Quotes from Michael about Rose Fine, tutor to the Jackson 5 / Jacksons - all from mjjjusticeproject.wordpress.com. Unfortunately, no information on exactly where these quotes come from although in the comments below there is a suggestion that they came from a 2003 interview. There is also a comment there from Rose Fine's grandson.
"Caring Michael: Miss Rose Fine who was Michael and his brothers tutor when they were young and on tour. Some of Michaels thoughts on Rose in 2002.
Edited: …
Rose Fine, who was my beloved childhood tutor and who traveled with me and my brothers when we were all in the Jackson Five. MJ: After the show I would run into [Rose Fine’s] room. We’d read and have warm milk and I needed that so b…adly. She would always say to me, “The door’s open”, and she would leave her door open.
“It was Rose who instilled in me a love of books ,and literature that sustains me today. I read everything I could get my hands on. New cities meant new places to shop. We loved to shop, especially in bookstores and department stores,” “She [Miss Rose Fine] taught me the wonderful world of books and reading and I wouldn’t be the same person if it wasn’t for her.” ~
Q: Rose Fine, although she wasn’t your biological mother, was able to show you a lot of motherly affection?
MJ: And boy did I need it. I was never with my mother when I was little, very seldom, and I had a wonderful mother. I see her as an angel, and I was always gone, always on tour, doing back-to-back concerts, all over America, overseas, clubs, just always gone. [Rose Fine] was with us all the way from the very first professional tour of the Jackson 5 until I was eighteen.
MJ: Rose died this year, Janet and myself, we paid for her nurse and her hospital care, or if her television broke down or the electricity, or there was anything wrong with the house, we would cover the bills. Now her husband is sick, so I am taking care of him, and because we felt she is our mother and you take care of your mother… She was more than a tutor and I was so angry at myself that when she died I was far, far away. I couldn’t get there."