try megared today. >>> my special guest, latoya jackson.e the break, we were talking about your dad, joe. tough man, hard man in many ways. did you ever feel in his quest for you to be successful that it crossed the line, that he became abusive in any way? >> no, and let me tell you why i say no to you. because my father instilled the music in us that was already there, but he made sure that we knew what was right and what was wrong when it came to that. he was a disciplinarian as i said earlier. i also feel when you're young as children, you don't understand when your parents are trying to discipline you, you feel it is wrong, they shouldn't do this, this way and that way. >> did you ever get spanked? >> yes, i got one spanking. as you get older, you realize he was doing it for the best of us, that's what he was doing. but you must also remember, piers, during the days and that time, people did spank children. today it is totally different, they don't do that. >> i think janet said he did hit her once with a belt or something. >> i got one

i want to talk about that. >>> back with latoya jackson.some of the most difficult stuff to read in the book, it is a powerful book in many ways, is about your manager, who became your husband, jack gordon. i have to say, he comes off as a complete monster in this book, and it sort of prompts the question when i talk to you now, you seem intelligent, quite worldly wise. how did you ever get together with a man like this in the first place? >> it started with my having to go to japan and my mother wasn't able to go with me, and she asked my father if he could go with me to japan, and my father wasn't able to go with me, so they sent jack gordon, my father sent him, gordon, to go to japan. once we got in japan, he took my passport, told me i wasn't going back. that was it. >> he seized control of your life? >> yes, seized control of my life. and you have to remember, back then, i was -- i didn't know what i know today. i was a gentleman hoef a witness. i live by the model of bad association. if you have it, i did associate only with jehovah's

*á with new hotel bid alerts, from priceline. >>> back with latoya jackson. before the break with you talking about this abuse from jack gordon, your husband. i mean, he was such a control freak, he alienated you from your family, he made you pose for playboy, which you didn't want to do and i think to this day you regretted that. the worst thing for me as a journalist i remember this happened, when he made you do that press conference about michael when you went along with all of the allegations against your own brother at a time when michael needed support of his family. >> absolutely. >> that was a despicable thing for him to do. >> it was the lowest of all, the lowest. and that's one of the things that -- >> do you app solve yourself completely? people reading the book, you had this before, you say you can blame somebody to a point. >> right. >> when you denounce your own brother in public. >> right. >> part of you has to take responsibility for that. >> you have to take responsibility, and i do take responsibility for it. i must tell you, but at the same

he was afraid. >> latoya jackson for the hour, this is "piers morgan tonight." ckson's second medical quarter is called "starting over." la toya joins us now. welcome, la toya. >> thank you, thank you for having me. >> listen, it is a fascinating book title, i would say, and a great cover picture of you and your brother, michael. because of course, the irony, you're starting over, michael can't. >> absolutely. >> he's no longer with us. he's a big figure in this book. tell me about the motivation. was it michael dying that motivated you to write this new book? >> actually, no, piers. i started writing this book in 2008. and i kept writing and kept writing. there was always something that was coming up that prevented me from actually putting it out. i finally got the nerve to put it out eventually, it was on the back burner for quite a while, and then muk ankle of course -- the tragedy happened with him. that's when i moved forward because i felt it was something that was necessary. i think it's important for everybody to start over in their life when it is not go

. >> and now, two years later, still debate about michael jackson's death, his sister latoya speakingext. >>> and jacqui jeras with today's insider. >> one of my favorite things to do for traveling is to check out a region or an area by doing adventure races. this is my buddy mike, and you do this kind of a race with a partner, it's a really great introductory race, you mountain bike, you do some trail running and you do obstacles in between, it's only about six miles so it's a great warmup so it's good for a lot of people just getting into adventure racing and at the end, there is a mud pit. my favorite thing about the muddy buddy is that it's fun. we're here at the starting line, i'm a little bit nervous, but i'm really excited. frank is a veteran over here, so he's going to blaze the trail. hopefully i'm going to be able to follow him, we'll see what happens. we'll see you at the end. [ horn blows ] why did it do this? >> fun stuff, fun stuff. >> all right, to the mud! whooo! whooo! >> whooo! >> not a better way to cool down, get in the mud and have some fun with friends. that's th

. >> did he respond at all to latoya jackson's book? >> no, he didn't.one a great job on that, and that had been explored. i wanted to find out about him, how he was two years later. do you remember our live conversation on the red carpet three days after michael's death, at the b.e.t. awards, some people thought it was contentious. they said it was disrespectful for him to be selling a dvd, two days, three days after his son died. responded to that as well. >> we look forward to all that. don lemon, we'll see you at the top of the hour. >>> all right. i know you have an iphone. >> i have two, actually. >> gosh, yeah. we can't just have one. these are some apps that you just might want to put on. i know you're also, you know, into fitness. >> sort of. >> and these apps -- >> sort of. he's being so shy right now. >> flex those muscles. all right. our gaming and gadgets guy, mark salzman tells us about some interesting iphone apps pertaining to fitness and diet. >> reporter: this is a french technology company best known for a wifi bathroom scale that came

. >>> also this morning, shocking new claim from latoya jackson. she says her brother michael was scared for his life and believed someone would attempt to assassinate him. >>> let's begin with the stop stories of the morning. savannah guthrie is there. good morning to you. >> good morning, ann and matt. in the news this morning, there's hope today in arizona where crews battling massive wildfires have had some relief from the weekend's blistering winds. but hundreds of residents are still in evacuation centers and dozens of homes have been consumed. nbc's miguel almagare is in sierra vista, arizona, this morning. miguel, good morning. >> reporter: savannah, good morning. fires are burning across the region but the monument fire is considered the top fire priority anywhere in the country. today, it's still threatening homes and it's also on the move. our first look behind the fire lines outside sierra vista, arizona. the monument fire, a wall of flames, has charred 42 square miles, at least 60 homes destroyed. while some were allowed to return home