Kai Chase, Michael Jackson’s former personal chef, has opened up about how Paris and her siblings have coped in the wake of their father’s death.
During a testimony in the Jackson family’s wrongful death suit against AEG Live regarding Michael Jackson’s death, Kai Chase revealed 15-year-old Paris, who is currently recovering in hospital following a failed suicide bid, is “devastated and lost”.
She also revealed that Paris Jackson no longer wants parties for her birthday since her father hosted a private circus for her when she turned 11.
Kai Chase said: “Being daddy’s little girl, Paris is devastated. She’s devastated and lost. She’s trying to find herself and find who she is. It’s taking a lot of love and understanding to keep her together. She breaks down, she cries, she talks about him.”
Earlier in her testimony, Kai Chase described an April 2009 birthday party for Paris Jackson that included a private circus. The Cirque du Soleil-style show featured men on stilts and a woman performing in a giant balloon, Kai Chase said.
Paris Jackson, who was turning 11, adored her father and Kai Chase helped decorate a room filled with posters and photos of Michael Jackson. The singer’s music was played throughout the party.
It was the last birthday party Paris Jackson, now 15, has had.
“Paris hasn’t had any birthdays since,” Kai Chase said.
“She hasn’t wanted to celebrate since.”
Michael Jackson’s youngest son, Blanket, who remains home-schooled, wears a T-shirt with his father’s image every Friday, she said.
A video deposition of Paris from March was shown as part of the trial on Tuesday, as the teenager is still too unwell to testify in person.
The videos were used after lawyers for the Jackson family told the judge that Paris, who is suing the concert giant along with her grandmother Katherine, 83, and siblings, would be unable to testify in person due to the fact that she is still recovering in hospital.
Katherine Jackson’s lawsuit claims AEG failed to properly investigate Dr. Conrad Murray, who is serving a four-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter over Michael’s death, and pushed the superstar to rehearse and perform a planned series of 50 comeback shows titled This Is It.
Lawyers acting for Paris, Prince Michael, Blanket, and Katherine contend that pressure from AEG led to Michael Jackson’s death from an overdose of surgical anaesthetic in June 2009, two weeks before his This Is It concerts were to begin at the O2 Arena in London.
Both Paris Jackson and her brother Prince are listed as potential witnesses in the case, which is in its sixth week of trial.
However, in the video testimonial from March which was replayed on Tuesday, Paris Jackson claimed that her former nanny Grace Rwaramba, who has visited the teenager in hospital since her suicide attempt, was “obsessed” with Michael Jackson.
Paris Jackson said: “My dad didn’t like her so he tried to keep her away from us. He would send her to run errands a lot… He said she was sneaky, she was not an honest person and she lied a lot.”
She added in the footage: “She used to be [one of the nannies] but she got really creepy. This is going to freak you out. One time, it was before – me and my brother were really young – before Blanket was born.
“When he would stay in a hotel, or whatever, she would call the hotel and say that she was his wife. She was obsessed with him… They let her in and he’d wake up and she would be in his bed.”
Marvin S. Putnam, a defense attorney for AEG Live, said Paris and Prince Jackson were deposed in the case because they are named plaintiffs. He said Paris Jackson’s testimony was not a “grilling” but urged privacy for her and her family.
“There’s a real person involved here,” Marvin S. Putnam said.
“There’s a 15-year-old girl and something incredibly tragic has happened that none of us know why and I think it would really be in everyone’s best interest and particularly in her best interest if rather than blowing this up into something else, that they were given a little bit of privacy to deal with something that has to be a tragic, tragic moment for all of them.”
“She’s 15,” he said.
“Someone should give her a break.”
According to TMZ, legal papers reveal the famous offspring are asking for $10 billion for all of the future earnings they claim their father would have generated if he had he lived.
According to the website, the family want an additional $50 million for various other damages.
AEG, which denies any liability for Michael Jackson’s death, says the huge figure is based on speculation and that the star’s career was on a downward spiral.
Legal analysts say the billions being claimed are unlikely to be awarded and are a legal tactic to get publicity for the case.
Just days prior to her suicide bid, Paris Jackson was reportedly told that she does not share the same biological father as Prince.
Then, over the days that followed, Paris Jackson spiraled into depression and was admitted to the UCLA medical centre hospital after cutting her wrists and taking an overdose of pills on June 5.
Whilst Paris Jackson is said to be feeling better, she could remain in hospital for another month.
