THE JACKSONS: ONE BIG UNHAPPY FAMILY"

September, 1971: The Jackson 5 appeared on the cover of Life magazine, with the headline "Rock Stars At Home With Their Parents." Little did we know then that from 1988 onwards those happy smiles would be making public accusations to each other of abuse and bad behaviour.

Joe and Katherine Jackson and their nine children seemed to have it all. At least that is what it looked like. But behind the scenes it was a completely different story. Joe was determined to turn his sons into a successful pop group and forced his children to rehearse to the point of exhaustion, whipping them if they missed a step or note. According to LaToya, Joe Jackson abused her and terrorised her brothers, often pointing guns at the kids to get their attention. Even Michael admitted on a TV show that his father used to beat him as a child and that he was so afraid of his father that he was sometimes sick when he saw him: "He would tear you up if you missed. So not only were we practising, we were nervous rehearsing because he sat in the chair and he had this belt in his hand, and if you didn't do it the right way he would tear you up, really get you. And I got it a lot of times but I think my brother Marlon got it the most, because he had a hard time at first and he tried so hard and it was always, 'Do it like Michael.'The others were nervous and I was nervous too because he was tough."

When Joe spoke to Winfrey after Michael’s death in 2010, he admitted using the strap on his nine children: “I don’t regret the beatings,” he said. “It kept them out of jail and kept them right.”