Showbiz411

Everyone wondered why LaToya Jackson stayed out of the big family fight that included the spiriting of her mother to Arizona, the change of guardianship of her niece and nephews, and public spewing by Randy and Jermaine against Michael Jackson’s executors. Now we know where she was: making a deal with Oprah Winfrey. Variety reports that La Toya has made a deal for a reality show with Oprah’s OWN network. It’s going to be called “Life with La Toya.”

Usually La Toya is all over the news when the Jacksons are feuding, giving an opinion on everything. Not this time. She was unaccountably silent. It’s good to see that because of a financial deal in progress, La Toya showed not one bit of interest in her mother’s whereabouts or Michael’s kids well being. Anyway, still more interesting is La Toya’s “company.”

I’m not sure how she employs half a dozen or so people mentioned on her website. And why someone named Dr. Richard A. Boyd, listed as Chairman of Ja Tail Productions, has no bio and cannot be found anywhere on the internet. I wonder how much of the backstage stuff during this summer’s scandal was already filmed for the reality show, or if the show only came together because of the scandal. In any case, hats off to LaToya for turning lemons into lemonade.

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.