Jackson Family Values
It would be eight months before the Jacksons would be able to record for CBS. They had signed with the new label before their Motown agreement expired and would have to wait until the contract ran out before they could go into the studio. To fill the lag-time, Joseph signed them to CBS-TV for a summer variety series to begin airing in June 1976.
At this time, Michael was often asked about Jermaine in interviews, and he tried to stress that ‘business is business and family is family. He still comes over.’ He went on to say, ‘We talk to one another. We go different places together. That's very important, because that's the basis of our whole organization: good friendship and a strong family. The show-business part is important, but even more important is that the family stick together at all times.’
All of it was wishful thinking on Michael's part. The family members were drifting apart, even though Michael may have wished it was not the case. Jermaine did visit now and then, but only when Joseph was not around. ‘I just couldn't stand to be around him any more,’ Jermaine explained. ‘He had hurt me so deeply. Even my mother was asking me what was wrong with me and how could I betray the family as I did. It was tearing me apart.’
The other brothers still harboured resentment against Jermaine for his decision. ‘They were hanging up on me. One of them told meI was no longer a brother. How could they hurt me like that? No matter what, I thought we were family. After all, that's what we were always preaching. But when it came time to act on it, I didn't see that happening. I was an outsider.’
Jermaine may have at least found some shelter in the arms of his wife, but other members of the Jackson family seemed to be growing more antisocial, shunning exposure to people outside the gated Jackson estate (by Joseph's orders) and burying themselves in their Jehovah's Witness faith (by Katherine's). None of the siblings who were still living at home – LaToya, Marlon, Michael, Janet and Randy – seemed to have any strong relationships outside of their own family.
‘I don't date,’ LaToya told me at this time. ‘I don't trust people. To be honest with you, I have no friends. It doesn't bother me. When I get lonely, I read the Bible.’ I thought to myself, what a shame she has to be so leery of others. She also said that she rarely went out in public unless she was with other family members. She expressed no interest in marriage or raising a family of her own. ‘I would never bring a child into a society like this one.’
It was as if the Jackson siblings were being raised to mistrust all outsiders. When Jackie started having marital problems, Joseph was able to point to such discord as evidence that outsiders can't be trusted. Enid Jackson filed for divorce in September 1975, nine months after she and Jackie married. ‘You see that?’ Joseph told his sons. ‘After just nine months, look at the problem Jackie's got on his hands.’ (The couple reconciled and would remain married for eleven more years.)
Then Marlon dropped a bomb in January 1976: he had secretly run off and married someone – four months earlier! While the group appeared in Las Vegas, Marlon married an eighteen-year-old fan from New Orleans, Carol Parker. The ceremony took place on 16 August 1975. He hadn't trusted any of his brothers with the news because he was sure they would tell Joseph. He didn't want to go through what Rebbie, Tito and Jackie had gone through with parental opposition to marriages, and he also didn't want Joseph and Katherine to know that Carol did not sign a pre-nuptial agreement.
Michael was hurt by Marlon's secret union; he thought he and his brother were closer than that. ‘We share all the bad times, but never the good ones,’ he complained. ‘I don't understand my family at all, and I don't like some of the things my brothers do to their wives. I'm never going to marry,’ Michael added. ‘Marriage is awful. I don't trust anyone enough to do it.’
At a time when he should have had enthusiasm for his life and career, Michael Jackson was on the verge of hopelessness and despair. ‘People hurt each other over and over and over again,’ he said bleakly. ‘I spend a lot of time being sad. I feel like I'm in a well,’ he concluded. ‘And no one can reach me.’