Jackson Family

Here's Michael Jackson's 14-year-old daughter Paris Jackson at an event in L.A. on Thursday (left) -- and '80s supermodel and former "Celebrity Apprentice" star Carol Alt, 51, in NYC on Thursday (right).

Pretty young things.

La Toya Jackson insists ... she did not raid Michael Jackson's home just hours after his death, pillaging plastic bags filled with cash -- and now, she's threatening to sue a major magazine for saying otherwise.

La Toya has fired off a cease-and-desist letter to Vanity Fair, claiming its recent article entitled "Estate of Siege" is "replete with misstatements of fact, false innuendos, and defamatory insinuations."

According to La Toya's letter, the article falsely claims she showed up at MJ's Carolwood mansion shortly after his death and loaded plastic bags filled with cash into a duffel bag. The VF article goes on to describe La Toya's bf leaving the home in a moving van.

La Toya claims the article describes her visit as a "mad scramble for money" -- strongly insinuating she stole large sums of cash from MJ's house.

According to La Toya ... the allegations are nothing but lies and she wants a full retraction asap.

You would think Joe Jackson would be flattered when anyone wanted to take a picture of him ... but he flipped out when a Vegas tourist tried photographing him, and it almost landed the famous dad in the pokey.

Here's the low down. Joe was at The Palms Thursday when a hotel guest recognized the famous dad and aimed his camera in Joe's direction. Jackson allegedly went ballistic, screaming "Don't take pictures of me!" The guest claims Joe lunged at him, making contact.

Joe almost got more publicity than the time he announced he signed a new rap artist days after Michael died ... because the guest called security and demanded to get Vegas cops involved.

But Joe got a reprieve ... by the time cops arrived the guest cooled down and decided not to press charges.

But here's the thing. We don't think the guest got his picture, so here you go

We tried squeezing Michael Jackson's secret french toast recipe out of his ex-cook Kai Chase -- and ended up with some even awesomer dishes ... from dead celebs. Hungry?

While celebrating Michael Jackson's birthday on Wednesday, La Toya and Paris Jackson partied it up by hanging out with a look-alike MJ impersonator.

La Toya and Paris snapped pics with tribute artist Carlo Riley at the annual "Goin' Back to Indiana" birthday celebration for the King of Pop in his hometown of Gary.

Riley looks so much like MJ that he said Katherine Jackson told him, "You're going to make me cry." While Paris added, "I love your outfit."

Jermaine Jackson says he celebrated Michael Jackson's birthday by spending time with his family and watching sentimental home videos ... but JJ explained it's also a day marked with great sadness.

Jermaine was out with his kids in Calabasas yesterday where he told us, "Today is a day to remember a wonderful human being ... but we're sobbing ... always."

Sadly, Jermaine told us the family "didn't really have birthday parties" for Michael over the years ... but says he will always cherish the memories of the two performing on stage together.

Prince, Paris and Blanket were spotted in Gary, IN yesterday ... along with their co-guardian Katherine Jackson and their aunt La Toya. TJ Jackson -- the OTHER co-guardian -- also made the trip.

Michael will be honored at the annual "Goin Back to Indiana" celebration in Gary ... which kicks off tonight with a candlelight vigil in front of MJ's childhood home.

The kids are also expected to throw out the first pitch at a Gary SouthShore RailCats baseball game this week.

TJ Jackson is now PERMANENTLY sharing guardianship of Michael Jackson's children with their grandmother Katherine Jackson, an L.A. judge just ruled.

As we previously reported, TJ was awarded temporary co-guardianship of Prince, Paris, and Blanket along with Katherine ... but that was made permanent today.

TJ has received enormous support from the Jackson family to take a guardianship role, including from Katherine herself ... as well as MJ's kids. TJ has been a father figure to the children for years.

The judge told TJ in court to be mindful of the giant rift currently tearing apart the Jackson family -- and asked TJ to make sure the children aren't negatively affected.

As co-guardian, TJ will assume many of the day-to-day tasks involved in taking care of the children -- including management of household personnel and security.

We have more info on Katherine Jackson's request for the Michael Jackson Estate to pay for expenses related to Janet Jackson's Las Vegas home, and it turns out toilet paper -- NOT mortgages -- is on her mind.

As we previously reported, the Estate filed documents asking the court to allow the Executors to pay Katherine for "expenses relating to .... a residence in Las Vegas."

We're told the residence is Janet Jackson's home. Fact is ... there's no need to cover any mortgage expenses, because we're told Janet doesn't have a mortgage -- she owns the home outright, but never spends time there. In fact, we're told she bought the home so Katherine could use it. And, she has provided various other forms of support for Katherine over the years. So what we reported initially -- that the Estate would pay part of the mortgage -- isn't the case.

Sources connected to Katherine now tell us, Katherine wants the money because she incurs various expenses when she spends time at Janet's property. Our sources say the expenses include, food, cable, utilities, Internet, travel and even toilet paper.

A grease-filled barbeque torpedoed a big party at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch this AM.

A large group was there for the shindig, when the staff lit the BBQ to get the coals hot. We're told a grease build-up on the system ignited the hood system and caused some panic.

Three engines from the Santa Barbara County Fire Dept. arrived but the blaze had already been put out.

The BBQ was cancelled.

El Pollo Loco anyone?

Dr. Conrad Murray no longer feels safe behind bars, TMZ has learned -- after jailers mistakenly allowed a complete stranger to visit him in the clink ... a woman posing as the mother of MJ's children ... and now, Murray's afraid of another security breach.

Murray's lawyers tell TMZ, the woman -- who appeared to be in her 40s and of Eastern European descent -- visited Murray in jail Thursday, saying she flew in from Nevada just to see him.

Murray didn't recognize her and insisted there must be some mistake -- but she replied, "I've seen you before and you've probably seen me before. I'm the mother of Michael Jackson's kids."

FYI -- Debbie Rowe is the biological mother of MJ's two older children. The mother of the youngest child (Blanket) is reportedly a Hispanic woman in San Diego.

So needless to say, we're told Murray called the visitor an "impostor" ... then told her to scram, which she did.

Now, Murray's upset ... because a recent change in the L.A. County jail's visitor policy -- which lets visitors sign up online without verifying their identity -- has left him exposed to crazies from the outside world.

Under the new policy, prisoners don't even get notified of their visitor until they're sitting face-to-face with them in a tiny cell -- separated only by glass -- which is what happened to Murray.

Murray's attorney Valerie Wass tells TMZ, "I have serious concerns about the security. My client was horror-stricken by the fact that a complete stranger could get in to see him."

Debbie Rowe -- the woman who gave birth to two of Michael Jackson's children -- has filed legal papers saying she SUPPORTS the new joint guardianship arrangement ... but is warning TJ and Katherine that she WILL intervene if things don't work out.

Rowe filed the documents in L.A. County Superior Court today ... saying she has reviewed the co-guardianship application and signed off on the deal reached between TJ and Katherine to share parenting responsibilities for Paris, Blanket and Prince.

But in the docs, Debbie warns ... "Should the arrangement sought by TJ Jackson and Katherine Jackson become untenable, unstable, unsafe, or in any way contrary to the best interests of the children, Ms. Rowe will seek court intervention."

Rowe claims her concern is for the health, safety and well-being of HER children; and says she will continue to ensure their needs are met.

Remember, when TJ first petitioned for guardianship, the judge said that Debbie must be notified.

Russia's INCREDIBLE synchronized swimming team didn't just blow away the judges with their gold medal-winning Michael Jackson routine this week -- they also left a lasting impression on one particular member of the Jackson family.

In case you missed it, the Russian team of Natalia Ischenko and Svetlana Romashina donned MJ-themed bathing suits and performed an amazing routine to the King of Pop's "They Don't Care About Us." The performance eventually helped them land the gold, over Spain.

Their routine was near-perfect -- but no one was more impressed than Michael's sister, La Toya Jackson, who tells TMZ, "I'm thankful for the honor that the Olympian swimmers paid to my brother Michael's memory."

She adds, "It is so wonderful to see how many global fans he has!"

As if the past couple of weeks haven't been enough of a rollercoaster ride, Michael Jackson's kids hit up Six Flags Magic Mountain this weekend with one of their newly appointed co-guardians.

No, it wasn't 82-year-old Katherine Jackson. This time, TJ got the nod.

Paris, Blanket and a sleeveless Prince spent their Saturday with the fun co-guardian -- hittin' up all the crazy rides at the theme park ... including "Revolution" ... the first rollercoaster ever built with a loop.

Katherine Jackson has no plans to press charges against her own children over her recent "trip" to Arizona ... a lawyer for the Jackson family matriarch tells TMZ.

As TMZ first reported, Jackson's declaration following the Arizona spa ordeal -- which came as part of her bid to obtain co-guardianship over Prince, Paris, and Blanket -- seemed to suggest she was tricked into going and had no idea MJ's kids were worried about her. As part of the declaration, Jackson said, "At the time, I trusted the people I was with to be honest with me."

But Katherine's attorney, Perry Sanders, tells TMZ she has "absolutely" no plans to press charges over the incident, telling us, "This chapter of chaos is closed and we are supportive of family unity in spite of recent events and arguably poor decisions."

Katherine Jackson is strongly suggesting she was tricked into traveling to Tucson last month and BLOCKED from communicating with MJ's children -- this according to a sworn declaration by Katherine herself.

Katherine filed the declaration as part of her bid to obtain co-guardianship over Prince, Paris, and Blanket.

In the docs, Katherine claims she was scheduled to go on a road trip to New Mexico to watch her sons in concert -- but on July 14th, an unnamed doctor showed up to her house and told her it was better for her to take a plane instead.

Katherine says she obliged -- believing the doctor was under the orders of her longtime physician -- but when she got off the plane ... she found herself in Tucson, where she had been set up at a luxury resort.

According to her lawyer, "Her children took her to a spa ... because she had high blood pressure."

When she got to the resort, Katherine says her phone and iPad were taken away -- and her in-room telephone was disconnected. She says her TV was also shut off.

When Katherine asked about the grandchildren, she was told "they were fine" and there was nothing to worry about. She says she did NOT know she had been reported missing and her grandkids were freaking out.

Katherine says, "At the time, I trusted the people I was with to be honest with me."

The declaration flies completely in the face of the statements Katherine previously made in an interview with ABC News, when she called her sudden absence last month a "short vacation."

During the interview, Katherine -- surrounded by Jermaine, Rebbie, and Janet -- said, "One reason I didn't call is I just gave up my phone and I didn't want to have any phone calls while I was here."