Along with their incredible success in the music industry came, for the Jacksons, the inevitable lure of available women. Women of all shapes, sizes and colours began to proposition them, appearing backstage after concerts and offering to do all sorts of ‘favours’ for them.
Though Michael and Marlon were too young, Jermaine and Jackie saw no reason not to take advantage of their young fans' overworked libidos. Tito wasn't really interested in groupies, though. He just wanted to settle down – and also get out of the household and put some distance between him and Joseph. In 1972, Tito announced that he wanted to marry seventeen- year-old Delores (Dee Dee) Martes, whom he had met at Fairfax High School a few months before the group became famous. Joseph and Katherine were extremely upset, concerned that Dee Dee might be a gold-digger and Tito too inexperienced to see it. The least he could do, they argued, was insist that his fiancee sign a pre-nuptial agreement. He did, and she agreed. Michael felt strongly that Tito was letting their fans down by marrying, and attempted to convince him to change his mind. ‘Think about all of those girls out there who love us,’ he said, trying to reason with his brother one day in the Motown offices. ‘They don't even know us, Mike,’ Tito said. ‘We can't live our lives for perfect strangers.’ ‘But they do know us,’ Michael argued, according to a witness, ‘and we owe them, Tito. We owe them.’ ‘So what are we supposed to do?’ Tito wanted to know. ‘Put up with Joseph for the rest of our lives? If that's the case, I don't even want to be in the group, then.’ Michael stopped arguing with Tito at that point, perhaps fearing Tito's next step might be to just quit the act. Joseph and Katherine had hoped that Berry Gordy would insist that Tito, as a Motown recording artist, remain single. When Joseph presented the situation to Berry, however, he wanted no part of it. ‘Keep me out of it,’ he said. ‘As long as Michael isn't getting married, I'm cool.’ Joseph's face darkened. ‘Michael ain't the only one in the group, Berry,’ he said, according to his recollection. ‘Thanks for nothing.’ The wedding took place in June 1972 in a small, unpretentious chapel in Inglewood, California. Joseph spent most of the evening glaring at Dee Dee and her family. Katherine was nicer, though one suspected she was just trying to get through the day. (Their first baby, a son named after Tito, was born about a year later. Tito was on tour, so LaToya acted as Dee Dee's Lamaze labour coach.)
