Jack Gordon (entertainment manager)

Jack Leon Gordon (November 10, 1939 - April 19, 2005) was the former manager and husband of singer La Toya Jackson.

Gordon was born in Springfield, Illinois to Abraham Gordon (a native born Russian) and Faye Stein (a native of Illinois). In the early 1980's, Gordon began to manage La Toya Jackson alongside her father, Joseph. In the late 80's, he took over her management completely. He married her in Las Vegas in 1989, claiming that it was for her own protection against her supposedly violent family; La Toya claims that this was both unplanned and against her wishes. From this point forward, La Toya lost all contact with her family and eventually wrote a book called La Toya: Growing Up In The Jackson Family, which accused her father of both physical and sexual abuse.

Gordon hired bodyguards to watch La Toya constantly and would never allow her to speak to or see her family. La Toya's father Joseph stated in his book Die Jacksons that he believed Gordon brainwashed La Toya and made her fearful of her own family. Under Gordon's management, La Toya's career downfalled, beginning with her spread in Playboy, which she now claims was forced upon her by Gordon. In 1997, Gordon was forcing La Toya to appear in a hardcore pornography video, at which point she decided she'd had enough. Allegedly, La Toya phoned brother Randy Jackson to come pick her up while Gordon was out. Days later, La Toya filed for divorce and remained living in Las Vegas.

While La Toya was in seclusion for four years, Gordon continued to make accusations towards the Jackson family; he claimed that La Toya's younger brother Michael had performed monkey sacrifice rituals, abuse to Bubbles the Chimpanzee, and even accused him of forcing Lisa Marie Presley to marry him. In 2002, Gordon did interviews advertising his tell-all book of the Jackson family entitled The Jackson Family: The True Story Of The Most Powerful Family In The Music Industry. The entire family - including La Toya - stated that his allegations were "pure fantasy". La Toya emerged in 2002 making accusations of Gordon's actions; Gordon threatened to file a lawsuit but never did so.

Jack Gordon had few other entertainment clients apart from La Toya Jackson. He had brief work before he met Joseph Jackson and for a short time he managed porn star John Wayne Bobbitt. Before Gordon became La Toya's co-manager with her father in the late 1980's (and eventually manager) it was widely known he had a dodgy past with trouble with the law. Joseph Jackson was always fearful of Gordon as he believed Gordon was probably armed.

Jack Gordon died at the age of 66 in a Las Vegas hospital after battling cancer for several months. La Toya reportedly had a security expert eyewitness his burial because she was fearful of his lies and death threats.