21. Katherine Files for Divorce 
 
Katherine Jackson had tolerated many years of unfaithfulness from 
Joseph. She knew he was cheating on her. Everyone knew. Joseph 
had been on the road with the boys for years and having brief 
encounters with their groupies. Not only had her friends told her, 
several of Joseph's more audacious girlfriends had telephoned the 
house over the years to brag about their encounters with him. ‘I 
don't want those women calling the house,’ she would scream at 
Joseph, sometimes in front of the children. ‘I'm sick of it, Joseph. 
Enough is enough.’ The reasons for Joseph's actions didn't matter 
to Katherine. She wasn't even sure she wanted him to stop his 
philandering, as she told one friend. She simply wanted him to be 
more discreet. ‘Do you have to play me for a fool?’ she would ask 
him, tearfully. A terrible rage began to fulminate in her. ‘Don't you 
dare treat me like I'm stupid,’ she screamed at him. ‘There's 
nothing worse than being made to feel this way.’ 

 
In truth, Joseph treated Katherine just as she had allowed him 
to treat her for as long as they'd been husband and wife. There was 
little reason for him to stop, as far as he was concerned. In his 
view, he worked hard for the Jacksons, he supported his family, he 
gave them a good life, so what he did on his free time was none of 
their concern, as long as he was present when they needed him. 
In January 1973, Katherine learned that one of Joseph's 
girlfriends had become pregnant and had a miscarriage. At first, 
she couldn't believe it; it was more than she could bear. However, 
when she confirmed that it was true, she decided that she had no 
choice but to end the marriage. ‘It's over,’ she announced. ‘My 
marriage is over.’ 

 
Immediately, the children sided with her; oldest daughter 
Rebbie, who was twenty-three, couldn't bear to be in the same 
room with her father. ‘I don't know how my mother hung in there all those years,’ she later said. ‘She didn't need that heartache with 
everything she had to deal with, being a mother, supporting the 
children's performance, getting involved in the business end of 
things. It was too much. I encouraged her to leave him. I knew that 
he was damaging her spirit, that she couldn't possibly have peace 
of mind.’ 

 
The Jackson offspring had seen Joseph mistreat Katherine for 
so many years, they were happy to see her finally take a stand 
against him. ‘I hate Joseph,’ Michael said to one of the Motown 
staffers. ‘I hate him so much for what he has done to my mother. I 
hate him more than I can even say.’ 
‘But, Michael,’ the Motown employee said, ‘you shouldn't feel 
that way. After all, he's your father.’ 
‘I wish he wasn't my father, sometimes,’ said fourteen-year-
old Michael. ‘I wish it with all of my heart. He's the loser here,’ 
Michael said. ‘His whole thing is always about winners and losers 
and who wins and who loses. With this thing, he loses. Big time.’ 
Katherine filed for divorce in Los Angeles on 9 March 1973. 
Joseph was stunned. He had been controlling and 
manipulating Katherine for so many years, he couldn't fathom her 
righting back in this manner. He also knew that he could not live 
without her. Plus, they had a family, growing children. He had to 
change her mind. Who was going to raise all of those kids? 
Katherine was faced with a dilemma when she and her 
attorneys began filling out the required forms. She didn't have a 
clue as to the value or extent of her community property with 
Joseph. She had no idea how much her husband – or her children – 
earned annually, or what the extent was of their now vast business 
enterprises. She didn't even know Joseph's social security number. 
Therefore, she had to leave two pages of questions regarding this 
personal information unanswered. Her lawyer, Neil C. Newson, 
typed on the form, ‘The information required in this declaration is 
currently being compiled. A separate amended financial 
declaration will be filed.’ Katherine paid her attorney $150 and 
then went back to the house on Hayvenhurst. She did not move out 
of the house, and neither did Joseph. They just didn't speak to each 
other. 

 
‘When Motown heard that Katherine had filed for divorce, all 
hell broke loose,’ remembered one family friend. ‘This could have ruined everything in terms of their family image. All of those 
stories about how close they were, what a loving family they 
were_ It had the potential to be a public relations disaster. It was 
decided by Gordy that no one was to know that Katherine and 
Joseph were splitting up. It would be a closely guarded secret by 
the press department. Today, you couldn't keep something like 
that out of the press, especially with a court filing. In the early 
seventies, the press wasn't as intrusive as they are today. The 
news was never leaked. However, Katherine was badgered 
constantly by company officials who tried to convince her to 
reconcile with Joseph for the sake of her family's image.’ 
‘I'm finished with Joseph,’ Katherine told one Motown 
official at a meeting to discuss the possible consequences of her 
decision. She looked bone-tired, recalled the lawyer. She wore a 
simple yet elegant black dress, pearls at her neck, a fine, diamond 
pin on her shoulder. Her hair was a jet black coif around her head. 
‘It should have nothing to do with the boys' career,’ she said, 
firmly. They can still make records and be famous, and their 
parents can be divorced, and that will just have to be the end of it, 
I'm afraid.’ 

 
Though the Motown adviser was not convinced, her son, 
Michael, had made up his mind about his parents' marriage. ‘As 
far as I'm concerned, it's over,’ he told Diana Ross, according to a 
later recollection. ‘My father has hurt my mother, and that's all I 
need to know. That, to me, is the end of it.’ 
‘But people are so complicated,’ Diana told Michael, hinting 
at the complexity of Joseph's problems. ‘Who knows why they do 
the things they do.’ 
‘I know why,’ Michael insisted. ‘It's because Joseph is a bad 
man, that's why. My brothers are going down the same road,’ he 
concluded. ‘I can see it, already.’ 
After a couple of months, Katherine withdrew her divorce 
papers. Joseph promised her that he would try to change, and that 
she should not break up the family over his past behaviour. Much 
to the dismay of her children, Katherine and Joseph were 
reconciled. 

========================

22. The Downslide 
 
Despite The Jackson 5's world-wide popularity with concert-goers, 
trouble was brewing where their record sales were concerned. In 
Europe, sales had always been uneven. However, record store 
performance in America had always been strong. By April 1972 
though, whether from overexposure or lack of promotion, the 
group was losing steam. The April release of ‘Little Bitty Pretty 
One’, was a huge disappointment. Except for a seasonal release of 
‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’, it became the poorest-selling 
Jackson 5 single to date, netting only 590,629 copies, globally. Its 
follow-up, ‘Lookin' Through the Windows’, fared even worse: 
581,426 copies. This was a terrible showing. (It is interesting, 
though, that this song marked a sudden sales resurgence in Britain 
– a Top 10 hit that was no doubt a consequence of their recent 
tour.) When ‘Corner of the Sky’, from the Broadway musical 
Pippin  (which Gordy had financed), sold only a disappointing 
381,426 copies worldwide, Joseph became irate. 
‘What the hell is going on?’ he fumed. He began showing up 
at Motown, harassing the sales staff and badgering the promotion 
executives. The problem was that Berry Gordy was no longer 
personally involved in what was going on with the record 
company. Instead, he put in charge a man named Ewart Abner, a 
seasoned executive in the recording industry by the time he got to 
Motown. For his part, Berry now devoted most of his time to 
Diana Ross's film career, and to establishing Motown Productions 
in the movie business. Although still Motown's chairman of the 
board, he was interested only in filmmaking, not in record 
production. A star vehicle for Diana Ross called Mahogany was in 
the works, a venture that would monopolize most of Berry's time. 
At the time, Motown was capitalizing on a more socially 
conscious sound with Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Perhaps 
The Jackson 5's audience had become hungry for a hipper sound 
than what they got with the group's next release, ‘Hallelujah Day’. 
It sold less than a quarter of a million discs; too bad, it was a 
terrific little record with leads shared by Michael, Marlon and 
Jackie. 
In truth, Ewart Abner didn't care about The Jackson 5. He 
wasn't involved in signing them to the company, and he felt their best days were behind them. ‘They already had their own cartoon, 
for Christ's sake,’ he argued. ‘Why spend any more money on 
them?’ If sales figures were low and the group was losing its 
audience, it was the group's fault, not Motown's, he decided. With 
that point of view, it wasn't surprising that Joseph disliked Ewart 
Abner, and in an intense, passionate way. 
When an album, Skywriter,  was released in March and sold 
only 115,045 copies, it became the group's poorest-selling album. 
(It didn't even reach the Top 50 in Britain.) Joseph believed that all 
of the records which had been failures could have been more 
successful if Motown had simply promoted them properly. 
There was a reprieve in the downward slide when producer 
Hal Davis put together a terrific track for the Jackson boys called 
‘Get It Together’. The production was tight; the music, 
background vocals and Michael's maturing lead all blended nicely 
on this performance, a departure from the sweeter, pop music 
styles previously associated with the group. Released in August 
1973, it sold over 700,000 copies. Though not a million-seller, it 
encouraged Joseph in his belief that his sons still had an audience. 
To his way of thinking, The Jackson 5 was not finished. If 
anything, he was finished_ with Motown. 

 =========================


23. Jermaine Falls for the Boss's Daughter 
 
In early 1973, while Katherine and Joseph were distracted by the 
discord in their marriage, their son Jermaine was falling in love_ 
with Berry Gordy's daughter. He had been dating Hazel Gordy for 
several months and, at just eighteen, seemed about to follow 
Rebbie's and Tito's lead by using matrimony to extricate himself 
from the Jackson homestead. 
It was clear to the brothers that Hazel had become an 
important and influential presence in his life. For example, at a 
rehearsal in March, the group had been attempting to solve a 
problem in choreography with Suzanne dePasse. After a decision 
had been made about how best to handle the situation, the brothers 
were in agreement. However Hazel, who had begun attending all practice sessions, pulled Jermaine aside and whispered something 
in his ear. Jermaine listened, nodded absently, and walked back to 
his brothers. ‘I think we oughta change this step,’ he announced, 
dutifully. 
‘But why?’ Michael protested, according to a witness's 
memory. ‘It's perfect as it is.’ 
‘Because Hazel has a better idea. Look, Mike, you stand here,’ 
he said positioning his brother. ‘And Tito here, Marlon there, and 
Jackie over there.’ Jermaine then demonstrated Hazel's ‘great idea’ 
which, upon execution, made Jermaine more prominent in the 
presentation. When Suzanne realized what had happened, she shot 
Hazel a look. Hazel smiled innocently. Since Hazel was Berry's 
daughter, Suzanne had no choice but to agree with her suggestion. 
‘Looks fine, guys,’ she said. ‘Let's keep it.’ 
‘Well, I hate it,’ Michael announced, looking at Jermaine. 
‘C'mon, Jermaine,’ he said, ‘I thought we agreed.’ 
Jermaine looked away. 
The other brothers tried to ignore what had happened. ‘It ain't 
that important,’ Tito decided. 
‘Well, I think it is  important,’ Michael concluded. ‘But you 
guys can do whatever you want.’ He then looked over to Jermaine, 
who now was in another conference with Hazel, shook his head 
and rolled his eyes. 
Jermaine had been attracted to Hazel when they first met in 
1969, but not in the same way in which she fancied him. After a 
short time, Hazel told Jermaine she was in love with him; he made 
it clear that he was not sure he could return her affection. He was a 
teenage idol, a star, and could have his pick of dozens of willing 
young women. This kind of idolatry was heady stuff for a young 
man like Jermaine. It made the idea of settling down with one 
woman seem confining, no matter who she might be. 
‘Jermaine likes girls too much to get married,’ Michael had 
said. ‘I think he'll be in his thirties before he does anything like 
that.’ 
However, Hazel was a young, idealistic girl who wanted more 
than anything to marry and have a family. Not only had her father 
been divorced three times, she had witnessed his tumultuous, 
heart-wrenching affair with Diana Ross. Though young, Hazel 
believed that true love was elusive, she remained a romantic. ‘I can truthfully say that since I fell in love with Jermaine I have 
never even thought about any other man,’ she said. 
Delores Robertson, who was a friend of Hazel's at the time, 
recalled, ‘Berry Gordy had been lavishing Hazel, his only 
daughter, with gifts for as long as she could remember. She told 
him that she was in love with one of The Jackson 5 and she wanted 
him for her own. Her feelings for Jermaine were so strong, she 
was afraid to let him slip through her fingers for fear that no one 
like him would ever come along again. She was jealous when she 
would see Jermaine with female fans. 溺ichael can have fans, but 
you can't,_ she used to tell him. Berry made sure she usually got 
what she wanted. Now she wanted Jermaine. Berry got to know 
Jermaine and, even though he felt there might be a problem with 
Joseph,  believed that Jermaine was right for Hazel. When 
Jermaine asked Berry for her hand, he said, yes.’ 
Though Berry thought Joseph might be a stumbling block to 
any union between his daughter and Jermaine, that wasn't the case, 
at least not at first. Hazel actually found an unexpected ally in 
Joseph, who might not have insisted on a pre-nuptial agreement 
anyway (as he had with Tito's wife). He was certain that marriage 
between his son and the boss's daughter would ensure job security 
for the Jackson clan at Motown, especially since he was having a 
difficult time of late in even getting Berry on the telephone. He did 
all he could to help the youngsters, even referring to her as ‘my 
Hazel’ and saying that he loved her. 
Had Joseph given the matter more thought, he might have 
been more concerned about the recent turn of events. When 
Berry's sister, Anna, was married to Motown singer Marvin Gaye, 
the alliance never gave Marvin special privileges at the company. 
In fact, according to Marvin, it only served to complicate his life 
and career because Anna acted as a spy for her brother during 
times of conflict. Marvin was rarely able to make a move that 
Berry didn't know about in advance. Also, Marvin said that he 
always felt a strong conflict of interest whenever he and Berry 
battled, which was often. 
Many other Motown artists felt as Marvin did, that Jermaine 
was about to be groomed by Berry to become a major star just as 
Diana Ross had been lifted from The Supremes to superstar status; 
that Jermaine's two solo releases for the company, ‘That's How Love Goes’ and ‘Daddy's Home’, had been successful, and he did 
have the potential to be one of the company's biggest stars. 
Actually, some critics cited strong similarities between Jermaine's 
vocal style and Marvin Gaye's. The truth is that Jermaine had his 
own sound, and it was a good one, too, full-bodied and always an 
interesting contrast to Michael's high-pitch on the many songs the 
two shared at Motown. (Actually, the reason Jermaine started 
singing leads at the company was that the group's producer, Deke 
Richards, was hospitalized with a slipped disk. He didn't want 
Fonce Mizell and Freddie Perren, to work with Michael without 
him, so he told them to write  something for Jermaine. That song 
was ‘I Found That Girl’, the flip side of ‘The Love You Save’.)