As a family court date for the Jackson family looms on August 3rd, here’s something to chew on: the words of Katherine Jackson about her rocky marriage and near divorce.

We know that Katherine Jackson twice filed for divorce from Joseph Jackson, in 1973 and and 1979. Each time she pulled back the papers. He even fathered a daughter, Joh’Vonnie, from an outside relationship.

Katherine published an autobiography called “My Family, the Jacksons,” co-written with Richard Wiseman, in 1990, from St. Martins Press. Here’s an excerpt:

“I didn’t believe it right up until I got a call from a friend in 1974, informing me that Joe was having an affair.

“I knew the girl in question…Originally she had been interested in Jackie…I was devastated…I didn’t think I could forgive him for what he’d done. I remained in this muddled state for longer than I’d care to admit: seven years. During this period, I heard rumors of other affairs. But I still couldn’t bring myself to file for divorce., even though a couple of times I came close…In 1981, I finally did file for divorce. But to my amazement, Joe wouldn’t move out.

“My attorney told me I could get a restraining order against Joe, and if he still refused to leave the house, have the police forcibly remove him.”

Ultimately Katherine Jackson feared bad press’”they would jump all over it”’so she let Joe Jackson stay in the house and decided to try and forgive him. She withdrew these divorce papers as well.

In the book, she did include a quote from eldest daughter, Rebbie, who left home at 18 and married rather than stick around and live through the dysfunction in the Jackson household.

Rebbie says: “What my father did got to me. There were times when I couldn’t stand being in his company, because I’d start thinking about his affair…I encouraged her to leave him. I knew that he was damaging her spirit, that she couldn’t possibly have peace of mind.”

The British tabloids are all excited today that Michael Jackson might have another child.

He doesn’t. All they had to do was a web search to find my column from October 2004. The young man in question, Omer Bhatti, didn’t meet Michael until he was 12 years old. But why should that stop speculation?

Omer is the son Riz and Pia Bhatti. In the mid 90s, the Bhattis dressed Omer up to look like Mini-Me Michael and brought him to Jackson’s Tunis hotel. Omer did a little Jacko imitation, and Michael loved it. He took the whole family on tour with him. Later, he moved them all into Neverland. Pia Bhatti was the original nanny for Prince Michael I when he was born in 1997.

The Bhattis have had a long relationship with Michael. Even after the parents returned to native Norway, Omer stuck around Neverland. The police found him there in 2003 when they conducted a surprise raid.

One reason some people think Omer was Michael’s son was because Jackson used to tell them that. Back in 2004 when I wrote the original Omer story, several sources told me Michael had confided in them that this was the case. It was a lie, however. It either reflected Jackson’s desire to have children, or explained why he was keeping the boy at Neverland.

What does Omer do now? Why, he’s a Michael Jackson impersonator, of course. Really, you couldn’t make these stories up. No one would believe it.

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Michael Jackson was harangued and harassed for the last few weeks of his life by his father, Joseph. The point of it: to install Leonard Rowe as Michael’s financial adviser and to let Rowe promote Michael’s lucrative London shows.

Michael, afraid of his father, may have finally caved in just to shoo the pair away.

But what Michael didn’t know is that Rowe, not related to Debbie Rowe, has quite a colorful history when it comes to the law–and to the Jacksons. The only time the Jacksons used him as a concert promoter was in 1979. But that ended badly when Rowe stopped payment to them on a $150,000 check. Joe Jackson may have forgotten this. Consequently, Rowe was not asked to help on either the 1981 or 1984 tours.

According to records, Rowe has served time in prison at least twice for fraud and writing bad checks. He’s well known to the U.S. government and law enforcement officials for writing checks on non-existent banks, being arrested, and then failing to make restitution. He’s also been convicted for wire fraud. He wasn’t at Michael’s last live concert in 2001, because he was serving a two-year sentence.

Rowe also has in legal history several federal and local tax liens in Georgia, and an arrest for possession of marijuana.

In 1998, Rowe started what would turn out to be a seven-year nuisance campaign against a number of talent agencies. He brought a massive lawsuit against them that was ultimately thrown out of court on appeal in 2005.

Last year he was ordered to pay R. Kelly $3.4 million after losing a lawsuit filed by the singer, again for fraud. Rowe was found guilty of booking fake concerts. He also had to pay Ne-Yo $700,000. A Lexis Nexis search of Rowe’s resume also turned up a 1984 bankruptcy.

The fear now by Jackson insiders is that if Katherine Jackson were to be added as an executor to Michael’s will, husband Joseph would exert his influence over her to bring Rowe into the picture. For Jackson’s kids, the result could be devastating.

Even though the Jacksons live separate lives, Mrs.Jackson has conceded that she has “no stomach” for fighting or “ugliness” and usually gives in to her husband’s wishes.

More to come on that subject…