Jermaine Jackson mourns the loss of his brother

Jermaine Jackson has been devastated by the loss of his younger brother.

He told “Today Show” Thursday he wished he had gone instead: “I wanted to see Michael, and I wanted to see my brother, and seeing him lifeless and breathless was very emotional for me.

“I held myself together, because I know he is very much alive, his spirit is. I kissed him on his forehead and I hugged him and I touched him and I said, ‘Michael, I’ll never leave you, you’ll never leave me.’

“He went too soon. I wish that it was me. I’ve always felt that I was his backbone, someone to be there for him. I was there and he was sort of like Moses. The things he couldn’t say, I would say them.”

For Jermaine, hearing his mother Katherine Jackson say that Michael had died was one of the hardest moments of his life.

“She was crying, saying he was dead. And to hear my mother saying Michael is dead, to feel and hear the tone of her voice to say her child is dead – it’s nothing that anyone can ever imagine,” he said.

Jermaine also expressed his disappointment that his brother won’t be buried at at his longtime home, Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara.

The 54-year-old star said in the interview at the property: “This is his home, I feel his presence. He built this place with love, you can see it and feel it. Look at it here, it’s peaceful here. This meant wonderment, the ultimate happiness.”

Jermaine insisted Michael was healthy enough for his scheduled 50-concert comeback in London, despite reports that his brother was exhausted, ill and underweight.

“I do believe and I do know that Mike is very strong, not just mentally but physically. He’s a dancer, he never stopped dancing. He was already ready physically. He passed the physical, he was strong – he was ready,” said Jermaine.