Nearly three months after his surprising death, Michael Jackson was finally laid to rest Thursday evening (Sep 3) in an intimate ceremony only attended by close family and friends at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, located in the Glendale district of Los Angeles. According to reports, guests were told the ceremony would start promptly at 7 P.M. (sunset) but the Jackson family left them waiting for about an hour until they showed up a little after 8 P.M. (PT).
Jackson’s brothers, Randy, Marlon, Tito, Jackie and Jermaine, wheeled his gold casket to the front of the service once they arrived, and his three children, Prince Michael, Paris and Prince Michael Jr., placed a gold crown on top of the flowers adorning it. They also wrote letters to their father that were placed inside of his casket, alongside one of his signature white gloves.
Celebrities among the attending guests were, of course, the Jackson family, Chris Tucker, Elizabeth Taylor, Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy, Macaulay Culkin, Rev. Al Sharpton, MJ’s ex wife Lisa Marie Presley and Gladys Knight, who sang a gospel song after a prayer by Pastor Lucius Smith. Clifton Davis also performed “Never Can Say Goodbye,” the popular song he wrote for the Jackson 5. After the ceremony was over, MJ’s brothers carried his casket to the Grand Mausoleum, where Michael Jackson entered his final resting place.
After the service, the family ate dinner at an Italian restaurant in Pasadena, CA.
