This photo was taken at a family gathering.
The last time she saw her brother.
That must be very special.
Very. To have that photograph.
The last time I saw Mike was maybe a month before I was giving my parents a surprise party.
So we were all there.
The last time you saw Michael was around your birthday.
Two days before my birthday.
Did you tell him you loved him?
Yeah it was the last thing we said to one another. It was?
Yeah.
I said, I love you. And he said, I love you too Dunk.
Just in introducing you I said we all remember
where we were when we heard that Michael Jackson had died.
And it's one of those seminal moments in history.
Where were you when you heard?
I was at home in New York.
I was at my house in New York.
Another day, another morning, and I get a call.
It was her assistant who told her that Michael had collapsed.
And your brother's been taken to the hospital.
It' s on CNN right now. Breaking news.
Apparently Michael Jackson suffered cardiac arrest this afternoon.
He was rushed- I called everyone.
I spoke to Mother.
I spoke to Tito.
I spoke to my sister, LaToya.
They were headed to the hospital.
And you headed to the airport?
Not at that very moment.
I didn't know the severity of it.
No one knew.
I can't remember exactly who I wound up calling back to see how things were going
and that's when they told me he had passed. He had passed? Yes.
Yeah. I couldn't believe it.
It just didn't ring true to me.
It felt like, like a dream or.
I'm sorry, Robin.
I keep saying the same thing. I couldn't.
It's still to this day, it's still so difficult for me to believe it.
You have to accept what is.
But it's hard.
What was it for you in that service
that helped you, perhaps the most in dealing with your brother's death.
There being some sort of closure, I suppose, at that time.
And I just wanted to say, love him so much.
You were trying your best to comfort her. You were Auntie Janet at that moment?
When she turned to you, did you just want to scoop her up? Just protect her?
All of them,
not just her.
Blanket, Prince.
My other nieces and nephews.
It's just been very hard.
I think we've been doing very well.
I have a very strong family.
That afternoon,
Michael Jackson died from an overdose of propofol, a potent anesthetic.
Over the years, he had developed a dangerous dependency on drugs.
And though his friends and family knew
about his addiction, he resisted their attempts to intervene.
Was there a time as a family that you
thought we need to do something here? Did you do anything?
Of course. That's what you do.
Those are the things that you do when you love someone.
You can't just let them continue on that way.
And we did a few times.
But he did look awfully thin and
appeared not to be the Michael that we had known or seen in years past. Were you
and the family aware that there was a problem.
We knew that he had a problem. We all did.
And I think a lot of people think that we were in denial, which we weren't at all.
And we tried interventions several times.
We weren't very successful.
How did he react to the interventions that you all conducted?
How do I say this?
Understood that it was out of love because of caring.
But when it's something like that,
people can tend to be in denial.
Was Michael in denial?
I wish he could answer this question for you and not me.
He was very much in denial. In denial about it?
Yes. He didn't think he had a problem? No. At all?
Were you all worried that something like this could happen? Of course.
I mean, that's why we did what we did.
That's why we tried it several times.
And he was very much in denial.
And when was the last time do you recall that you all have done an intervention?
I don't remember.
I remember the last one, though.
I wasn't able to attend, but everyone else was there.
It was a moment where I had to actually walk away.
I couldn't take it. I was just so overwhelmed with emotion,
and I actually had to walk out of the room.
It's just too much for me to handle.
So do you blame Dr. Murray for your brother's death?
Yes, I do.
He was the one that was administering the drug as from what I do know.
I do.
When it came to the trial, you tweeted out.
Justice has been served.
What did you mean by that?
Exactly that, even though it doesn't bring
my brother back, which that would be the ultimate.
But the best was done at that moment.
I got back to work right after my brother passed.
It was very difficult at times
and...
There were moments that when it helped me get through it.
My brother, I was thinking about him and just hoping that I put a smile on his face.
Do you feel he's still with you?
Do you feel he smiles down on you? Yes.
A day doesn't go by where I don't think about him.
Not one day.
You know, how many of you saw 'This Is It'? You saw
the film 'This Is It'? Have you seen the film? No. Will you ever see the film?
I don't know if I can.
Even when you were showing the clip, I had to turn away backstage. You wrote,
I can't describe our pain in losing our brother or the pain of his children
in losing their father or the pain of my parents in losing their son.
I still have not seen the film, 'This Is It'.
I still can't watch any of his videos, listen to his music.
I'm certain that one day I'll again be able to enjoy the miraculous sound of his
voice and the marvelous sight of his dancing.
But that day has not yet arrived.
The mourning continues.
Where are you in that process Janet?
At this point.
Actually, since I've
finally was able to listen to his music, I have been able to
watch his videos and I took a night out and did that and got through that.
I needed that.
But I
I can't, not yet, 'This Is It'.
I can't see that just yet.
Just spent the night just watching all his videos, listening to his music.
And there were moments when I felt to cry in moments that made me laugh
and
it was it was good for me. I needed it.
I guess out of every one of my family, I never had that moment to cry
about his death.
Why didn't you have that moment?
I don't know if it was trying to shield the pain
or just trying to hold it all together because I
saw that everyone else around me was falling apart.
Never, never taking that moment to really grieve, really grieve.
It's hard to believe still to this day, it is.
There isn't a day that goes by that I
don't think about it, but all of us in my family don't think about it.
Every single
day.
At some point, you have to you have to move on and trying to do that
and it being really difficult and
kind of pushing myself, forcing myself to a certain degree to get
over this because it's it's not the healthiest.
Is it difficult for you when things about him are in the media?
Is that difficult for you and your family?
Of course it hurts.
It hurts me to read or see here.
Yeah, it can hurt for sure.
What were the misconceptions of Michael
do you think?
It's very sweet, very gentle, incredibly smart.
Always about love.
He he he he knew who he was.
Do you think most people misunderstood him?
It's been ten years today since Michael Jackson passed away.
It was June 25th, 2009.
Of course, this is the year
that the documentary Leaving Neverland was released, which brought allegations
against Michael of sexual misconduct with young boys back to the forefront.
There was a push to mute Michael Jackson.
But all day today, the hashtag ten years that Michael Jackson has been trending.
So there doesn't seem to be much muting going on.
Yeah, Janet Jackson told the Sunday Times
that when it comes to Michael's legacy, it will continue.
I love it when I see kids emulating him,
when adults still listen to his music.
it just lets you know the impact of my family has had on the world.
I hope I'm not sounding arrogant in any way.
I'm just stating what is. It's really all God's doing,
and I'm just thankful for that.