Larry Busacca/Getty ImagesMichael Jackson's will expressly stated that, if for some reason, his mother Katherine couldn't care for his children in the event of his death, then he wanted longtime friend Diana Ross to look after them.
That doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon, even though 82-year-old Katherine Jackson lost custody of Prince, Paris and Blanket last week at the behest of grandson T.J., who has been appointed his cousins' temporary guardian.
Ross has finally spoken out, however, in response to a report that she will sign off on a proposed joint custody agreement between Katherine and T.J., which E! News learned yesterday was in the works.
"All interests are best served if it remains private," read the singer's terse statement in response to the increasingly tangled web being woven around Michael Jackson's children.
Probably so, but the kids' aunts and uncles opted to get from A to B (whatever B is, no one has quite determined) in as public a fashion as possible so far.
Rebbie, Jermaine, Randy and Janet Jackson have demanded that the current executors of Michael's estate step down from their post, claiming their late brother's will is a fake and that their management of the estate is taking its toll on their 82-year-old mother.
While Katherine was at a resort in Arizona resting up at the behest of some of her grown children, T.J. (who is Tito Jackson's son) was granted temporary custody of Prince, Paris and Blanket—a move that left Katherine, in her words, "devastated."
A source assured E! News, meanwhile, that T.J. is "tight with his grandmother" and didn't make this change to take the kids away from her. They are now "trying to protect the kids from the other family," the insider said.