LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Bizarre in life, Michael Jackson’s complex personal affairs are taking even stranger twists in death, with sketchy reports yesterday of plans for an elaborate public memorial and questions over the parentage of his children.
After five days of television replays of Jackson’s hit songs and glowing tributes to his musical genius, attention has turned to the murkier side of the “Thriller” singer.
Celebrity website TMZ.com, which broke the news of Jackson’s death, reported the entertainer was not the biological father of his three children and that his ex-wife, Debye Rowe, was not the genetic mother of the eldest two.
A 2002 will signed by Jackson was reported to have been turned over to his family but its validity was unclear. The attorney said to have the will, John Branca, did not return calls for comment.
In that will, the King of Pop was said to have left the bulk of his multimillion-dollar estate to his three children and his mother Katherine but cut out his father, Joe, who Jackson had accused of beating him as a child.
Several media reports said Jackson’s body would be driven to his Neverland Valley Ranch near Santa Barbara in Central California tomorrow ahead of a public viewing this weekend.
One story in Britain’s Sun newspaper said Jackson’s body would first be driven through Los Angeles in a glass-sided horse-drawn carriage, complete with a matching glass coffin.
