The children of the late singer Michael Jacksonare said to have inherited his high-spending ways, splashing out millions on luxury holidays and lavish presents for friends.
On the fifth anniversary of his death, the New York Post claims Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson are racing through their shared $8 million (￡4.76 million)-a-year allowance.
With the children, now aged 17, 16 and 12, due to come into Jackson’s full $2 billion (￡1.19 billion) fortune when they turn 40, they are unlikely to run out of cash any time soon however.
Thanks to continuing interest in his music, Jackson’s estate is now making more money than he was earning immediately before his death from an accidental overdose. As a result, his children’s shared allowance has increased by $3 million (￡1.78 million) over the last five years.
Separately, his mother, Katherine, receives $1 million (￡594,000) a year to look after them at the Jackson family’s $26,500-a-month (￡15,763) rented mansion in Calabasas, California.
Private school fees for Prince, the oldest child, cost $30,000 (￡17,845) a year. Paris attends a boarding school in Utah, where she receives equine therapy – a form of treatment in which people care for horses – to help overcome the depression which led her to attempt suicide last year. Fees are thought to be in excess of $1 million (￡594,000).
Prince is said to have spent more than $50,000 (￡29,740) on jewellery and gifts for at least three different girlfriends, and $40,000 (￡23,790) on a Ford pickup truck.
The children take a minimum of three holidays a year – an annual cost of around $350,000 (￡208,200) once the expense of ferrying their various bodyguards, guardians and other relatives are factored in.
Recent stays include the $5,500-a-night (￡3,272) Kahala Hotel and Resort in Honolulu, Hawaii and Las Vegas’ Bellagio at $5,000-a-night (￡2,970).
Blanket, the youngest child, is said to pay $200-an-hour (￡119) for karate lessons and also has a personal trainer and chef.
He enjoys taking his cousins out for dinner at top restaurants, where meals cost at least $500 (￡297), before going to the cinema.
Prince is said to be hoping to buy back Jackson’s famous Neverland ranch one day. It is currently in the hands of creditors, and has an asking price of $35 million (￡20.8 million). He and his siblings will inherit half of their fortunes on their respective 33rd birthdays.
The children’s high-spending ways were encouraged by Jackson, who is said to given Prince and Paris’s nanny a pile of cash totalling $20,000 (￡11,900) when they were four and three-years-old, telling her to “take them out and buy them whatever they wanted” while on a shopping spree in Las Vegas.
Marc Schaffel, a former friend of Jackson who is due to marry Debbie Rowe, the singer’s ex-wife and mother of the oldest two children, later this year, told the Post: “He said, ‘Go out and entertain yourselves.’
