All About Michael Jackson's 10 Siblings

Stephanie KaloiSat, April 25, 2026 at 12:30 PM UTC

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Left: Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Right: Michael Jackson, Tito Jackson, Jackie Jackson, Jermaine Jackson and Marlon Jackson in January 1971.Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage ; Michael Ochs rchives/Getty

Michael Jackson and his siblings are entertainment industry royalty.

In addition to Michael, his parents Joseph and Katherine Jackson welcomed nine other children between 1950 and 1974: Maureen (Rebbie), Sigmund (Jackie), Toriano (Tito), Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, Brandon (who died as an infant), Steven (Randy) and Janet, all of whom were born and raised in Gary, Ind. Joe also had another daughter, Joh’vonnie, outside of the marriage.

The Jackson family sprang to international fame when Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael debuted as The Jackson 5 in 1964. The group released such iconic hits as “I Want You Back” and “ABC," and many of the kids went on to enjoy their own solo careers to varying degrees of success.

While the family celebrated incredible wins, they also endured hardships together like the intensity of their father, child sexual abuse allegations against Michael and the mourning of his death in 2009. Michael paid $15 million in a settlement for 1993 allegations and was found not guilty of 14 sexual abuse related charges in 2005. He denied all wrongdoing before his death but allegations have continued to be made against him posthumously.

Here is everything to know about Michael Jackson’s 10 siblings.

They grew up in Indiana

Michael Jackson and his sister Janet pose for a photo at their Hollywood Hills home on Dec. 18, 1972, in Los Angeles, California.Credit: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

Joe and Katherine raised their children in a two-bedroom home at 2300 Jackson Street in Gary, Ind. The street name was purely coincidental, and the family still owned the home as of 2023.

In a 1995 online chat with fans, Michael spoke about the dynamic in his house when he was a young child. “We were a family that sang all the time. We would take the furniture out of the living room and dance," the singer said. "We would have a songwriting competition while we washed the dishes ... while we were cleaning. Music was our destiny.”

Katherine echoed this in a 2009 interview with ABC News. “After we married I used to sing all the time with the children when they came along. And that is how they got interested," she said.

A memorial service for Michael was held in his hometown following his death in 2009.

Michael and his siblings have talked about their difficult childhoods

Michael Jackson with his brothers Jackie, Tito, Marlon, Jermaine and Randy and their father Joseph, circa 1971.Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Some of the Jackson children have claimed that their father was abusive. Michael made some allegations of abuse against Joe in the 2003 documentary Living with Michael Jackson.

“I just remember hearing my mother scream, ‘Joe, you’re gonna kill him, you’re gonna kill him, stop it,' " Michael claimed. "I was so fast he couldn’t catch me half the time, but when he would catch me, oh my God, it was bad. It was really bad.”

Michael also told Rabbi Shmuley Boteach that his father was very intense about the success of his kids. His recorded conversations with Boteach between 2000 and 2001 were published in a book called The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul in Intimate Conversation in 2009.

“I hate to repeat it — but one day he said, ‘If you guys ever stop singing I will drop you like a hot potato,' " Michael claimed to Boteach. "It hurt me. You would think he would think, ‘These kids have a heart and feelings.’ Wouldn’t he think that would hurt us?”

Jermaine wrote in his 2011 memoir You Are Not Alone: Michael Through A Brother's Eyes that their father was very difficult. “None of us can remember him holding us or cuddling us or telling us ‘I love you,’ ” he wrote. Jermaine also claimed in his book that The Jackson 5 had to rehearse five hours a day and rarely played with other kids.

Years later, Joe denied the allegations. While speaking to Larry David shortly after Michael's death in 2009, he said, “I raised him just like you would raise your kids, you know? But harm Michael, for what? I have no reason. That's my son. I loved him and I still love him.”

In a will signed in July 2002, Michael did not include his father as a beneficiary of his fortune, nor as a potential guardian for his kids. Although Joe attempted to challenge the will, Judge Mitchell Beckloff declared in 2009, “Joe Jackson takes none of this estate. This is a decision his son made.”

In 2013, Joe sat down for an interview with Piers Morgan and attempted to justify his treatment of the kids. “I had to be that way because during those times, it was hard and you had a lot of gangs there in Gary, Indiana," the father-of-eleven said. "I had to make sure they didn’t get into any kind of trouble."

Joe died on June 27, 2018, of pancreatic cancer. Despite the allegations some of the Jackson children raised during Joe's life, Janet said her father was "incredible" and "drove me to be the best that I can" in a speech at the 2018 Radio Disney Music Awards a few days before he died.

They began performing together as kids

The Jackson 5 perform on a TV show circa 1971.Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Joe had wanted to be a musician as a young man, but he put that dream to the side after his kids proved their star power.

In his 1988 autobiography Moonwalk, Michael wrote that the family band began after his brothers took their father’s prized guitar to play it — and accidentally broke a string. Tito hid the guitar from their father, who demanded to see if his son was talented at the instrument and it turned out he was.

Joe put together The Jackson Brothers in 1964 with Jackie, Tito and Jermaine. Two years later Michael and Marlon joined, and the group began going by the name The Jackson 5 in 1966, with Joe working as their manager.

They were raised in the Jehovah’s Witness religion

Michael Jackson with his siblings, Janet Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Janet Jackson, Tito Jackson, Randy Jackson and Jackie Jackson at Jackie Jackson's home on Aug. 17, 1978 in Westlake Village, California.Credit: Gregg Cobarr/WireImage

Jermaine wrote about growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness in his 2011 memoir. He said that as a child, it was confusing to know some families decorated their houses and celebrated holidays but that his did not, in accordance with the Jehovah's Witness rules.

Jermaine wrote, “Our tiny house ... was the only one without decoration. We felt it was the only one in Gary, Indiana, but Mother assured us that, no, there were other homes and other Jehovah’s Witnesses who did not celebrate Christmas ... But that knowledge did nothing to clear our confusion: we could see something that made us feel good, yet we were told it wasn’t good for us.”

They moved to Los Angeles after becoming famous

Michael Jackson with his siblings Tito, Jackie, Jermaine and Marlon of The Jackson 5.Credit: Fin Costello/Redferns

In the late 1960's the entire Jackson family moved to L.A. after the success of The Jackson 5.

In 2011, Jermaine gave their father credit for making the move.

“It’s hard raising nine kids, bringing them from Indiana out here [to L.A.]," Jermaine told ABC. "That was his whole thing, wanting to keep his family together. And if he didn’t do anything else, he brought us out, he taught us everything we knew about becoming what we became.”

A lot of the Jackson kids had successful solo careers

Michael Jackson's sister Janet Jackson performs on stage during the MTV EMAs 2018 on Nov. 4, 2018 in Bilbao, Spain.Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Michael is regularly celebrated as one of the greatest performers of all time but he isn’t the only Jackson kid who had a successful career after the family band stopped making music.

Janet built a superstar career and forged her own incredible path in music, winning 11 Billboard Music Awards and five Grammys.

Jermaine began releasing his own music in 1972 when The Jackson 5 was still thriving. He also worked with Whitney Houston in the '80s and enjoyed a number of successful songs throughout the decade.

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Marlon and Tito also both tried their hands at solo musical careers. Marlon had a hit in 1987 with “Don’t Go.”

Jackie released his own solo albums in 1973 and 1989 — The A.V. Club said his song “Cruzin” from the second album “rivals Michael’s and Janet’s work.”

Randy, who joined the family band when they changed their name to The Jacksons in the mid-1970s, later had his own group called Randy & the Gypsys.

Like her sisters Janet and Rebbie, La Toya wasn’t a part of The Jackson 5. However, she found a way to carve her own path in music, and her career spanned over a decade. While she didn’t enjoy the major success that Michael and Janet had, she did work with Michael on several songs.

Rebbie didn’t release any music until she was 34 when her album Centipede came out; Michael helped to produce it.

Janet and Michael made a huge hit together

Two of the most famous members of the family, Janet and Michael, released a duet called "Scream" in 1995, to immense success. The song was a fiery anthem about the sibling pair fighting against the tabloid media.

Janet and Michael wrote, composed and produced the song with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The resulting music video won three MTV Video Music Awards and a Grammy.

In September 2009, three months after Michael's death, Janet performed the song as a tribute to her late brother, mimicking his dancing as a video of Michael doing the same moves played behind her.

Most of the Jackson kids defended their brother Michael

Michael Jackson and his sisters La Toya Jackson and Janet Jackson exit the Santa Maria courthouse for break during the evidentiary hearing in the Michael Jackson child molestation case on Aug. 16, 2004 in Santa Maria, California.Credit: Ed Souza-Pool/Getty

When the Los Angeles Police Department investigated Michael on allegations he possibly molested four children in 1993, Michael’s family stood in support of him.

“I’d like to let the world know that I’m behind my son. I don’t believe any of this stuff that’s being written about him because I raised him and I know that’s just a statement people are making," she said in a press conference, per the Los Angeles Times.

At the same event, Jermaine read a statement from the entire Jackson family. “We would like to take this opportunity, when our family has come together in unity and harmony, to convey our love and unfailing support for Michael," he said.

“Further, we wish to state our collective, unequivocal belief that Michael has been made victim of a cruel and obvious attempt to take advantage of his fame and success," Jermaine added.

When Michael was arrested in November 2003 on similar charges of child molestation, many of his siblings defended their brother.

A month after the arrest, Jackie completely refuted the allegations to Diane Walters on 20/20. “I changed his diapers when he was little," he said. "I know my brother. Michael, he's not that kind of person. He doesn't do that. That's all a lie on him.”

Tito, Marlon and Jackie all rose to their brother’s defense in an interview with Gayle King following the release of the 2019 documentary Finding Neverland, which detailed allegations of sexual abuse made against Michael.

Marlon insisted that Michael was “never inappropriate” with kids, and Jackie said, “I don’t have to see that documentary. I know Michael. I’m the oldest brother ... I know what he stood for. What he was all about. Bringing the world together. Making kids happy. That’s the kind of person he was.”

Taj Jackson, Michael’s nephew, said that he was part of Michael’s sleepovers with kids and explained what those experiences were like. “I mean, I’m not oblivious to what it sounds like. But when you’re actually there in that atmosphere and you’re around it, and you’re watching movies ... it’s very innocent," Taj said.

The 1993 allegations ended in Michael paying out a $15 million settlement. Then, in 2005, he was found not guilty of 14 sexual abuse related charges. Michael maintained his innocence throughout but allegations have continued to be made against him after his death.

The siblings have a strained relationship with La Toya

La Toya Jackson attends the show "Forever, The Best Show About The King of Pop" at Centro Cultural Teatro 1 on March 13, 2019 in Mexico City, Mexico.Credit: Victor Chavez/Getty

In 1991, La Toya released her memoir, La Toya: Growing Up in the Jackson Family. In the book, she accused her father of physically and sexually abusing both herself and her older sister Rebbie.

La Toya repeated the accusations at a 1993 press conference, linking them to the allegations against her brother Michael.

“This is my first time talking about it [the allegations against Michael] and I never, never wanted to speak about it, but I think it’s sad because I am a victim myself and I know what it feels like," she said. "I’ve been hurt by it too. My father molested me sexually and I don’t like it, I don’t like the way it feels."

Many of the Jackson siblings and their mother spoke out against La Toya's accusations. Per Jezebel, Katherine said La Toya's book was “the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life besides the death of my mother.”

Things changed in 1996, though, when La Toya left her husband, Jack Gordon, and accused him of forcing her to make the claims against her father. She told Frank Skinner in 2004 that her ex threatened to kill her and her brother if she didn’t do what he said.

In 2003, La Toya told CNN that she and her father had made peace with one another.

Joh’Vonnie has said she was distant from the Jackson family

Joh’Vonnie was born the day after Michael’s 16th birthday in 1974 to Cheryle Terrell and Joe, who was still married to Katherine.

In a 2018 interview with the Daily Mail, Joh’Vonnie said that she never felt welcomed by her siblings.

“I was very aware that I was in the Jackson family growing up, I saw them on TV, I listened to their music. But I was hidden away, kept secret for years, not able to become part of that family. It was hurtful," she claimed.

Joh’Vonnie added, “Of course when I was around them there was a show of love, but once I was gone there was no phone calls asking how I'm doing or how is my daughter doing, it's upsetting, real hurtful and I still feel rejected.”

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