Katherine and Joe Jackson File for Divorce After 60 Years of Marriage

Katherine and Joseph Jackson are divorcing after 60 years of marriage. The announcement was made public by a spokesperson for Katherine Jackson Thursday morning following comments Joe Jackson had made in the press Tuesday about needing a bigger stake of his late son Michael Jackson's fortune, and for single handily blaming Katherine Jackson for their son's death last year.

Joe Jackson, 81, made comments Tuesday after a Judge handling the estate of the late King of Pop advised him that due to Joe being excluded from Michael Jackson's will on purpose he could not fire the executors John Branca and John McClain who were entrusted to handle the will.

The will leaves a sizable fortune and future rights to image and music in the hands of Katherine Jackson and Michael Jackson's three children while under the care of his mother who is their official guardian. The will is reportedly written to provide for everyone in the Jackson family in some way, except Joe Jackson.

After the hearing Tuesday Joseph spoke exclusively to the press to lay the blame on his sons death with his estranged wife saying, 'I begged her to go over and stay with him, but she insisted he needed his privacy.'

Calling his latest claims the final straw in a lifetime of abuse and deceit, the spokesperson for Katherine Jackson said in a statement, 'Joe Jackson's statement and conduct toward Mrs. Jackson are outrageous. 'The world also knows who Joe Jackson is and he seems bent on never letting us forget. She's been humiliated by him for too long. She's absolutely livid. There's no going back.' The latter part referring to the allegations of physical and verbal abuse the Jackson children reportedly faced at the hands of their father as they first started as The Jackson 5ive and grew into music artists in their own right, including Michael Jackson, who died last year of an overdose of medication.

The couple has lived separately off and on for almost 30 years, but became estranged five years ago around the time Michael was fighting a second round of molestation accusations in court. Joe Jackson has lived exclusively in Las Vegas, Nevada while Katherine Jackson has lived in Encino, California.

While estranged and separated from her husband, Katherine has reportedly given the idea of divorce a lot of thought over the past five years, but was against it due to her beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness and being against divorce. At this point in her life she thought it was better for herself and the children, Prince Michael, Paris and "Blanket" to have Joe Jackson out of their lives permanently.

The couple has been married since November 1949 and raised nine children and have 26 grandchildren.

The couple put on a united front for their son during both of his molestation accusations and the trial the followed after the second accusation. They also supported each other and their family after Michael Jackson died in 2009.