AceShowbiz - Michael Jackson's father Joe Jackson is reportedly battling terminal cancer.

The 89-year-old family patriarch, who was recently hospitalised, has been battling the disease "for some time" and he is now in "the end stages" of the illness, according to TMZ.

News of Joe's health crisis comes after his son Jermaine Jackson revealed the family was initially denied access to visit him.

"No one knew what was going on - we shouldn't have to beg, plead, and argue to see our own father, especially at a time like this," he told the Daily Mail. "We have been hurting. We were not being told where he was and couldn't get the full picture. Even from the doctor. My mother was worried sick".

"He's very very frail, he doesn't have long," he added. "The family needs to be by his bedside - that's our only intention in his final days".

Representatives for Joe have yet to comment on the reports about his health, but he has been hospitalised several times in the past few years.