As a member of one of the most notorious families in American pop music, fame was almost a guarantee
for La Toya Jackson.
But the singer's career has been filled with even more ups and downs than those of her
more famous siblings.
Here's why you don't hear from La Toya all that much anymore.
In the summer of 1993, the Associated Press obtained legal documents detailing a 13-year-old
boy's allegations against Michael Jackson, claiming that the singer had abused him.
The King of Pop's lawyer called the allegations "totally false," while Jackson delivered a
statement on live television similarly denying any wrongdoing.
As plenty of Jackson defenders stepped forward, his sister La Toya was first in line to confirm
the horrible allegations.
La Toya called off her vacation to Israel that December, and instead called a press
conference.
According to Jezebel, she said,
"I cannot and will not be a silent collaborator of his crimes against small, innocent children.
And if I remain silent, that means I feel the guilt and humiliation that these children
are hearing, and I think it's very wrong."
Similar allegations of crimes committed by Michael would return throughout his life and
after he passed away in 2009.
But while Michael Jackson eluded charges, La Toya suffered for speaking out.
Her comments were ultimately viewed as just another attempt to attack her family members,
as she had previously done in her scandalous and controversial memoir, Growing Up in the
Jackson Family.
The two biggest stars in the Jackson family are undeniably Michael and Janet.
During his lifetime, Michael released 10 studio albums, while Janet has put out 11, as of
early 2020.
They've both sold millions of records, but in terms of musical output volume, La Toya
has them beat.
Since 1980, La Toya has released more than a dozen records.
However, she's hopped around labels, likely because none of them sold particularly well.
Her first three albums all peaked in the bottom portion of the Billboard 200 album chart,
and none of her later records even got that far.
La Toya landed a single on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart just once with "Heart Don't
Lie," which, despite some major MTV exposure in 1984, climbed the chart to Number 56.
In 2004, La Toya enjoyed a bit of a comeback under the pseudonym Toy, when her singles
"Just Wanna Dance" and "Free the World" received major play in dance clubs.
But after that, the world seemed to go back to being indifferent to the recording career
of the middle Jackson sibling.
In the late '80s, La Toya got a new manager: Jack Gordon, who she married in 1989, according
to People.
During a 2013 episode of Life with La Toya, the singer later shared disturbing allegations
about their relationship, including claims of abuse.
Jackson also claimed that she'd had no interest in marrying Gordon in the first place, but
had been allegedly forced into the marriage after a bodyguard kept her from fleeing the
chapel.
She also claimed Gordon had connections to the mafia.
Jackson admitted,
"I was brainwashed by him.
I really felt like a robot.
I was being beaten.
He dictated my career choices...He made me say the things that he wanted me to say in
interviews."
"We never argue or fight.
I may disagree with a lot of the things he does, but we never fight or anything."
According to the Chicago Tribune, Gordon orchestrated Jackson's 1989 issue of Playboy, which became
one of the magazine's all-time bestsellers.
This led to Gordon pushing Jackson to perform in adult film productions, at which point
she filed for divorce and got away.
"Well one day I couldn't take it anymore."
While that's a happy ending personally, having Gordon as a manager left a veneer of criminality,
sleaze, and scandal that rubbed off on Jackson professionally.
The good news for those celebs whose careers have fallen off significantly is that the
rise of reality TV makes for hundreds of shows that need to fill out their casts, providing
a paycheck and attention for familiar famous faces.
La Toya is a quintessential reality show celeb, popping up whenever a series needs a famous
person to play themselves and do whatever needs to be done for the camera.
La Toya has appeared on a number of reality shows, and she decided to let cameras follow
her around on her day-to-day activities for two seasons of Life with La Toya on OWN . The
downside to becoming a reality show staple?
There's a stigma attached to it.
Once a star goes down the reality show route, it's hard for them to break out of that cultural
niche.
As a longtime member of the community of celebrities who do reality-shows, it probably wasn't too
big of a shock that La Toya ended up competing on The Masked Singer.
The Fox reality show is a singing contest, but the competitors aren't fresh-faced singers,
they're seasoned celebrities out to prove to the public that they've still got the goods,
all while dressed in elaborate, identity-obscuring costumes, with their faces revealed only when
they've been voted off.
The Masked Singer has been a ratings smash, the first season was a top five show and became
the most popular new show of the 2018 to 2019 season.
Judges Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke correctly guessed that the lithe alien from
a famous family was the one and only La Toya.
Backstage after her last episode, La Toya called her experience on the show "wonderful"
and "absolutely fabulous," adding,
"I'm glad that people got the chance to see a different side of my personality."
"People have a tendency to prejudge you, and the way you sing and the things and they compare
you to other people in your family, and I just wanted to do it and see how far I'd go."
Will this feel-good appearance on an extremely popular show bring about a comeback for the
media personality?
Only time will tell!
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