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‘Sorry kids. Dad’s dead,’ Murray told Jackson children, Prince says

Prince Michael Jackson in 2011 at the Michael Forever Tribute Concert.
(Joel Ryan / Associated Press )
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Prince Jackson testified Wednesday that when he arrived at the hospital where his father had been rushed, the pop singer’s personal physician met him and his siblings.”Sorry kids. Dad’s dead,” he said Dr. Conrad Murray told them.”We just cried,” the performer’s son said.

FULL COVERAGE: AEG wrongful death trial

During 90 minutes of testimony, Prince Jackson, the entertainer’s eldest child and the first family member to testify in a wrongful death suit filed by his grandmother and siblings, revealed details of his life, which was closely guarded while his father was alive for fear of papparazzi.

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Prince, who now lives with his grandmother, said he just finished his sophomore year at the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, where he is a member of the National Honor Society. He said he makes jewelry, does martial arts and is part of the school’s robotics team. He said he wants to go to USC to study film, business or mechanical engineering.

Prince Jackson also talked about life with his famous father, living at the Neverland compound in Santa Barbara County, Ireland, Paris, Bahrain and Las Vegas. His attorneys showed home movies and photos of Neverland, which Prince called “a very homey place.”

He said the children were only allowed to go to the zoo and ride the Ferris wheel on special occasions. “My dad wanted us to remain humble,” he said. Posted around the compound, he said, were messages and poems from their father.“When children play, tyrants cry, there is nothing to say,” said one.

Prince Jackson said he would spend six days in school, either with his father or a tutor, learning about other cultures and religions. His father would ask them how they were doing in school and what they were doing “to better the world.”

His father, he testified, made all of them wear masks in public “so no one would know what we looked like so if we went out without him we could have a normal childhood.”

Prince said he’s now followed all the time.

“So I know why he did it. “

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jeff.gottlieb@latimes.com

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