Jackson matriarch Katherine granted a bizarre interview to a British tabloid in which she revealed personal information about her grandchildren and seemed to portray Michael’s three children as sad little waifs pining for their departed dad. Some outlets are reporting this as her first interview since Michael’s death last year, but it’s technically not. She was on the Geraldo Rivera show last August, and expressed her gratitude in October for a So You Think You Can Dance tribute show for Michael. Still, Katherine has said very little about her son up until now and it’s disappointing to hear her sounding like her evil husband, Joe. She’s shilling a new coffee table book that retails for $59.95 called Never Can Say Good Bye: The Katherine Jackson Story. Here’s what she said.

On how Michael’s children are coping
His daughter Paris, 12, has turned her bedroom into a shrine to her “Daddy”, where she is surrounded by his photographs.

And his boys Prince, 13, and eightyear-old Blanket bravely talk about wanting to make him proud – and then lapse into silent moments, when they are missing him. All three spend hours listening to their father’s hits.

Katherine says: “They don’t have any friends. They don’t go to school, they have private lessons at home – but that will change in September, when they are due to enrol at private college. But they have their cousins and aunts and uncles around them constantly, and that’s helped them immensely.

“To them, it’s normal, it’s the life they have known. They have a certain time to go to bed, then they get up and get dressed for lessons. They practise karate and swim, which they love.

On Paris’ love for her dad
“I wanted to hang pictures of flowers or ballerinas in Paris’s room, the sort of things I expected a girl would like,” Katherine says.

“But she went into a closet and she brought out seven or eight pictures of Michael, and she told me, ‘No, I want daddy hanging in my room’. So she goes to bed looking at him and wakes up looking at him. She said, ‘I always want to be able to see him’.

“Paris has that lovely way, just like him, and I see his talent in her. Whatever she does, she is very good at it. She’s a good artist, she plays the piano and she wants to be an actress.

On the molestation charges against Michael
“Many doubt that [Michael was a loving person], because of the child molestation accusation falsely laid on him, but in truth it was just greedy people after money. The first child, Jordan Chandler, whose father accused Michael, ended up saying he regretted not getting a chance to say sorry to Michael. Then the father committed suicide – I think his conscience was bothering him.”

Questions Michael’s death
“He was too young [to have died of natural causes]. I heard from people that he was taking prescription drugs but I never saw my son in any way drugged… he was always himself. If I could see him again, I would want to know one thing, ‘Who did this to you?'”

[From The Mirror, subheaders added]

What’s going on with Katherine and why is she suddenly selling a book and selling out her grandkids? TMZ reports that Joe, who recently blamed Katherine for Michael’s death and then tried to backtrack, is still manipulating her. They quote a source who says she put out this book to make money for her husband and that “Joe has always controlled her and always will.” That’s a shame because I thought that Joe had essentially screwed himself out of access to Michael’s estate, which Katherine controls, by calling her responsible for Michael’s death. If Joe is able to get Katherine to do his bidding, how long will it be before Michael’s kids are performing at Joe’s insistence? They’ll try to make it sound like it’s all the kids’ idea while Joe is cackling and collecting all the money.

Here are MJ’s kids Paris, Blanket, and Prince Michael I out after karate. They are shown with their cousins Jermajesty and Jaffar. They may not have “friends,” but they live with their cousins and seem to have enough other children around. They may not be the best influence, though, judging by the stun gun incident. Credit: Fame Pictures