Katherine Jackson seeks to see grandkids

In her first comments since the latest Jackson family fight became public, the clan's matriarch Katherine Jackson said she is "devastated" that her grandchildren have been "taken away" from her and she is returning to Los Angeles to be reunited with them.

"There are rumors going around about me that I have been kidnapped," she told ABC News' "Nightline" Wednesday night. "I am here today to let everybody know that I am good and fine." She said she had been at Arizona's Miraval Resort & Spa for a "short vacation and rest."

Jackson's re-emergence came on the same day that a judge stepped into the turmoil roiling the Jackson family, appointing the son of Tito Jackson to serve as temporary guardian of Michael Jackson's children in Katherine's absence and in the midst of a feud over the late pop superstar's estate, The Associated Press reports.

Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff temporarily suspended Katherine Jackson as the children's guardian because she was in Arizona and hadn't spoken with them in several days. He appointed Tito Joe "TJ" Jackson to serve as temporary guardian with the ability to control the home where the children live and to take on other supervision duties. Beckloff said that the children -- Prince, Paris and Blanket -- cannot be taken outside California without court approval.

In the ABC interview, Katherine Jackson called the judge's decision a "bunch of lies." She said the reason she did not call her grandchildren was that she "just gave up my phone and didn't want to have any phone calls while I was here."