La Toya Jackson Reveals She’s Engaged and Shows Off 17.5-Carat Diamond Ring on ‘Good Morning America’

June 9th, 2014

Reality star La Toya Jackson came clean about her long-rumored engagement to longtime business manager Jeffré Phillips and showed off her mammoth 17.5-carat diamond ring during an appearance on “Good Morning America” last Wednesday.

“Yes, I am. I’m engaged. And I’m excited about it,” Jackson told ABC’s Abbie Boudreau. “Yes, I’m very much engaged … And it’s wonderful.”

According to HELLO! magazine, the halo-style ring features a 10-carat round center stone with an additional 7.5 carats of diamonds in the setting. The white metal is likely platinum or 18-karat white gold.

The 58-year-old Jackson, who is a singer, songwriter, author, actress, businesswoman and older sister of the late Michael Jackson, appeared on GMA to promote the second season of her reality show, “Life with La Toya,” which premiered June 7 on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

Jackson revealed that Phillips, 46, actually popped the question while the couple was on holiday in Hawaii last August. Phillips had arranged for a romantic in room dinner for two, then led her down a path of white rose petals and gardenias to the balcony, where he got down on one knee and surprised her with the 17.5-carat ring — a ring that he cleverly hid under the dessert tray.

It’s been reported that the proposal was captured by OWN’s production crew and will be seen during the second season of “Life with La Toya.”

“It wasn't a fast yes," La Toya admitted to People magazine. "I had no clue. I couldn't understand why he was so nervous. My heart just stopped. I was in total shock. We're best friends and we've been business partners forever.”

For Phillips, even more nerve wracking than the reality-show marriage proposal was the process of asking Jackson family patriarch, Joe, for his daughter’s hand. In a clip from the show, Phillips can be seen sweating it out, while the 85 year-old Joe Jackson grumbles, “That sounds like marriage talk to me.”

No wedding date has been set, but Jackson said her nuptials would be on a grander scale than the wedding of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.

“It’s going to be bigger than Kim’s!” Jackson told the New York Daily News. “It’ll be bigger than anything, huge. Lots of people, all of it.”