Michael Jackson had three children. Two of them—Prince, born in 1997, and Paris, born in 1998—share the same mother. Her name is Debbie Rowe, and she is one of the most misunderstood people in the whole Jackson story. His youngest, Bigi, has a different, unnamed mother.
So who is she? Before any of it, Rowe was a nurse and assistant to Michael’s dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein. That is how they met — she was there, professionally, for years while Jackson was being treated. They became friends long before anything else. In her own words, she knew him for “17, 18 years.”
They married in 1996 and divorced in 1999.
Her explanation for having his children is the part people get wrong most often. She says it was her idea. Michael was upset after his marriage to Lisa Marie ended and desperately wanted to be a father. According to Rowe, she told him: “So be a dad. Let me do this for you.” She says she nagged him into it. She also revealed she had a miscarriage before Prince was born, and that Michael was the one who consoled her through it.
Michael Jackson’s Ex-wife Speaks Out! Debbie Rowe On Allegations & Their Marriage | The Detail.
She was fierce about the tabloid claim that she was paid. “I would think that I’d be pretty unaffordable. No, no, no.”
The line that caused the most confusion is about her children not calling her mum. She explained it directly: “You earn the title parent. My kids don’t call me mom because I don’t want them to. It’s not that they’re not my children, but I had them because I wanted him to be a father.” She insisted she hadn’t abandoned them: “My children are with their father, where they’re supposed to be.”
She also confirmed the famous masks were her doing. “That was my request, not his. I’m the one who’s terrified. I’m the one who’s seen the notes.”
And when she was called to testify at his 2005 trial, prosecutors expected her to damage him. Instead, she looked at him, started crying, and said: “There’s my Michael, and the Michael that everyone else sees.”
She has since survived breast cancer, with Paris at her side.