SANTA MARIA, CA - MARCH 8: Singer Michael Jackson (R) gestures as he and his father, Joseph Jackson, depart the Santa Maria Superior Court during the second week of Michael's child molestation trial March 8, 2005 in Santa Maria, California. Jackson is charged in a 10-count indictment with molesting a boy, plying him with liquor and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. He has pleaded innocent. (Photo by Kimberly White-Pool/Getty Images)
Joh’Vonnie Jackson is speaking about her experiences growing up as the daughter of Joe Jackson. Her mother, Cheryle Ann Terrell, was Joe’s mistress for 25 years while he was married to Katherine Jackson. Joh’Vonnie is the youngest half-sibling of Michael, Janet, Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon and Randy Jackson. She’s now 52.
As mentioned, Joh’Vonnie recently appeared on the talk show, ‘Portia.’ In response to the interviewer’s question, she explained that Joe Jackson always told her who her siblings were and that she knew them by name. “And he always made sure that I knew you are a Jackson,” Joh’Vonnie said. Adding, “You’re tough, you’re strong, you’re a Jackson.”
When Vonnie got older, her mother, Cheryle, let her know the mistress situation between her and Joe Jackson. She was a young teen, around 11, when that conversation happened, she says. In 2018, she published the memoir ‘Bastard Child: The Story of the 11th Jackson.’
“I was very angry, very upset. I was feeling like ‘How can I ever get advice from her when she’s out here doing this?’ And it was really abnormal because I saw my father every day if my dad wasn’t out the country, he was at home with us.”
Despite being angry with her mother, Joh’Vonnie Jackson admits that she didn’t feel the same way towards Joe. She confirmed that her dad attended her graduations, dinners and that they even had a backyard garden that he farmed. Still, Joe Jackson was strict with Vonnie and her mother and their whereabouts.
“He was extremely strict…very controlling. Myself I wasn’t allowed to go hang out with the kids, I wasn’t allowed to go to anyone’s house nor have anyone come over,” Joh’Vonnie said. “It wasn’t good. My mother and I we couldn’t even shop at the corner store because there might be a run in with some of the family.”
Her parents, she later said, met at her mother’s work Christmas party. Cheryle, Joh’Vonnie said, worked as a secretary for a few police officers. “They met and my dad pursued and he didn’t stop…cause she wasn’t interested,” Vonnie said. Though she watched her Jackson siblings take off in front of the world, Joh’Vonnie admits it was a given that she wouldn’t get to be around them.
“It made me feel horrible because when you’re young and you see these people that are your siblings on television, you’re like oh my God, you have these expectations…”
