14 DAY TRIAL // As the first custody hearing has been pushed back again to a later date, reports are beginning to circulate that Janet Jackson has made the necessary steps to raise Michael’s three children as her own if they will have her. For the time being, the kids will remain with their grandmother, Katherine Jackson, as the late King of Pop stipulated in his will, CBS News wrote over the weekend.
Reports of Janet considering to raise her nephews like her own children have begun to make the rounds shortly after Michael Jackson was rushed to the hospital and then pronounced dead from cardiac arrest presumably following an overdose. At the time, it was said that Michael would have wanted Paris, Prince Michael and Blanket to be raised either by his sister Janet or his best friend Diana Ross, a theory that is still standing today.
Janet has really bonded with the three children while staying with them at the Encino Jackson home in California after Michael’s death and awaiting his funeral, sources are telling CBS. As a matter of fact, the singer has grown so attached to the children that she’s even expressed an intention of having them on a permanent basis, if they want her too. Her desire is not being debated in the Jackson household to see who would be best suited to take over the role of the parent, insiders reveal.
“Janet Jackson has offered to raise brother Michael Jackson’s children, according to ‘Inside Edition.’ CBS News national correspondent Hattie Kauffman spoke with ‘Inside Edition’’s Jim Moret, who said there’s talk that Janet has bonded with the children since their father’s death. ‘She has said, ‘I’ll step forward and I will raise them if this is what they want,’' Moret said. Jackson’s kids, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, and Prince Michael Jackson II, known as Blanket, are staying at the Jackson family home in Encino, Calif., with Michael’s mother, Katherine Jackson, as called for in Michael’s will.” CBS News writes.
As fans must remember, even as early as back in February this year, when the media was ablaze with rumors of Michael being in critical health because of skin cancer and not having long to live, word got out that he was considering leaving the three children with his sister. One of the reasons for choosing her, it was said at the time, was that she could live quite a secluded life if she wanted to, and this, in turn, would have allowed his three kids to have a normal childhood. Word in the industry has it that this continues to be a good reason for which Janet is a brilliant candidate – that, and the special bond they’ve always shared, of course.