La Toya Jackson La Toya Jackson was born on May 29, 1956, in Gary, Indiana. Born to steel mill worker, Joseph Jackson, and sales clerk, Katherine Jackson; La Toya shared a cramped two-bedroom house with siblings, Jackie, Tito, Marlon, Jermaine, Randy, Maureen (Rebbie), Janet Jackson, and Michael Jackson. When La Toya was ten, her mother became a devout Jehovah's Witness, and La Toya began evangelizing door-to-door with her mother and siblings. Throughout the 70s, La Toya’s father focused on managing the career of her brothers’ group, The Jackson Five, which led the family to move to Encino, California. By 1979, Joseph Jackson had turned his attention to grooming his daughters for a singing act of their own, and mobilized Rebbie, Janet, and La Toya into a short-lived Las Vegas trio. In 1980, La Toya released her self-titled debut album, which failed to find success in the same way that brother Michael’s recent solo endeavor had. La Toya released three subsequent albums, landing a Billboard Hot 100 hit with her 1984 single, “Heart Don't Lie.” In 1988, she released a track called “Just Say No,” written for the 80s anti-drug campaign of the same name spearheaded by U.S. First Lady, Nancy Reagan. La Toya also lent her voice to the all-star team, USA for Africa on “We Are The World,” written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.
La Toya’s singing career continued to be managed by her father until the late 80s, when she defied her parents in an act of rebellion rather than romance by marrying manager, Jack Gordon. Gordon was vilified by the Jacksons for reportedly "brainwashing" La Toya and taking their daughter, who was still living at home in her thirties, away from them. Gordon, however, claimed that La Toya’s father had physically threatened and assaulted him. In 1989, Jackson again rebelled against the then-squeaky clean image of the Jackson clan by posing nude for Playboy magazine. The issue featuring La Toya on the cover became one of the most successful issues in Playboy's history, selling over 8 million copies. She posed again for the magazine in 1991 to promote her self-titled autobiography. In 1993, La Toya’s brother Michael was accused of sexually molesting a thirteen-year-old boy. La Toya addressed the allegations at a press conference, where she announced that she believed her brother was guilty. The rest of the Jackson mobilized as a united front in defense of Michael, claiming that La Toya was being controlled by Gordon, her husband and manager, to generate publicity. In 1997, La Toya divorced Jack Gordon and ended her estrangement with her family. Since then, she has renounced her previous claim that Michael Jackson was guilty of child molestation, and the siblings have reconciled. In 2005, La Toya, accompanied Michael to the courthouse where he was found innocent on charges of child molestation, and proved that he and La Toya really were two different people.
In 2006, La Toya patrolled the city of Muncie, Indiana, for five weeks while training as a police officer for the celeb-reality show Armed & Famous, alongside Jack Osbourne, Trish Stratus, Jason Acuna, and Erik Estrada. YUDDY |
