Michael Jackson would not be able to play 50 shows, his father says

Bucking assurances from managers who had seen Michael Jackson's final concert rehearsals, Joe Jackson said his son would not have been able to complete the 50 shows scheduled for the pop icon's "This Is It" tour and was forced into booking more performances than he was capable of.

Tour promoter and former manager say M.J. was ready to do 50 shows. "The comeback tour was a good idea, but the wrong idea about it. There was more tours added onto it," Joe Jackson told ABC News' Chris Connelly in an exclusive interview. "Michael told me himself. That he agreed to 10 shows. But they went and added all these other shows."

For more on Chris Connelly's exclusive interview with Joe Jackson, tune into a special edition of "Primetime: Family Secrets -- The Jackson Family: Life After Michael", Tuesday, July 14, 10 p.m. ET 

Michael Jackson, who died June 25 at the age of 50 from apparent cardiac arrest, was to have kicked off the tour today at London's O2 Arena. Video footage and photos from some of his final rehearsals showed the King of Pop looking energized and smiling. ABC News reports.

Meanwhile, all Debbie Rowe wants to do is tend to her horses. That much was clear when MTV News sent writer Rebecca White to Rowe's Palmdale, California, ranch, where she has lived since 2005.

Out in the dusty California hills, Rowe — who unwillingly became tabloid fodder in 1996 when she wed Michael Jackson and bore his first two children in subsequent years — plays Noah to a veritable ark of animals, among them 10 dogs and 32 horses. She's always taken solace in animals, and after selling the Beverly Hills mansion she received after her 1999 divorce from Jackson, she moved out to Palmdale to focus exclusively on raising and breeding horses. She is rarely seen and hardly heard from. She has almost entirely disappeared.

Because that's exactly what she wanted to do.

So in 2008, White was faced with the unenviable task of making Rowe talk about her past — a past she had already moved on from and one she very much wanted everyone else to forget. Needless to say, it was an interesting chat. MTV.com reports

As a matter of fact, Michael Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, is lining up the King of Pop's children for a world tour as The Jackson Three — despite family members accusing him of trying to "exploit them like Jacko."

Former Jackson Five manager Joe is said to have approached Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year old Prince Michael II — known as Blanket — to hit the stage next year.

But one of Jacko's familymembers is said to be "livid" at the scheme, which will add fuel to the bitter custody battle for the youngsters.

Jackson’s biographer Ian Halperin said yesterday: "Joe wants the children to go on a world tour in 2010. He has also already offered recording contracts to two of Michael’s kids. Now he is talking about getting them the world’s best backing band and taking them on tour as The Jackson Three."

Halperin said yesterday his source for the allegations is extremely close to the family and may soon speak out publicly — out of concern for the future of the youngsters, FOXNews reports.