Michael Jackson’s Half-Sister Joh’Vonnie Reveals When She Realized Her Mom Was Joe Jackson’s Mistress

Michael Jackson’s half-sister Joh’Vonnie Jackson says the father she knew was different from the Joe Jackson depicted in the Michael biopic she praised nephew Jaafar Jackson’s performance as Michael but pushed back on the film’s portrayal of their father. “That’s not the Joe Jackson I experienced,” she told host Portia Bruner. Joh’Vonnie was careful about the limits of her perspective. She was born after the Jackson siblings’ early years under Joe’s management and said she could not speak to what they experienced. “I was not born, and I didn’t have to deal with the young Joseph,” she said. Joe was strict with her, too, she added: “I got my fair share of spankings from him as well.” Her childhood unfolded largely outside the household that produced the Jackson 5. Born to Joe and Cheryle Ann Terrell, Joh’Vonnie grew up with a relationship to her father that the public rarely saw, while her connection to his other children was more complicated. That divide has followed her into adulthood: she has described feeling like an outsider in the family, even as she developed a close bond with her older half-sister Rebbie. The film brought those differing family histories into focus. Jaafar, Jermaine Jackson’s son, plays Michael, while Colman Domingo portrays Joe. Joh’Vonnie said she was “overjoyed” by her nephew’s work but did not like seeing her father represented on screen. Joh’Vonnie has written about the harder parts of that position in her memoir, Bastard Child. She told Bruner she began writing at 15 and did not finish until her mid-40s. The title came from a label used against her, she said, and putting her story on the page was “the most cleansing thing.”

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