Michael Jackson never really made it a secret that he wasn’t close to all of his family members. Despite having once shared the stage with his brothers as part of the 80s band The Jackson 5, as the late King of Pop matured, he quickly realized that distance from his relatives felt quite important to him. But why?
Well, when a string of allegations concerning Michael’s love for children was made, claiming that the “Bad” singer, whose brand has amassed $2 billion since his death in 2009, had been sharing inappropriate relationships with minors, it was his sister La Toya Jackson who backed those accusations by publicly condemning her brother in public.
Without any evidence to prove he was guilty of committing any crime, LaToya did not show her support for Michael as his music career started crumbling over the molestation case that was quickly brewing.
Why Did Michael Jackson Dislike Tayoa?
Following several allegations concerning Michael’s alleged misbehavior involving 13-year-old Jordan Chandler, it was La Toya who would be the first of MJ’s family to speak out against her brother in a 1993 interview with MTV.
The 64-year-old certainly didn’t hold back while strongly implying that while she didn’t have evidence of her brother’s alleged wrongdoings, because she had also once been in a lengthy abusive relationship, La Toya said she understood how frightened MJ’s victims may have been to come forward.
Furthermore, she also asserted that there was absolutely nothing normal about a male adult sleeping in the same room as his underage "friends" for weeks at a time, stressing that if this was any other individual doing so, they would have been penalized for it.
La Toya strongly felt as if her younger brother had been given a pass for his bad behavior because of his star power and wealth — especially with the news emerging that MJ reportedly paid Chandler $20 million to settle the case out of court.
"If I remain silent then it means I fuel the guilt and humiliation these children are feeling, and I think it's very wrong,” the “Night Time Lover” said in a bombshell interview with MTV.
La Toya confirmed she had seen several checks by her mother “in very, very large amounts” that had been sent out to the parents of the alleged victims, which appeared to have been the moment where she hit her breaking point and could no longer defend her family member.
If Michael had nothing to hide, he surely wouldn’t have spent $20 million to settle the matter, right?
"I am a victim myself, and I know what it feels like, and these kids are going to be scarred for the rest of their lives. And I don't want to see any more innocent, small children being affected this way,” she continued.
La Toya also questioned how many people would be okay with the idea of seeing a man share a bed with a minor for up to 30 days — she stressed that nobody she knew would’ve been okay with any adult sharing a bed with their child, so why was it okay for Michael to do this?
"Now you stop and think for one second and you tell me, what 35-year-old man is going to take a little boy and stay with him for 30 days? And take another boy and stay with him for five days in a room and never leave the room?” she continued.
"How many of you out there are 35 years old? How many would take little kids and do that? That are 9, 10, 11 years old? I love my brother, but it's wrong. I don't want to see these kids hurt.”
As more accusations of child molestation came about with Michael throughout the ‘90s, the “Beat It” chart-topper began to distance himself from his relatives entirely — with the exception of his sister, Janet Jackson, with who MJ had always shared a close bond with.
La Toya, on the other hand, was believed to have been cut out of Michael’s life for her demeaning remarks about him.
It’s said that the two eventually started speaking again, but those reports were never confirmed, nor was there any evidence indicating that Michael had forgiven his sibling for accusing him of being a child molester.
In 2011, just two years after his death, La Toya retracted her infamous statement about her late brother, telling The Daily Beast that "I never believed for a minute my brother was guilty of anything like that."
“When I spoke to Michael about it years later, he told me he knew it wasn't me saying those things ... He always knew it wasn't true.”