UNITED KINGDOM: OK! MAGAZINE PUBLISHES THE FIRST PICTURES OF MICHAEL JACKSON AND HIS BABY SON

Record ID: 386912

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: OK! MAGAZINE PUBLISHES THE FIRST PICTURES OF MICHAEL JACKSON AND HIS BABY SON
  • Date: 24th March 1997
  • Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 24, 1997) (RTV) RING TALKING TO REPORTERS RING (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) SAYING LIKE ALL GREAT SCOOPS WE TOOK MONTHS WORKING ON THIS. WE WERE TALKING TO MICHAEL'S PEOPLE BEFORE THE BABY WAS BORN LAST MONTH IN FEBRUARY. JACKSON IS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL RECORDING ARTIST OF ALL TIME. EVERYONE LOVES BABY PHOTOGRAPHS AND THERE HAS BEEN LOTS OF SPECULATION ABOUT HIS MARRIAGE, WAS IT REAL, AND WE WANTED ANSWERS TO THOSE QUESTIONS AND WE HAVE
  • Embargoed: 8th April 1997 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA2DCPO2ULZ098Z1UIH6IAG1NAL
  • Story Text: A British magazine has published the first pictures of Michael Jackson and his baby son, Prince Michael Junior.

    Michael Jackson sold the photographic rights to the pictures of his son, himself and wife Debbie Rowe to OK! magazine for more than 2.5 million pounds (4 million U.S. dollars), most of which has gone to a children's charity.

    The eccentric billionaire singer says he is in bliss "24 hours a day" after his wife Debbie gave birth to their son over a month ago.

    The magazine features nine pictures of the couple and the baby showing Jackson kissing the infant's cheek and cradling him in his arms.

    The magazine went on sale on Tuesday (March 25), its publishers staging an elaborate release in London's Picadilly Circus to publicize the event.

    Asked about his relationship with Debbie, Jackson told the magazine: "Debbie and I love each other for all the things you'll never see on stage or in pictures. I fell for the beautiful, unpretentious, giving person that she is and she fell for me just being me." Asked why Jackson's baby shares the same name as one of his superstar rivals, he replied: "My grandfather and great-grandfather were both named Prince, so we have carried on the tradition and now we have a third Prince in the family." On her own feelings about Jackson, Debbie said: "I love him even more now than before our son was born. Fatherhood has brought out a very protective streak in him. He is so loving and strong." She added: "I have married and had a baby with the man I will always love, and I am on top of the world. The only time I feel sad is when I see quotes attributed to me that I never said or when I hear late-night comedians taking cheap shots at my husband when they are not true. Don't believe 99 per cent of the garbage you read or hear. I know that we will be under increasing public scrutiny and I don't look forward to that, but I know that I will always be a part of being married to Michael." OK( editor Sharon Ring would not confirm how much the magazine had paid for the pictures and story but admitted she had been in negotiations with the couple long before Prince was born.

    OK( expect to sell up to half a million copies this week and have sold the world rights to the picture spread. Most of the money will go to Jackson's Heal The World Foundation which supports children with Aids.
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