La Toya Struggles With Cat Phobia on Armed and Famous Show  1/14/07

Michael Jackson's sister La Toya had to overcome a major fear before signing on to train as a cop in new reality show Armed & Famous - she's terrified of cats.

Prowling around at night in Muncie, Indiana with local police officials as part of the show, Jackson knew she'd come across pet cats - and she wasn't looking forward to the encounters.

She says, "I knew that I had to get over this fear of cats because everybody has them. They're domestic animals.

"(But) you walk down a street and I see a cat, I'm terrified... When I was a child I saw a cat attack one of my relatives. This cat decided to jump on her neck and he tried to just kill her. His body was flipping back and forth."

Jackson went so far as to see a cat therapist to help her with her feline phobia and her tearful session was caught on camera for the new reality TV show.

The terrified star even agreed to come face to face with a kitten during the televised therapy session and bravely stroked the cat.

The session worked wonders for Jackson, who now insists her fear of cats is

gone: "My family would never ever ever believe that I have overcome the fear of a cat."

Jackson joins Jack Osbourne and former TV cop Erik Estrada as trainee cops in the new reality show.