Our mother got killed!
TJ Jackson, Taryll Jackson and Taj Jackson had a hit with their single ‘Anything' all over the world. But when you look deep inside their hearts they would give ‘anything' to have their mother still be with them.
It's exactly 11 o'clock when Fancy comes into the hotel where the 3 nephews of Michael Jackson give their interviews. At first we were kinda disappointed, because Taryll couldn't come, because he was ill. He's still in bed and his voice must be spared. But the eldest (Taj, 22) and the youngest (TJ, 17) sons of Tito and Dolores Jackson are here. And how they are! Taj sits on the left side of the couch and his brown eyes tinkle in his head and his short rastahair jumps whenever he thinks of something! On the right side of the couch sits TJ, obviously a little more quiet and relaxed than his eldest brother. Sometimes he tries to start a sentence, which he doesn't quite finish. But once he really got started, no one could stop him from talking! Especially when it's about his family...
TJ: "Of course it's great that uncle Michael helped us. You know, he actually gave us a song which was meant to be on his own album ‘HIStory'? So he had to make up another song and that's why ‘HIStory' had been released so late, haha. The song was called ‘Why'. Uncle Michael sings on it too, just like in the song ‘I Need You'. Whether 3T would like to sing a duet with Mariah Carey just like Boys II Men? What a weird question, if something like that would happen, it would happen with our auntie Janet."
They are truly surprised, like everything on both of the boys seems to be true. They are really happy with their success. They are proud of their father even though he had divorced their mother years ago. But when they mention their mother they get quiet. Then Taj starts to speak.
Taj: "Yes, ‘mom' or Dee Dee, died one and a half years ago (august 1994). It's still a complete mystery how it happened. She was found dead in her swimmingpool. She could swim better than the 3 of us together. The FBI is still investigating on it, but we're almost sure she got killed. We shouldn't say this, but we didn't like her boyfriend Donald. He knew that, and so did Dee Dee. She defended him more than she should. We think he also beat her. We don't have prove, but we think Donald drowned her. He killed her!"
TJ turned to the window while Taj was telling his story. His mind is somewhere else, definitely not in the hotel in Amsterdam. Then also he starts talking.
TJ: "WW..we don't really know for sure, but I just feel that Dee Dee is sitting here in between us, on the couch. She's just there, in my thoughts and around me!"
Taj: "Our whole family believes in God, but besides that we are still sure that our mom didn't let us down. She's the one who has supported us from the beginning. She gave us strength and helped us when we were disappointed. For example when radiostations didn't want to play our songs. Her faith in us made us believe in her, do you understand? I mean that..."
TJ interrupts: "She's heard four songs of our album Brotherhood when she was still alive. She was very very proud of us. Even though they were divorced she still saw dad a lot. She was happy for us and for the whole family. She is here, I swear!"
The brothers sometimes look at each other questioningly. They sit on the couch, which is really too big. When you see this it's no surprise they work together so well on their album Brotherhood. TJ is helping Taj when he doesn't know how to say things and it's also the other way around. They don't give people a chance to ruin the bond they have with their mother, their family. We start talking about even longer ago, the time their parents got divorced.
Taj: "Look, a lot of families live apart, but our mom and dad always stayed good friends. We lived with Tito for some time and then we lived with Dee Dee again. All three at the same time, yes. They never considered splitting us up, fortunately. Our parents stayed in the same town, so we've always had two parents even though they lived separately. You could never split us up, anyway. Look, Taryll may go away for a weekend, but I would never forgive him if he would go away for a whole week! Would you TJ?"
TJ said yes, but you almost couldn't hear him. Like he better shouldn't have said that. Don't the three guys ever fight?
Taj: "We only tease each other while playing videogames. Who's the fastest, that's what it's about. But for TJ it's the toughest. Taryll and I go to college to study music, while TJ, as long as he's 17, can study with his teacher every day, while being on the road. You can never skip one day, when you have a private teacher. His teacher's Titos girlfriend. That comes in handy. That way, dad can come along with us...."
TJ (seriously): "I want to study economics later on, but when we tour all over the world, I'm not really in the mood to do that. I'll put my study on hold for a couple of years. I hope mom doesn't hear this..."
At the exact same moment Taj and TJ look aside, at the spot between them on the couch. The answer they only can hear is not for someone else's ears...