Mother of Jackson’s two elder kids may fight for custody

LOS ANGELES - Debbie Rowe, the mother of Michael Jackson’s two older children, may go to court to seek their custody, said reports here.

The 50-year-old Jewish blonde, who had given up her rights to the two kids in 2001, may now challenge the temporary custody granted to Jackson’s mother Katherine, a report in the Los Angeles Times said Wednesday.

Giving up the two children, Rowe had told the court eight years ago that she had borne the children for Michael Jackson.

“They wouldn’t be on this planet if it wasn’t for my love for him. I did it for him to become a father, not for me to become a mother. You earn the title ‘parent’. I have done absolutely nothing to earn that title,” she had told the court.

Their divorce was finalised in 2000, with Rowe getting an $8.5 million settlement.

But she stopped visiting the children - Prince Michael Junior and Paris - six months later, complaining that she had to go through lawyers to send birthday balloons to her children, travel long distances to see them and had trouble getting makeup visits if she missed a scheduled appointment because of illness, the report said.

Rowe had met Jackson while working for Beverly Hills dermatologist Arnold Klein who is now being considered the biological father of Rowe’s two children, not Michael Jackson.

According to the newspaper, Rowe, who now lives on a horse farm in Palmdale near here, has a strong claim to the two children she has not seen for a long time.

She will attend a custody hearing Monday, though it is not known whether she will seek custody of the older kids or just visitation rights, the report said.

The report added: “Court records and interviews paint Rowe as vulnerable, an animal-lover who doted lavishly on her horses, dogs and birds as though they were her children and vacillated in her desires to see the girl and boy she bore with Jackson.

“She also appeared to love Jackson, even though her marriage was established for the sole purpose of bearing him children.

“Jackson rewarded the blond, blue-eyed Rowe with large sums of money for forsaking the children, and money appeared to be a concern when she later tried to obtain custody.”

Rowe, who gave up parental rights in a petition in 2001, later moved court to contest her waiver of parental rights when Jackson was charged with child molestation and became associated with the Nation of Islam, “whose members Deborah believed ‘do not like Jews’,” the newspaper said quoting court records.

Court records said: “Because she is Jewish, Deborah (Rowe) feared the children might be mistreated if Michael continued his association (with the Nation of Islam),” according to the newspaper.

DPA adds: Jackson named fellow music great Diana Ross as the backup guardian of his three children in the event that his mother Katherine, 79, was unable to fulfil that role, according to his 2002 will, which was revealed Wednesday.

According to the will, dated July 7, 2002, all of Jackson’s assets have been left to the Michael Jackson Family Trust.

The document was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court with a separate petition that estimates the value of his estate at more than $500 million, primarily comprised of his half of a music publishing catalogue that holds the rights to more than 250 Beatles’ songs, as well as other music.

The will specifically excluded Jackson’s heirs and his former wife, Debbie Rowe, but they could be beneficiaries of his trust, legal experts said. Jackson’s father, Joe, was not mentioned in the will.

The revelation came amid feverish expectations outside Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, some 200 km to the north, where television cameras already occupied prime positions along the country road leading to his home in advance of a reported public viewing there Friday.