One of Michael Jackson's longtime family friends says his kids Prince, Paris and Blanket are still coping with the death of their father. The kids, 13, 12 and 8 respectively, were not photographed at any public memorials on Friday, the one-year anniversary of the King of Pop's death.
"They're holding on and trying to do what they can by the graces of God," Marshall Thompson of the Chi-Lites told UsMagazine.com at a memorial for the King of Pop at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday.
Look back on Michael Jackson's most memorable moments.
Lawrence Hilton, who starred as Joe Jackson in The Jacksons: an American Dream and has known the family for 35 years, tells Us it's "tough" to reconcile Jackson's death at 50.
"You don't get over it," he says. "You know, it's their daddy. How do you do it? They're very young, so it's got to be difficult…. It's gonna take one day at a time, moment to moment and eventually they'll get there."
PHOTOS: Touching photos of Jackson and his kids
The kids spent the eve of Jackson's death in Hawaii with their grandmother, Katherine Jackson, who is also their legal guardian. The next day, Katherine flew to the family's hometown of Gary, Ind. to present a memorial.
In an interview with UK Daily Mail, Katherine admitted the kids are isolated.
"I'd say I'm a little less strict but I've tried to follow the way Michael was raising them," she said. "But they don't have friends. They don't go to school. They have private lessons at home. They'll be going to a private school in September for the first time."
PHOTOS: Paris, Prince and Blanket say goodbye to their father
Paris created a shrine to her father bedroom. "I wanted to hang pictures of flowers or ballerinas, like I would expect a girl would," explained Katherine. "But she went into the closet and she brought out seven or eight pictures of Michael and said, 'No, I want Daddy hanging in my room. I always want to see him.' So she goes to bed looking at him and wakes up looking at him."
