Los Angeles: Late pop icon Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris was rushed to a California hospital on Wednesday after trying to commit suicide, a family source told AFP, as her relatives appealed for privacy.
The 15-year-old tried to cut her right wrist with a meat cleaver and wrote a suicide note, according to celebrity website TMZ.
The teenager, whose father died in 2009, was put on a 72-hour psychiatric hold in hospital, the family source said, adding that Paris suffered from depression and had previously reported suicidal thoughts.
“She tried to cut herself,” said the source, requesting anonymity, adding: “She really feels like she needs her father... she had been in treatment once before for depression, so this is kind of like a real cry for help.”
“She’s in good condition, she’s not in critical condition.”
A sheriff’s spokesman told AFP officers had responded to a home in Calabasas near Los Angeles, where Jackson lives, over a “medical situation,” but refused to confirm the identity of the person taken to hospital.
The teenager tweeted a few times late Tuesday, including: “yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away now it looks as though they’re here to stay” and “i wonder why tears are salty?”
Her grandmother Katherine - who is currently suing the promoters of Jackson’s doomed last tour - said: “Being a sensitive 15-year-old is difficult no matter who you are.
“It is especially difficult when you lose the person closest to you. Paris is physically fine and is getting appropriate medical attention. Please respect her privacy and the family’s privacy,” she added in a statement.
Debbie Rowe, Paris’s mother and the self-styled King of Pop’s former wife, said: “We appreciate everyone’s thoughts for Paris at this time and their respect for the family’s privacy.”
Paris’ uncles Tito, Marlon and Jackie echoed that sentiment in their statement 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.”
The teenager had “a lot going on,” Entertainment Tonight quoted Rowe as saying.
In recent months, she has reconnected with Rowe, with whom she has had little contact for most of her life.
TMZ reported that Jackson had called a suicide hotline, and the person she spoke to alerted emergency services. It posted an audio clip of the 911 call, in which a dispatcher is heard saying, “Overdose. Sheriffs responding.”
She was taken out of her Calabasas family house on a stretcher, it reported, adding that the teenager cut her right arm, and had also taken a large number of Motrin (ibuprofen) pills.
The family source downplayed media reports that Jackson was angry because she could not go to a concert by goth rocker Marilyn Manson in Los Angeles on Thursday — although she admitted that may have been a factor.
“It wasn’t because of that. It was just because of her depression. Probably the last straw she was told that she couldn’t go. ..It’s like a teenager, ‘I want what I want, I want to do what I want,” she said.
Paris has made a start in the entertainment industry, starring in “Lundon’s Bridge and the Three Keys,” a film in development.
The film’s writer/producer, Dennis Christen, told AFP in an email that they had not yet begun shooting the movie.
“Paris has been prepping her acting skills over the last two years and is getting very accomplished as a young vital actress. We have great hopes for her in this role,” he said.
A 20-minute video of the teen applying makeup was posted to YouTube last week. Paris says on Twitter she doesn’t know how do the video, in which she repeatedly asserts, “I am so weird,” ended up on the site.
“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 - Paris and her brothers Prince, 16, and Blanket, 11 - with the singer’s nephew, TJ Jackson.
Messages left for TJ Jackson’s attorney were not immediately returned.
Katherine Jackson is currently suing the promoters of Jackson’s last doomed tour, AEG Live, for negligently hiring doctor Conrad Murray, who was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter over his death.
The 83-year-old has been in court for much of the last five weeks, but was not there on Wednesday.
Paris has been listed as a witness in the trial, which is expected to last several months, and which so far has heard a lot of the same evidence recounted at the Murray trial.
Michael Jackson kept his children out of the spotlight during his lifetime. After his death from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol in June 2009, the children took on a more public life, beginning with their father’s memorial service, which included Pars’ tearful goodbye to her father.
