August 20, 2010: This marriage has gotten enough

Michael Jackson's mother files for divorce.

by Jeffrey Cottrill

After six decades of marriage and motherhood, Katherine Jackson officially wants out. The matriarch of the Jackson family, including the late pop superstar Michael Jackson, has submitted a divorce filing against her husband, veteran talent manager Joe Jackson.

The King of Pop's mother, 80, had already been separated from Joe Jackson for five years. But according to media reports, she has become fed up with her husband's abusive behavior toward her and their children.

"After 60 years, she's had enough," an anonymous friend of the Jackson family told British newspaper The Daily Mail today. "She's been humiliated by him for too long. She's absolutely livid. This time, there's no going back." The source added that she had not filed for divorce before because of her beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness.

The straw that broke the camel's back, reportedly, was Joe Jackson's claim that Katherine Jackson was indirectly to blame for Michael Jackson's unexpected death last year. "I thought he was looking kinda funny and frail a little bit," Joe Jackson had said in a interview with News of the World two months before. "I wanted her to step in and go in and... keep him cheered up... but she was afraid that she was invading his privacy.

"[After Michael Jackson's death] I said this would have never happened if you had went [sic] and been with him," Joe Jackson added.

Katherine Jackson's spokesperson immediately countered the accusation with a press statement that read: "Joe Jackson's statement and conduct toward Mrs. Jackson are outrageous... The world also knows who Joe Jackson is, and he seems bent on never letting us forget."

Joe Jackson, 81, formed The Jackson 5 in the mid-1960s and managed the group in a very strict, punishing manner throughout their career. In the 1990s, Michael Jackson revealed that his father had been extremely emotionally and physically abusive to him and his siblings.

Joe and Katherine Jackson married in November 1949. Joe Jackson had had one brief previous marriage, which he had annulled. They had nine children, all of whom have had professional musical careers, and now have 26 grandchildren.

Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, following a cardiac arrest in Los Angeles. He was 50. He did not mention his father anywhere in his will.

• Please Help Us to Help Them: A Request to Family Doctors
• The Message of the Prodigal Son
• Making the Decision: Separation

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