Tearful memorial for Michael Jackson

:Paris Katherine Jackson, 11, said goodbye to her father at the close of the memorial service.

• LOS ANGELES, California-- Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Katherine addressed mourners at the Staples Center on Tuesday, tearfully telling them her father was "the best father you could ever imagine."
• "Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine," the 11-year-old said. "And I just wanted to say I love him so much."
• Jackson's children, who often have been hidden by veils or blankets when seen with their father, were sitting in the front row at the Staples Center as their father's life and music were remembered.
• Jackson's remains were nearby in a closed, rose-draped, bronze casket. His brothers, who served as pallbearers, wore single white sequined gloves, a tribute to their brother's signature look of the 1980s.
• "Michael, when you left us, a part of me went with you," brother Marlon Jackson said. "And a part of you will live forever within me, but also a part of you will live forever within all of us."
• Marlon Jackson said the world could not understand what his brother endured "being judged and ridiculed."
• "How much pain can one man take," Marlon Jackson asked. "Maybe now, Michael, they will leave you alone."
• Before the final words Jackson's band members, family, children and celebrities filled the stage to sing Jackson's "Heal the World."
• The song followed a performance of "We are the World," the 1985 hit written by Jackson and Lionel Richie to raise money for African famine relief.
• The Rev. Al Sharpton also addressed the crowd and spoke of Jackson's contribution to the music world.
• "When Michael started, it was a different world, but because Michael kept going, because he didn't accept limitations, because he refused to let people decide his boundaries, he opened up the whole world in the music world," Sharpton said. "He put on one glove, pulled his pants up and broke down the color curtain." Sharpton then addressed Jackson's children.
• "There wasn't nothing strange about your daddy," he said. "It was strange what your daddy had to deal with, but he dealt with it." John Mayer played lead guitar on the song "Human Nature," from Jackson's "Thriller" album.
• An emotional Brooke Shields, who was 13 when she became close friends with Jackson, said they bonded "because we both understood what it was like to be in the spotlight from a very, very young age." "What we did do was laugh," she recounted. "It was always a competition to see who could make the other one laugh more or be sillier."
• The public memorial followed an earlier gathering by Jackson's family and closest friends at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.

By http://www.michaeljackson50.com/