Following Michael Jackson's death last week, his children, Prince, Paris, and "Blanket", were accompanied by a therapist to view their father's lifeless body to help them understand his death and begin the grieving process.
Brother Jermaine Jackson explained that it was just as tough to inform the children as it was to begin grieving himself. On showing them the body of their deceased father, he says "I know it's tough, but I think it was the best thing to do. At first I was against it, but what do you say if you don't show them?"
Major!
He added, "To see him there lifeless and breathless was very emotional for me. But I held myself together because I knew he's very much alive in his spirit, and that was just a shell. But I kissed him on his forehead, and I hugged him, and I touched him and I said Michael, 'I'll never leave you. You'll never leave me.'"
When asked how he would feel should drug abuse turn out to the cause of his brother's death he said, "I would be hurt, because Michael has always been a person who was against anything like that. I’m not saying it’s right, because it’s not right. But in this business, the pressure, and things that you go through — you never know what people might turn to."
We hope the kids are given the time, space, and tools to deal with their grief healthily.