Eldest sister Robbie says she helped raise Michael Jackson

New York (ANI): Michael Jackson"s eldest sister Rebbie has revealed that she helped raise her superstar brother. When she was a teenager, her mother, Katherine, went back to school, leaving her — the oldest of the nine children — in charge of caring for the Jackson brood.

“I"m very much the big sister. I helped raise a lot of them. I took care of them and administered the disciplinary action," the New York Post quoted Jackson as saying. Rebbie revealed that memories of her role as caregiver in the family"s Gary, Ind., home came flooding back to her in the wake of the King of Pop"s death on June 25, 2009. “When he passed, I thought about him the way he was as a kid," she said.

She recalled the iconic star"s cherubic smile that first brightened stages as a member of the Jackson 5 and later as a solo artist. After her brother overdosed on the powerful sedative Propofol, Rebbie, who lives with her husband, Nathaniel Brown, in Las Vegas, cancelled a string of performances. She spent two and half months in California at her brother"s and mother"s estates, comforting her family and resumed her role as caregiver to Michael"s children, Prince, 13; Paris, 12; and Blanket, 8.

“I have to say, for a while, it was very difficult to listen to anything that Michael"s voice was on. That"s pretty tough to escape. Everywhere you go — food markets, departments stores, TV and radio — they are playing his music," she said.

And now, almost after a year, Rebbie has said that she still wakes up in the middle of the night haunted by the circumstances surrounding his brother"s death. His doctor, Conrad Murray, currently awaits trial on manslaughter charges for his role in administering the fatal narcotic and facilitating the legendary singer"s addiction.

“My brother had a problem with drugs, and he was in denial. There were many interventions by the family members, and I was involved in a lot of that. It was such a sad thing and it hurt so bad," said Rebbie.