He had been racing to the Los Angeles hospital where Michael was taken after suffering a suspected heart attack.
Tito, 55, phoned his pop star sister en route to get the latest update on his younger brother's condition.
She ordered him to pull over on a bustling LA freeway - and then gave him the awful news that Jackson had passed away.
Fighting back tears, Tito said: "The day started badly because I woke up and heard that Farrah Fawcett had died. Later, I went to my local Starbucks for a coffee.
"When I got home, I got a phone call from my son Taryll. He said, 'Pops, is that true what they are saying about Uncle Michael?'
"I said, 'What are they saying?' He said, 'They're saying they are rushing him to hospital in cardiac arrest'. I tried to reach my mom but wasn't able to get through right way, so I turned on the TV.
"All I saw was the ambulance pulling up to the hospital from the helicopter shot. Finally, I called my cousin Trent, because he is my mom's right-hand man.
"I said, 'Trent, where's Mom?' He said, 'She's here, we haven't got to the hospital yet but your mother says you should come down'.
"I heard that and thought, 'Oh no, something must really be wrong if she's saying we should go down'. I was in the car when I called my sister Janet to ask if if she had heard anything.
"She said, 'Are you driving?' I said, 'Yes, I'm driving.' She said, 'Pull over'. That's when I knew something was really wrong.
"I said,'Janet, what's wrong?' She said, 'You've got to pull over, Tito'.
"I said, 'No, Janet, what's wrong!' She finally made me pull over and said Michael had passed away. I couldn't believe it. It just killed me. I just sat in the car and cried."
While the rest of the family went to the hospital to see Jackson's body, distraught Tito went to his mother's house in Encino.
"I decided I couldn't face it at the hospital. It was a like a zoo over there and anyway, I didn't want to see Michael's body.
"The others got to see him in that state but I'm glad I didn't. I couldn't see him like that. I always knew him as an energetic, live person and that's the way I want to remember him.
"Instead I went to my mom's house and sat there by myself, trying to come to terms with everything. Mom was the first one back.
"When she walked in, I rushed over and hugged her and she was crying. She was really sad. Prince, Paris and Blanket were with her. They were fine - children take things differently. They had not realised the magnitude of it at the time.
"I spoke to them but didn't talk about anything that had happened. I just gave them a hug and told them I loved them.
"They had all their little cousins there, so, being kids, they played with their dog. We kept them away from the TV because we didn't want them watching the news."
Tito was invited to the open-casket viewing of Michael's body at Forest Lawn cemetery in Hollywood, but decided he couldn't face it.
"If I'd seen him there, that would have been my last memory of him. That would have stuck with me in my mind.
"I was given the chance to go there, and that left me imagining what it would look like, what Michael's body would look like.
The family felt it was good to let family and friends see Michael for one last time.
Tito said: "Jermaine didn't go either. He said his goodbyes at the hospital and didn't want to see his brother in that state again."
The following day, the entire clan attended a private service at Forest Lawn, where Tito saw Jackson's gold-plated coffin for the first time.
He said: "When I walked into the chapel I immediately started crying because I knew he was in there. It really hit home."
After the service, the family travelled to the Staples Center in downtown LA for Jackson's memorial. Tito said: "When I walked in, I felt that Michael was in the building, not just in body but also in spirit.
"I felt his smile because so many people were there that loved him.
"They came to mourn and to celebrate his legacy. If Michael could have commented he would have given the whole thing an AAA+."
Asked about rumours that Jackson's body was not in the coffin, Tito replied: "That's not true, totally not true."
He recalled the heart-rending moment Paris spoke about her dad on stage at the end of the emotional service. "Her speech was not planned," he said. "She just wanted to tell the whole world that her father was a good daddy.
"That was so healthy for her, to tell everyone, 'No matter what anyone says, my daddy was a good daddy'. She got it off her chest. She needed to do that."
Tito last saw Michael at an anniversary dinner for his parents Katherine and Joe - just three weeks before his death.
The get-together was held at the Indian restaurant Chakra in Beverly Hills, one of Michael's favourite places to eat.
Tito said: "The whole family showed up including Michael and his kids.
"He was in great spirits. He looked good. He seemed to be himself and I was not really worried about him.
"I had heard he was doing the shows and going to rehearsal and getting his whole thing back where he belonged.
"I was so proud of him. I had even made arrangements to go to England to see his performance, check him out.
"He always called me TT, never Tito.
"At the end of the night he hugged me, said, 'Bye, TT' and whispered, 'I love you' in my ear.
"I said, 'I love you' and gave him a hug.
Michael Jackson should be buried at Neverland and the ranch turned into a tourist attraction, his brother Tito said yesterday.
The Jackson family are still deciding where the King of Pop's final resting place should be.
They are torn between burying him at the ranch in central California or in a private plot at a Hollywood cemetery.
For the time being, his body is being held at the Forest Lawn memorial park in Los Angeles.
Tito said he and his brothers want Jackson to be buried at Neverland - even though he moved out after police raided it in 2003.
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"Michael said he never wanted to live at Neverland again," admitted Tito.
"He said he would go and visit, enjoy the amusements and party, but he would never stay there as a residence.
"But I think that's the place he would want to go now because it's his legacy.
"I think he would want to share the whole thing. When you're at Neverland you can just feel his whole spirit there."
Tito rubbished claims that his younger brother had already been buried in secret.
"He has not been buried," he said. "He's not in the ground. "Forest Lawn said we can keep his body there until we decide what's going on."
Michael Jackson had to lighten skin - otherwise he would have been 'spotted animal', says Tito Jackson
Tito Jackson has angrily dismissed claims his superstar brother Michael lightened his skin because he wanted to look white.
Tito said Jackson was forced to bleach his skin because he was suffering from vitiligo.
The disease left Jackson fearing he would look like a "spotted animal", he revealed yesterday.
Tito said: "He wasn't trying to make himself look less black. My brother had a case of vitiligo.
"His body was blotching and he chose to bleach out the blotches with dermatologist creams.
"He wanted to have uniform skin. It had nothing to do with him wanting to change his race.
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"It was due to the loss of pigmentation. If I had no pigment I would be just the same.
"I don't know if he was embarrassed, but he knew his body was going through changes.
"He just wanted to look as good as he could.
"He had no choice in the matter, otherwise he would have looked like a spotted animal or a cow with spots all over him.
"It spreads and grows, you can catch it any time and can't do a lot about it. That's why he just had to carry on bleaching his whole life.
"He was trying to get himself as attractive as he could, to make himself presentable as a celebrity.
"He felt if he didn't do something it could in some way not be attractive to his fans."
Segunda parte publicada en el Daily Mirror el 16/07/09
Exclusive by Martin Fricker in Los Angeles 16/07/2009
Michael Jackson is the father of his children - and Blanket is just like him, says Tito Jackson
Tito Jackson insisted yesterday there is one simple test that proves his brother Michael is truly the biological father of his children.
All the doubters have to do to see the likeness is look into their eyes - especially those of Jacko's youngest Blanket. Tito said: "They are all his children. Blanket is Michael's, I can tell. Those eyes don't lie. Them eyes are Michael over again. I see a lot of Michael in him."
Tito said it was ridiculous so many people should question Jacko's parenthood because the children have such light skins - especially when Prince and Paris's mum Debbie Rowe is white.
He added: "Paris and Prince are Michael's children. Yes they are. Just because they look white doesn't mean they are not his.
"I have an uncle who is married to a white girl and they have three kids. Two of them are white and one is black.
"When they go to school people don't even know they are brother and sister.
"They are all Michael's children. Prince looks just like my grandfather. There's no question they are Michael's. They are 100% his.
"The kids are like three peas in a pod. They remind me of me and my brothers when we were growing up."
Tito admitted not even he knew the identity of Blanket's mum. He added: "Nobody knows who his mother is, nobody. That's the million dollar question. When I find out I'll call you!"
Tito insisted despite having grown up in the full glare of the celebrity spotlight, Prince, 12 Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Blanket are like any other children.
He added: "The kids are very, very normal. They are normal kids, they play with my grandson a lot. They have lots of fun, they squirt the dogs with water guns and they play with toys and play ball with their cousins.
"They have stay-at-home school with one teacher who teaches all of them. They don't watch much TV. They only watch cartoons. Their television is monitored, especially at this time, with what has happened to their dad. They don't need to see that."
Tito, 55, said the three children have been brought up to realise their dad is a world superstar.
But they used to enjoy dodging fans and wearing their famous masks when they went out, treating it as a game. He said: "They know they are famous and they know their dad was famous. When you grow up in the business it becomes totally natural. Being around it every day, seeing the girls screaming and having to rush into cars all the time, it was a way of life.
"They were absolutely aware who their dad was but at the same time they knew he was a dad. They were a family first and foremost."
Tito said Jacko took the youngsters out in disguise because he wanted them to be able to do all the things ordinary children take for granted.
He added: "Michael did a lot of things to make up for the fact parts of their childhood were not normal.
"He took them to amusement parks, travelled a lot all over the world, went to Disney World.
"They saw a lot more than you think. A lot of time they were out in public and nobody knew who they were. They went out and did things as a family.
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"My brother had make-up artists. He could have been standing next to you and you wouldn't know it was him. He'd have a rubber face on and nobody knew it was Michael."
Tito found out just how good his brother's disguises could be during a film premiere.
He said: "This old man sat next to me. I thought 'Who is this weird old guy?' because he just looked different.
"Then the guy leans in and whispers in my ear 'TT'. I said 'Michael?' and sure enough, it was my brother.
"He would do the same at the beach or at Disneyland with the kids and nobody would know."
Tito said he was confident all three of the children would grow up to be a credit to Michael.
He added: "The children will now grow up in a very healthy atmosphere.
"They are going to be well taken care of and looked after. They are Michael to us.
They will go to college and become successful in their own ways. I'm sure they will be able to adapt to the outside world."
Tito said reports that his dad Joe was grooming the kids to become a new version of the Jackson 5 were untrue. He added: "My father has no intentions whatsoever of turning Michael's kids into a singing group.
"He's been there, done that already. Michael's kids are going to be allowed to be pretty much what they want to be, as long as it's beneficial to themselves and to the world.
"They are not going to be pushed into becoming performers. If it's natural, then maybe they will. Blanket is the one I can see it happening to. He is so like Michael."
Tito still finds it hard to come to terms with Debbie's decision to give up Prince and Paris in exchange for a multi-million pound pay-off.
He said: "She is the mother of Paris and Prince and she should have been there years ago.
"If you really are a mother you wouldn't give your kids up. No matter what amount of money or whatever, you don't give your kids up. It's more than money, it's love. Michael gave her money to go away and she accepted it.
"Everyone does things differently. Maybe Michael wanted to be a single parent, maybe he felt that having a woman around at that time would have been a distraction because he was very focused on his work. Maybe he wanted children without the other side of it."
But despite all that has happened, Tito would welcome Debbie if she chose to play a part in the children's future upbringing.
He said: "I'm not saying we're going to turn them over to her but definitely she can have rights to visit, hang out and be part of the family. After all is said and done, they are her kids.
"I would like to see her be part of the Jackson family. There is enough love for everybody."
Michael Jackson dodged beatings dad Joe tried to dish out by dancing
Michael Jackson moved so fast he dodged beatings dad Joe tried to dish out, brother Tito revealed yesterday.
Joe Jackson, now 79, used to thrash his young sons with a belt if they misbehaved and Michael and sister La Toya later claimed it amounted to abuse.
But Tito said: "Michael always cried after he got a spanking, we all did. You get a spanking, you're gonna cry, that's natural.
"Most of the time Michael was so quick my father couldn't hit him.
"He'd swing the belt and Michael would be over there, he'd swing again and Michael would be over here.
"My father used to just stop and laugh because he couldn't hit him.
"Michael would just dance around him. My father would get tired and give up.
"Michael would hide under the table, or under the bed and you just couldn't get him out. He was very fast."
Tito, 55, continued: "Back then parenting was a little different to the way it is today.
"My father had nine children in a very small house. We had two tiny bedrooms, a living room and a tiny kitchen.
"He was working all the time, raising six boys - he had to be on his game.
"We weren't the greatest kids in the world, when you are young you do things. You get in trouble. My father was just the type of parent that had to be a little stricter. He was a disciplining type of father.
"He meant business. If you did wrong you got your spankings. He would use a belt.
"The older children got beatings more than the younger ones and my dad never disciplined the girls. He left that up to my mum.
"From those of us not raised in our generation they might not understand it. You got a big ass punishment or you got spanked for it. That's the way it was.
"I wrote my father a letter 10 years ago letting him know that I have no ill feelings about how I was raised.
"I don't think I could have made it without my father's discipline and the same went for Michael, too."
Tito was five when Michael was born and remembers bouncing the toddler on his knee as they watched television.
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The elder brother said: "He was a very frisky young man. He was outgoing and very swift on his feet. He was a fast type of young man.
"He was always kind and giving and caring as a youngster. I always felt Michael was born to do what he did. He always wanted to be an entertainer.
"He was inspired by some of the greats, like Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, James Brown, Little Richard and Diana Ross.
"Ever since I can remember Michael was special, almost like he was created to sing and dance and perform and be the person he was. I wouldn't say he was better than my other brothers. All had special gifts.
"I think Michael was more of an adventurous mind. He was always the one put out front because he was the cute little one.
"In a sense his talents were not better, he just outshone everyone else in the business because he was created specially."
Tito thinks Michael will now achieve his lifelong dream of being bigger than Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
He explained: "I feel Michael is free from all the evil he had to encounter because he did not deserve what people did to him.
"That was Michael's pain, it was more than just a back pain or him burning his hair.
"It was the pain of him giving his whole heart, his whole creative self, trying to help people, giving good music. And he just could not understand why people were trying to beat him up for no reason at all.
"Michael always wanted people to think he was the greatest. I knew that, millions and millions of people knew that, but the media would never say it.
"They would never give him his due, even though he had all the records to prove it.
"They kept him below the megastardom reserved for Elvis and The Beatles. They would never put his name next to them. That's all he wanted when he was living.
"He wanted to know that he had made it, that he had accomplished. Now that he's dead he will rise even higher than them. He has definitely done more than them.
"I love Elvis and The Beatles but Michael showed the world something we never imagined.
"It wasn't just music - it had messages like Heal the World and We are the World. They were anthems for the world that brought people
together.
"I felt bad for him because no matter what he did or how he lived, someone always tried to complain or make something out of nothing.
"There was nothing wacko about my brother at all. May he rest in peace."
Michael Jackson was ruined after child molestation trial - Tito Jackson
The phone rang at Neverland - and it was crunch time for Michael Jackson as he was told the jury had reached their verdicts in his child molestation trial.
Calmly, the entire Jackson clan climbed into cars for the 30-minute drive to Santa Maria. Jackson was in a black Cadillac Escalade SUV, accompanied by mum Katherine and dad Joe.
Not long into the journey, he leaned over and whispered in Katherine's ear.
"If this doesn't go right, take care of my kids," he pleaded. "Make sure my kids are fine." It was the first time the King of Pop had openly acknowledged that he could be going to jail.
But less than three hours later, he was back home a free man after being cleared of all charges. For Michael's brother Tito, the not guilty verdicts came as no surprise.
Asked if he ever doubted the singer's innocence, Tito told the Mirror: "Not one time, not for one single moment. I knew exactly what was going on, what people were playing at, planning.
"A few of the brothers knew what was happening. It's a wicked world out there.
The whole thing was totally motivated by greed and money."
Child abuse allegations first surfaced in the early 90s when Jordan Chandler claimed Jackson sexually assaulted him.
Rather than face a potentially embarrassing courtroom showdown, Michael paid off his young accuser. Tito reckons it was the biggest mistake of his life.
"I wished Michael never did it," he said. "But when you are in this business sometimes you don't think for yourself. You have advisers and lawyers - all these people thinking for you and telling you why you should do this and that. They felt at the time the easiest thing for him to do was to give them money and make them go away - don't drag yourself through a case.
"I felt he should have fought it, but Michael is a private person and he did not want the media in his life and all these other things he would have probably had to go through.
"He was advised just to give them what they want and get rid of them. I believe it was Johnny Cochrane, OJ Simpson's lawyer, who told him to do that."
Jackson's family feared the pay-off could tempt more accusers to crawl out of the woodwork. So when, in 2003, Gavin Arvizo went to police and said he had been sexually abused by Jackson, Tito was not surprised.
But again his loyalty and belief in his brother did not waver. "Michael didn't have to say anything," he said. "He just walked up to me and looked at me.
"I knew my brother, I could look in his eyes and see what he was thinking.
"He said to me, 'TT, I never did all these terrible things they are saying I did. I could never hurt a child'.
"He said this in the middle of the trial - that's the one and only time he spoke to me about it. It was a couple of weeks before the closing.
"I knew all along he didn't do it, and he knew we knew it. It didn't even need saying. People make up things." Tito recalled how mentally strong Jackson was throughout the gruelling three-month hearing in 2005.
"I don't think he was 100% during the trial because it was the strangest thing to go through," he said. "Michael didn't know if the jurors were believing the stories that were being said in court. I remember at the time thinking, 'Gosh, he is so strong. I could not go through this'.
"Physically, I was always much stronger than Michael, but mentally he had to be so strong to go through that. "When it was announced that the jury had reached a verdict, we were all at Neverland.
"We rushed down to the courthouse. I could tell Michael was a little bothered, a little nervous - that was only to be expected. But he was more concerned about his children than himself. In the car, he told my mother, 'If this doesn't go right, take care of my kids. Make sure my kids are fine'.
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"It was a natural thing to say. He had to face up to the possibility that he was going to jail but he never spoke to me about his fears.
"I think he believed in the system, he wanted to believe in the system. He wanted it to work for him.
"It may have been on his mind but he was never terrified he was going to prison because as the case went on you could see that there was no validity in the allegations."
Asked if Jackson would have coped with prison, Tito replied: "I don't think anyone copes with prison.
"Even the toughest guy doesn't really cope with prison, he just deals with it. You just have to deal with it, no matter what.
"I don't think Michael was the weakest man on our planet and he would not have been the weakest man in prison, but I bet the weakest man is dealing with it."
Tito described the moment the verdicts were announced as the "worst time" of his life.
"As they read them out, it got to five not guilties - they just kept coming and coming," he said.
"From the first not guilty, right through until the last, it was the most frightening thing.
"The verdicts alone should tell the world that something was not right about the case.
"As Al Sharpton said, there was nothing strange about Michael. The only strange thing was what he had to go through.
"After the verdict, we went back to Neverland. Michael thanked me so much for supporting him. He told me he loved me so much and said he was especially proud because I never wanted anything from him but love.
"He said to me, 'TT, I have a gift for you'. I said, 'Michael, you don't have to give me a gift'.
"But he said, 'No, I really want to give you something because you never ask for anything.
"He was really persistent and kept saying, 'Come here, come here, come here'.
"He walked me over to his garage and he had two Bentleys and he said, 'Pick the one you want'.
"That's the kind of guy he was. I chose the one that he had signed inside the car. It's beautiful. I've still got it."
Despite his upbeat mood following the not guilty verdicts, Tito said the trial ruined Jackson's life.
"Michael was never the same again," he said. "It changed him a lot.
"He became far less trusting of people, even children, because they had hurt him. From being so relaxed around them he became a lot more cautious. In some ways, the trial ruined his life.
"He left Neverland and went on this search to find a comfortable place - somewhere he could relax and get over everything.
"Sadly, I don't think he ever did find that place. He was searching right up until he died."
Tito Jackson on the children of Michael Jackson
ON PRINCE:
He reminds me a lot of my grandfather. He is very wise and very smart.
You can definitely tell he is the big brother. He looks after the other two, especially his little brother Blanket.
He is just a sweet young man, he is brilliant.
I don't know exactly what he wants to do with his life at this moment, but he is very interested in physics, so I think he will go down that path.
ON PARIS:
She is a very bright young lady. She is a lady in every sense of the word. She likes hanging out with the girls. She's only 11 so she is not into the whole teenage thing yet. She's still a little girl.
I don't know about favourite pop stars or actors, but I imagine if you asked her she would probably say daddy.
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She is such a daddy's girl. His death will definitely affect her. She likes big dolls and plays house and kitchen stuff. She's a little too young to know what she wants to be.
ON BLANKET:
Blanket reminds me so much of Michael. He is fun and a bad little boy, in the good sense of bad.
If he is squirting his water gun and you tell him to stop, he will just squirt you more.
He reminds me of his dad a lot, his whole demeanour. His name came about because he was always dragging his security blanket around.
With the whole hotel window thing, I don't think Michael was thinking straight.
It was not his intention to put him in danger. He did not think what he was doing was wrong. No way would he have dropped him.
If it was really bad they would have arrested him and they didn't. He wasn't trying to hurt his kid.