up a lot," said Trudie Norfleet. "He loved her. ... He's awful torn up about it."
The quarterback, renowned in Nashville for his extensive work in the community, rented the condo overlooking the Titans stadium with sporting goods dealer Wayne Neeley, who called McNair's best friend after seeing the bodies sprawled on a couch.
"It's a picture I'll never get out of my head," a weeping Robert Gaddy told the Daily News. "It's the most terrible sight I've ever seen."
"This was a great man, a man who'd do anything for you," said Gaddy, who had been friends with the Heisman finalist since meeting him at Alcorn State University.
Source :NEWYORKDAILYNEWSRead more…
KTLA Reports
SAO PAULO -- The wife of former boxing champion Arturo Gatti was detained as a suspect by Brazilian authorities Sunday following his death at a posh seaside resort.
Police said 23-year-old Amanda Rodrigues was taken into custody after contradictions in her interrogation. Gatti's body was found early Saturday in a hotel room at the Porto de Galinhas resort in northeastern Brazil.
The former junior welterweight champion was apparently strangled with the strap of a purse, which was found at the scene with blood stains, said Milena Saraiva, a spokeswoman for the Pernambuco state civil police. She told The Associated Press that the Canadian also had a head injury.
The investigation was not complete, but Saraiva said authorities were preparing to present a formal accusation against Rodrigues, who denied being involved in her husband's death.
Police said Rodrigues, a Brazilian, could not explain how she spent nearly 10 hours in the room without noticing that Gatti was already dead.
Police were investigating witness reports that the couple fought and Gatti was drunk when he returned to his room Friday night, Saraiva said, adding that police were told the pair were extremely jealous of each other and that he constantly complained of her clothing when she traveled to Brazil.
Acelino "Popo" Freitas, a four-time world champion Brazilian boxer, told Globo TV's Web site on Saturday that he was a close friend of Gatti and his wife and that he "knew they were having some sort of problem and were about to separate."
The couple's 1-year-old son, who was unhurt, was with Rodrigues' sister, Saraiva said.
The 37-year-old Gatti, whose epic trilogy with Micky Ward branded him one of the most exciting fighters of his generation, retired in 2007 with a career record of 40-9 and 31 knockouts.
Known for his straightforward punching and granite-like chin, Gatti captured the junior welterweight title in 1995, when he defeated Tracy Harris Patterson in Atlantic City.
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Though Michael Jackson was wed to Prince and Paris' mother, Debbie Rowe, their biological father is Arnold Klein, Jackson's L.A.-based dermatologist and Rowe's former boss, multiple sources confirm to the new issue of Us Weekly.
"He is the dad," says a Jackson insider. "He and Debbie signed an agreement saying they would never reveal the truth."
Though neither Rowe nor Jackson ever confessed to their kids' true lineage, she did admit in 2002 that she carried his children as a personal favor (and would not confirm that the marriage was ever consummated).
"I said, 'Let me do this. You need to be a dad. You have been so good to me,'" Rowe -- who met Jackson when she was a nurse's assistant in the 1980s -- has said.
Klein would not give a comment to Us.
For more details on Michael Jackson's shocking home life with his three children, how the kids are coping with his surprise death and never-before-seen private family photos, pick up the newest issue of Us Weekly, on stands tomorrow.
Source : US Weekly
****Update****
We've learned Michael Jackson was not the biological father of any of his children. And Debbie Rowe is not the biological mother of the two kids she bore for Michael. All three children were conceived in vitro -- outside the womb.
Multiple sources deeply connected to the births tell us Michael was not the sperm donor for any of his kids. Debbie's eggs were not used. She was merely the surrogate, and paid well for her services in the births of Michael Jr. and Paris.
In the case of Prince Michael II (the youngest), we're told the surrogate was never told of the identity of the "receiving parent" -- Michael Jackson. Three days after Prince was born at Grossmont Hospital in San Diego County, Jackson's lawyer came to the hospital to pick the baby up and deliver him to Michael.
We do not know if Jackson chose the sperm or egg donors or if he even knew who they were.
Although Rowe is not the biological mother, it's not a slam dunk that she would lose a custody battle. This type of case has never been litigated in California courts. Since Rowe was married to Jackson when Michael Jr. and Paris were born, there's a presumption that she's the biological parent. That presumption can be rebutted by other evidence.
We know there are documents outlining the whole arrangement for the birth of all three kids. Nonetheless, it's still an open issue with the courts.
Source : TMZRead more…
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Alexis Arguello, who fought in one of boxing's most classic brawls and reigned supreme at 130 pounds (59 kilograms), was found dead at his home early Wednesday.
Coroners were conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Sandanista Party's Radio Ya and other local media were reporting it appeared to be a suicide.
The La Prensa newspaper reported that Arguello — elected mayor of Nicaragua's capital last year — was found with a gunshot wound to the chest.
The 57-year-old Arguello retired from boxing in 1995 with a record of 82-8 with 65 knockouts and was a champion in three weight divisions. He was perhaps best known for two thrilling battles with Aaron Pryor and fights with Ray Mancini, Bobby Chacon and Ruben Olivares.
"I'm kind of in a daze right now. I can't believe what I'm hearing," Pryor told The Associated Press. "Those were great fights we had. This was a great champion."
Nicknamed "The Explosive Thin Man," Arguello was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992, where flags were flying at half-staff in his honor on Wednesday.
In 1999, a panel of experts assembled by The AP voted Arguello the best junior lightweight and sixth-best lightweight of the 20th century. He never lost at 130 pounds (59 kilograms), and his popularity in his own country was so great that he carried the flag for Nicaragua at the Beijing Olympics.
"Not only was he one of the greatest fighters I've ever seen, he was the most intelligent fighter," Bob Arum, who promoted some of his biggest fights, told The Associated Press. "He was a ring tactician. Every move was thought out. And he was a wonderful, wonderful person."
Arguello turned pro in 1968 and promptly lost his first bout. He didn't lose much more, and six years later knocked out Olivares in the 13th round to win the world featherweight title.
Arguello went on to win the super featherweight and lightweight titles, his 1.78-meter (5-foot-10) frame allowing him to move up in weight without losing his tremendous punching power. At the time, he was only the sixth boxer to win championships in three weight classes, and was considered for a while the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Panama's Roberto Duran, another world champion at three weights, expressed disbelief.
"I can't believe it. He was my friend, my brother," Duran said. "His death is a great loss for world boxing and a much greater loss for Nicaragua."
The retired Oscar De La Hoya said: "I felt sad receiving the news and still find it hard to believe. Alexis was my idol. When I was young, I heard so much about him and his fights and loved his style in the ring. In my opinion he was one of the biggest and most influential fighters boxing has ever produced."
De La Hoya said Arguello attended his fight against Steve Forbes in May 2008, which was De La Hoya's last victory.
"We shared some great moments together before and after the fight," he said. "Arguello was definitely a legend in the boxing world because of all the joy he brought to his fans with his unforgettable career and amazing personality."
"It was a brutal, brutal fight," Arum said. "That was something I will never, ever forget as long as I live. That was one of the most memorable fights I ever did."
The bout was named "Fight of the Year" and "Fight of the Decade" by Ring Magazine, but was shrouded by controversy. Pryor's trainer, Panama Lewis, gave him a water bottle after the 13th round that many believe contained an illegal substance - an accusation Pryor denied.
A rematch was ordered and they met again a year later at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. This time, Pryor knocked out Arguello in the 10th round.
"We always talk to each other about that first fight," Pryor said. "I never went into the fight knowing I could beat Alexis, I just went into the fight to beat Alexis."
Arguello announced after the fight that he would retire from boxing, but as so often happens in the sport, Arguello couldn't stay away from the ring.
He returned to win two fights in 1985 and 1986, then didn't step in the ring until 1994, when he made a brief comeback. He retired for good the following year.
"Alexis Arguello was a first-class fighter and a first-class gentleman," said Hall of Fame executive director Edward Brophy. "The Hall of Fame joins the boxing community in mourning the loss of a great champion and friend."
Arguello fought against the Sandinista government in the 1980s after it seized his property and bank account, but later joined the party and ran for mayor of the capital last November. He defeated Eduardo Montealegre, though opponents alleged the vote was fraudulent.
Arguello had returned Sunday from Puerto Rico, where he honored the late baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente. His death prompted Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega to announced he was canceling a trip to Panama for the inauguration of President-elect Ricardo Martinelli.
"We are upset," presidential spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said. "This is a heartbreaking announcement. He was the champion of the poor, an example of forgiveness and reconciliation."
Source:FoxSportsRead more…
New York police are alleging that a dispute between Tru Life’s brother and several other individuals may have killed a teen and left another man seriously injured.
According to investigators, early yesterday morning (June 16), five gang members ambushed two men at a Manhattan apartment complex, to retaliate against the earlier shooting of a man named Michael Slater.
The man authorities say is a suspected drug dealer was shot in abdomen outside nightclub Pacha, and is listed in critical condition.
The gang-inspired apartment ambush resulted in the two individuals being stabbed repeatedly in the chest and face.
One man, 30 year old Jason Black, survived the assault and is listed in critical condition.
The other, an 18-year old teen whose name has not been released, died on the operating table.
While details are still being revealed believe the shooting and fatal stabbing are the result of an ongoing feud between Jason Black and Tru Life’s brother.
The brother, whose name has also not been disclosed, was first introduced to Hip-Hop fans in 2007 courtesy of the punching incident between then rivals Tru Life and Cam’Ron.
According to various reports, the brother joined Tru Life in confronting Cam’Ron outside of Club Stereo.
After an escalation of words and some reports alleging the brother even threatened to shoot up the venue, Tru Life assaulted the Dip Set founder with a single punch to the face.
At press time, Tru Life could not be reached for comment.
Source : AllHipHopRead more…
An album of unreleased music from Tupac Shakur will be among a series of new releases coming from WIDEawake Entertainment Group, the owner of Death Row Records.
The Canada-based development company will allow music publisher EverGreen to serve as the worldwide administration company of Death Row via a recently signed deal.
Under the long-term agreement, EverGreen will administer and handle licensing for all Death Row music catalog compositions and master recordings.
In addition, the company will process all mechanical and performance royalties in the catalog. EverGreen’s rights to market, promote and collect royalties on all copyrights and master recordings in the Death Row catalog will be extended from the joint venture.
Among the material affected will be more than 10,000 released and unreleased songs by Shakur, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound, Kurupt, Daz Dillinger and Nate Dogg as well as never-before released albums by Crooked I, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, RBX, The Lady of Rage, Warren G, K-Solo, Danny Boy and DJ Quik, among others.
The WIDEawake/Evergreen alliance comes after WIDEawake's $18 million purchase of Death Row in January.
In the coming months, the resuscitated label will release new music, including Shakur’s unreleased work.
The release of the late rap icon’s material will commemorate Shakur’s birthday in 2010.
Unreleased material from Shakur will not be the only music to surface from Death Row’s return.
The label is gearing up to re-release Dr. Dre’s classic album The Chronic.
The Chronic re-release, titled The Chronic Re-Lit, will include four unreleased bonus tracks as well as a DVD of never before seen video footage of Dr. Dre and other artists.
The Chronic Re-Lit is slated to hit stores on September 1, while the Death Row box sets will arrive in time for the holidays.
Source :ALLHIPHOPRead more…
Michael Jackson truly was the King Of Pop and should be recognized as the most influential artist of our lifetime. The production team Cooking Soul has put together a fantastic mixtape in tribute to MJ.
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Farrah Fawcett, who skyrocketed to fame as one of a trio of impossibly glamorous private eyes on TV's Charlie's Angels, has died after a long battle with cancer. She was 62.
Fawcett died at 9:28 a.m. PST at St. John’s Heath Center in Santa Monica, Calif. She had recently returned to St. John's for treatment of complications from anal cancer, first diagnosed three years ago. Her longtime partner Ryan O'Neal was at her side throughout her final days.
Like so much about Fawcett's life – including her bumpy relationship with O'Neal – her heroic struggle to beat the disease was closely followed by her legion of fans.
"I've watched her this past year fight with such courage and so valiantly, but with such humor," Fawcett's Charlie's Angels costar Kate Jackson told PEOPLE in November 2007.
O'Neal, in particular, remained a steadfast supporter of Fawcett, who, despite her frailty, spent the last months of her life filming a TV documentary chronicling her illness, including several trips to Germany to undergo experimental treatment. Fawcett is survived by her son with O'Neal, Redmond, 24, who is currently serving a prison term in California after repeated drug offenses.
Texas Charmer
Blonde, blue-eyed and petite – and with a trademark mane as flowing and famous as the M.G.M. lion's – the Corpus Christi, Texas, native was born Feb. 2, 1947, the younger daughter of an oil-field contractor and his homemaker wife.
A magnet for male students at the University of Texas at Austin, Fawcett eventually set off for Hollywood. Quickly noticed by casting agents, she began landing small parts in forgettable movies, such as 1970's Myra Breckinridge, based on a gender-bending novel by Gore Vidal. Her role: an ingenuous blonde.
In 1973, Fawcett married actor Lee Majors, forever known as Col. Steve Austin on TV's The Six Million Dollar Man. Three years later, she appeared in the cult sci-fi film Logan's Run and began her stint with costars Jackson and Jaclyn Smith on Charlie's Angels. Well-coiffed and scantily-clad, the threesome created an instant sensation, with a weekly following of 23 million fans.
Farrah Fawcett's 1976 poster
Photo by: Everett Collection
Fawcett moved on after just one season. By then, she was already a phenomenon, having donned a one-piece red bathing suit and a perfect smile for her legendary pin-up poster, which sold a still-record 12 million copies.
"I became famous almost before I had a craft," Fawcett told The New York Times in 1986, four years after her divorce from Majors. (By then, she was already involved with Ryan O'Neal.) "I didn't study drama at school. I was an art major. Suddenly, when I was doing Charlie's Angels, I was getting all this fan mail, and I didn't really know why. I don't think anybody else did, either."
Bumpy Film Career
Though she left TV for what was assumed to be greener pastures – feature films – Fawcett's initial three big-screen vehicles all crash-landed. Her first, 1978's Somebody Killed Her Husband, was lampooned in MAD magazine under the title, Somebody Killed Her Career.
It took some serious dramatic TV roles, including that of a battered wife in 1984's The Burning Bed (which earned her an Emmy nomination), as well as starring in small-screen biopics about pioneering photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White and ill-fated Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, for Fawcett to bounce back.
"What would you do if someone said to you, 'You're so popular right now that you can be on the cover of every magazine, but if you do that, you might get overexposed and a backlash will develop'?" Fawcett told The Times after she had emerged from one of the valleys of her career.
Still, she said of fighting for survival in Hollywood, "That's life. Everything has positive and negative consequences."
Source :PeopleRead more…
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