Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson has reportedly been hospitalized in Las Vegas with terminal cancer. The nearly 90-year-old is in the “end stages” his disease and isn’t expected to live much longer, according to the Daily Mail.
Jackson has been ill for months but his health has rapidly declined in the past few weeks.
While his wife Katherine and other family members were originally by his side, it’s reported they were temporarily barred from visiting him, although it’s unclear exactly why. After an emergency family meeting and permission from Jackson’s manager Charles Coupet, they were finally allowed to see him on Tuesday (June 19).
One Jackson’s sons, Jermaine, told the Daily Mail, “No one knew what was going on. We shouldn’t have to beg, plead, and argue to see our own father, especially at a time like this. We have been hurting. We were not being told where he was and couldn’t get the full picture. Even from the doctor. My mother was worried sick.”
“He’s very, very frail, he doesn’t have long,” he added. “The family needs to be by his bedside. That’s our only intention in his final days.”
Jackson, who was the architect and manager the legendary Jackson 5, also suffers from dementia and has endured strokes, a heart attack and recent car accident.
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Over the years, Jackson has been apologetic about the tyrannical way he treated his 11 children, including pop icon Janet Jackson and the late King Pop, Michael Jackson.
In 2017, a source close to the family told the Express, “He is truly sorry for the misery he inflicted on some his kids when they were young. He was trying to drive them to success as their manager. He now bitterly regrets the physical methods he sometimes used to enforce discipline and turn them into the highly polished and pressional stars they became.”
On Thursday (June 21), Jermaine clarified that using the word “dying” wasn’t exactly accurate.
“My father’s health is not good, but ‘dying’ is a harsh word chosen by headline writers, not me,” he wrote. “For however long he has left, my mother, siblings, and relatives want to be with him, without hindrance.”