Michael Jackson’s family is saying little about the hospitalisation of his 15-year-old daughter while pleading for privacy and saying nothing about the cause of her ailment. But an investigation into Paris Jackson’s well-being has been ordered by a judge overseeing the guardianship of the late singer’s three children, court records show.
Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff ordered an investigator to look into Paris’ health, education and welfare and recommend whether any changes are necessary on Thursday, one day after she was taken by ambulance from her family’s home and hospitalised.
Authorities have said they were dispatched to the home on a report of a possible overdose, but have not released any additional details.
“There have been communications between the court and counsel and we’re completely supportive of the court’s actions,” Katherine Jackson’s attorney, Perry Sanders Jr, said on Friday.
He has said the 15-year-old is physically fine and receiving appropriate medical treatment. He declined further comment on her health status on Friday.
Beckloff issued a similar inquiry into the well-being of Michael Jackson’s three children, Prince, Paris and Blanket, last year after an incident in which Katherine Jackson was out of communication with them for several days. The Jackson family matriarch had been taken by some of her children to a resort in Arizona, prompting an agreement that led to another guardian being temporarily instated.
Tito Jackson’s son, TJ, was appointed co-guardian over the children.
“This is standard protocol in a high profile case,” his attorney Charles Shultz wrote in an email. “The court is doing what we fully expected the court to do.”
All fire and sheriff’s officials would say is that they transported someone from a home on Paris’ suburban Calabasas street on Wednesday in the middle of the night for a possible overdose. They did not release any identifying information or additional details.
“Being a sensitive 15-year-old is difficult no matter who you are,” said Sanders, who represents Katherine Jackson. “It is especially difficult when you lose the person closest to you.”
Paris’ uncles Tito, Marlon and Jackie echoed that sentiment in their statement on Wednesday: “Thank you for the outpouring of concern and support for Paris - she is safe and doing fine. We truly appreciate you respecting our family’s privacy at this time.”
On Tuesday, Paris hinted at her state of mind on Twitter, posting, “I wonder why tears are salty?” followed by lyrics from the Beatles’ song Yesterday: “yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they’re here to stay.”
Since Michael Jackson’s death in 2009, Paris has emerged as the most visible of his children, granting interviews to Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres, appearing in magazine articles and amassing more than a million followers on Twitter. She has also expressed interest in starting a singing career and has plans to star in a movie.
A 20-minute video of the teen applying makeup was posted to YouTube last week. It shows Jackson in what she describes as her bedroom playfully demonstrating how she does her eye makeup. She also makes goofy faces and says, “I need serious help. I’m crazy!”
Paris wrote on Twitter that she doesn’t know how the video, in which she repeatedly asserts, “I am so weird,” ended up on YouTube.
“I hope you guys liked it tho and didn’t think i’m too crazy,” she wrote. “i get weird when i’m not around people lol.”
Katherine Jackson shares guardianship of her son’s three children with the singer’s nephew, TJ Jackson.
Paris and Prince are listed as plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by their grandmother Katherine Jackson against concert giant AEG Live LLC, who she claims is responsible for her son’s death. The lawsuit claims AEG failed to properly investigate the doctor convicted of causing the singer’s death, and pushed the superstar to rehearse and perform a planned series of 50 comeback shows titled This Is It.
Paris and Prince are listed as potential witnesses in the case, which is in its sixth week of trial.
Marvin S Putnam, a defense attorney for AEG Live, joined in the family’s calls for privacy.
“There’s a real person involved here,” Putnam said. “There’s a 15-year-old girl and something incredibly tragic has happened that none of us know why and I think it would really be in everyone’s best interest and particularly in her best interest if rather than blowing this up into something else, that they were given a little bit of privacy to deal with something that has to be a tragic, tragic moment for all of them.”
“She’s 15,” he said. “Someone should give her a break.”
