Paris Jackson has launched a scathing accusation against the executors managing her late father Michael Jackson's estate, alleging they are using the estate's vast resources to bully and publicly attack her.
In newly filed court documents, Jackson claims executors John Branca and John McClain have filed legal papers that "mock and belittle" her while using "her father's money to attack her in the media." The 28-year-old daughter of the King of Pop says the litigation has become "painful" and "a distraction from her own life and her own career."
"At nearly every hearing, and again in this filing, executors try to avoid the merits by characterizing Paris' concerns as lawyer-driven or in service of some purported desire for media attention. Neither is true," Jackson states in her filing.
The conflict centers on Jackson's questioning of payments made to third-party law firms working for the estate, including concerns about the process for awarding substantial bonuses and fees. Jackson has been scrutinizing financial decisions while the executors maintain their work transformed the estate from insolvent to a billion-dollar enterprise.
In response to Jackson's allegations, Branca and McClain have countered that Jackson and her legal team are spreading incorrect information to the press. They claim that while Jackson professes to avoid media attention, her representatives attempted to portray "rather routine actions" at a recent hearing as a significant court victory.
Jackson specifically called out a statement from the executors she describes as "sexist," which depicted her as "strutting" into a hearing and referred to themselves as "the grown-ups" in contrast to Jackson and her adult siblings.
"Branca's use of the media to attack Michael Jackson's daughter is unacceptable and is not mirrored by any concomitant effort by Paris," Jackson's filing asserts, calling the executors' claims that she seeks press coverage "unfounded."
The executors have previously argued that Jackson has "benefited greatly" from their management of the estate and that she appears "more interested in playing to the media than" resolving issues through proper channels.
This latest filing represents an escalation in the ongoing legal tensions between Jackson and the estate managers, with Jackson now explicitly accusing them of using financial leverage to intimidate her into submission.