Michael Jackson's second ex-wife ('96-'99) and mother of his two eldest children (Prince, 8, and Paris, 7) took the stage, er, witness stand today in his child molestation case.
She identified herself as Deborah Rowe Jackson, but said she preferred "Ms. Rowe." Prosecutor Ron Zonen asked how she knew Jackson. She said, "We've been friends and we were married." When asked if they had ever lived together, she said, "We never shared a home." Rowe met the entertainer when she worked as a nurse in the office of his dermatologist.
Rowe said that Jackson phoned her in February 2003 and asked her to take part in a TV show that was being made to rebut the Bashir documentary, which he told her was full of lies, she testified. She also said when she and Jackson divorced she gave up custody of the children but was allowed limited visits of eight hours every 45 days. She said she missed many chances to see the children because they were traveling with Jackson.
FoxNews's Roger Friedman says some bombs may fall, especially about her children's paternity. Friedman indicates that if asked, Rowe will "have to concede that Jackson is not the father of Prince, 8, and Paris, 7 ... The truth ... is that she acted as a surrogate twice and was artificially inseminated — and not with Jackson's sperm. This open secret was revealed in a London tabloid last year, and Rowe has verified it to friends."
Earlier today, Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville denied a a request by Jackson's attorneys for a mistrial, rejecting a claim that a disallowed line of questioning by prosecutors had tainted the proceedings.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - DrPat
Love the link! I had to click on it to verify that it was an Amazon product, since it does not appear at the bottom of your post.
Further to the topic, though - if Jackson is not the father of the children who now live with him, do you want to bet that a custody battle is next on his schedule, regardless of the outcome of this case?
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks DrPat! they are already in a custody battle in LA, although she has already regained the parental rights she gave up in '01
3 - RJ
"Rowe met the entertainer when she worked as a nurse in the office of his dermatologist."
Whoever MJ's dermatologist is, he needs to have his license pulled...
4 - Eric Olsen
it appears along the way he just gave up and went for the pancake
5 - Rickriprock
I actually saw Michael Jackson at WalMart last week. He was there because they had advertised little boys undies half off......Badabing....badaboom!
6 - RJ
I heard that one once...when I was in middle school...
7 - ihateoreilly
Eric..how can you possibly use Roger Friedman from Fox News as a source? This guy is known to "make up things" about celebrities and other famous figures. He thinks he is some type of God figure and has known to take cash to give hype to Miramax pictures, as well as Mariah Carey albums. Eric..I thought you were better than this. Still like ya though!
8 - Ken Frost
You may find this to be of interest.
It is covering the Jackson trial on a daily basis.
9 - james Mclafferty
Sorry if already read but i put it on the wrong forum:0
FOR ALL YOU PEOPLE THAT THOUGHT DEBBIE ROWE WAS GONNA SINK JACKO READ THIS:Day 40: Michael Jackson’s Ex-wife: "He’s My Friend… No One Can Tell Me What To Say"
Created: Wednesday, 27 April 2005
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Michael JacksonOn Day 40 of Michael Jackson’s trial, Mr. Jackson’s ex-wife, Deborah Rowe described him from the witness stand at his child molestation trial as "my friend" and said, contrary to the prosecution’s claims, that she was never rehearsed to say positive things about him on a video interview made to rebut a damaging TV documentary.
"I didn't want anyone to be able to come back to me and say my interview was rehearsed," Rowe said. "As Mr. Jackson knows, no one can tell me what to say."
Rowe, who is in a family court dispute over visitation with their children, Prince Michael and Paris, glanced at Mr. Jackson as she spoke. Mr. Jackson, dressed in a maroon suit, showed no obvious reaction to her testimony.
Prosecutors called Rowe to support their conspiracy case against Mr. Jackson, who is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in February or March 2003. The case alleges Mr. Jackson conspired to hold the accuser's family captive to get them to rebut the TV documentary "Living With Michael Mr. Jackson" by British journalist Martin Bashir.
The accuser's mother has claimed that a rebuttal video she made, praising Mr. Jackson as a father figure, was scripted.
Rowe reiterated that she had been offered a list of questions by her interviewers but she declined to look at them before she talked.
"It was a cold interview and I wanted to keep it that way," she said.
Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen asked her what she expected after she gave the interview.
Teary, she said, "To be reunited with the children and be reacquainted with their dad."
Asked why she wanted to see Mr. Jackson again, she said, "He's my friend."
Rowe appeared nervous at first as she told jurors "we've been friends and we were married."
"Are you the mother of his two elder children?" asked Zonen.
"Yes," she said, naming them.
Asked about her domestic arrangements, she said, "We never shared a home ... we never shared an apartment."
Rowe and Mr. Jackson married in November 1996. Prince Michael was born in February 1997, followed by Paris in April 1998. The couple filed for divorce in October 1999. Mr. Jackson has a third child, Prince Michael II, whose mother has remained anonymous.
Rowe said she knew Mr. Jackson for perhaps 20 years before they married and once they divorced she was allowed visitation with the children for eight hours every 45 days. She said it was a tough schedule to keep because Mr. Jackson travels so much with the children and she finally relinquished all parental rights.
"The visitations were not comfortable," she said, explaining that they would meet at a hotel and "it was a very sterile environment."
In 2003, she said, she received a call through her former employer, a doctor who brought Mr. Jackson and her together. She said he told her that someone associated with Mr. Jackson wanted to talk to her and arranged a phone call for her with Marc Schaffel, who is named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.
Mr. Jackson got on the phone briefly during that conversation, she said.
"He told me there was a video coming out and it was full of lies and would I help. I said, as always, yes. I asked him if he was OK. I was very upset," she testified.
Rowe said her conversation with Mr. Jackson lasted perhaps 21⁄2 minutes and there was no discussion of what he wanted her to do other than to work with his associates.
She said all she could recall him saying was, "There was a bad video coming out."
"Did he tell you with any specificity what he wanted you to do?" asked Zonen.
"No," she said.
Michael JacksonHer testimony did link Mr. Jackson to the making of the rebuttal video. But her account offered less evidence than the persecution seemed to expect to tie Mr. Jackson to a conspiracy. She said she was not pressured to say anything specific and that there was "no quid pro quo."
Asked why she would help Mr. Jackson, she said, "I promised him I would always be there for Michael and the children."
She did not give any details of her private life with Mr. Jackson and made it clear that she did not want to discuss it.
"My personal life was my personal life and no one's business," she said when asked by the prosecution if she had talked completely truthfully on the video that was made.
Rowe said that before the interview began at Schaffel's home, they talked briefly about her family and he reported on her children's progress.
She said Schaffel told her that "they were fine, that Michael was going to be OK, how big the childre
n had gotten and how beautiful they were and how strongheaded Paris was, like me."
She said the videotaped interview lasted nine hours and that she recently saw a two-hour version of it which was shown to her by prosecutors.
She said she found it "very boring and dull" and didn't really pay attention while she was watching it.
"All I knew is whatever what is being put out about Michael was hurtful to Michael and the children," she said.
Rowe said she told Mr. Jackson's associates that before she could take part in the video she needed a release from a confidentiality agreement.
"The confidentiality agreement said I could not speak with the press, public, anyone, regarding Michael or the children or our lives together," she said.
In his opening statement on February 28, 2005, chief prosecutor Tom Sneddon told the jury, "Debbie Rowe will tell you her interview also was completely scripted. They scripted that interview just like they scripted the (accuser's mother's) interview."
But the prosecution's line of attack has faltered in the face of Rowe's reversed testimony - and she remained adamant that neither Mr. Jackson or his aides tried to coerce her into giving scripted answers.
Rowe was expected back on the stand Thursday for more questioning.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Jackson's attorneys asked for a mistrial but were turned down by Judge Rodney S. Melville during a controversy involving testimony about the television documentary.
Former Mr. Jackson videographer Hamid Moslehi testified that during taping of the documentary he used his own camera to record the scenes as a backup for Mr. Jackson. He said the ultimate documentary was edited in a way that "Mr. Jackson sounded different than if they had continued another two or three seconds of that statement."
Michael JacksonMoslehi said the accuser, his brother and sister were at his house for two or three hours before the taping began and he did not see them rehearsing. He said that the mother was there for about an hour before the taping and that he did not see her reading, rehearsing or being coached.
He also said that the mother confided in him at times but that she never told him that she was being falsely imprisoned, that she was receiving death threats, that Mr. Jackson had given her children alcohol or that the singer improperly touched her son. He said she also never asked him to call police.
The judge had earlier barred the defense from showing sections of Moslehi's tape, so he ordered prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss to cease questioning Moslehi about his tape. But the prosecutor again ventured into that area, drawing another warning.
The defense finally made a motion for a mistrial, but the judge said he believed he had taken care of the problem by raising his own objection to the testimony.
Source: AP
10 - james Mclafferty
I think ERIC you will find some information in my last post that you failed to disclose at the top of the page(tut tut)
11 - Eric Olsen
thanks for filling in the holes James - I gave all the information I had when I put this together, which was immediately after her testimony. We'll see what she has to say today. As I've said all along, I didn't have much faith in the kidnapping and conspiracy charges, although conspiracy is much easier to prove and it appears SOMETHING was going on.
12 - james Mclafferty
Eric,Glad to be of help mate:-)
13 - Eric Olsen
I will be putting together another post shortly - apparently she also said she lied when she said MJ was a "model parent"
14 - james Mclafferty
Everyday normal people aren't neccesarily model parents eric,but it doesn't mean their kids are affected in any way.
15 - Eric Olsen
true - I'm not sure what a "model parent" is, but I'm pretty sure they don't exist
16 - james Mclafferty
I must confess eric i was slightly worried when i heard debbie rowe was testifying, because along with probably the rest of the world i thought she hated him and was going to say he'd done this and done that it is a as much asurprise to me that she had nothing but friendly words for him(considering the custody case at the moment).
17 - Eric Olsen
she was just getting started yesterday, very curious to hear what happens today
18 - Mihos
Wondering if Jackson and Lisa Presley are the biological parents of the children with Debbie Rowe a surrogate parent paid to carry the children full term?
You may doubt that these children are Lisa Marie's with Jackson. But to disprove the theory without relying on status quo deceptive presuppositions will prove more difficult.
This theory on alternative parentage of Jackson's children came about when two student groups did what any good investigative reporters are paid to do.
They second geuss the direction of the trial lawyers and weigh the effect of testimony on the court of public opinion.
All the strings lead somewhere. People who are biased against Jackson will simply not care about facts. People who are biased for Jackson will simply not look for any facts that are not on the table.
Let me ask this:
Was Elvis born blonde?
Did either or both of Elvis's parents claim American Indian heritage?
Does Priscilla Presley claim American Indian heritage?
As both of Jackson's parents are descended of Black Indians ( versus purely African slaves) this would mean that they are genetically speaking largely American Indian with some smaller percentage of their ancestors being African.
Joe Jackson has blue eyes suggesting a goat roper under the hay pile.
Hypothetically speaking here people:
If Lisa is the biological mother and Jackson the father,
would the percentage of American Indian demes take up the greatest slice of the proverbial genetic pie chart?
Wouldn't the features of the children follow what we might expect for mixed Amerindian children?
Or would we expect that the African genes would dominate over all the other genetics?
If you believe that African traits stain the white race when the two admixture you might look for that buckwheat in the woodpile.
The genetics involved in this hypothesis suprised us all.
So why would they need a surrogate?
Perhaps Jackson is suffering a life threatening or fatal disease that can be passed to his children, requiring the mother to take a cocktail of drugs to insure the health of both mother and unborn child.
With the hypothetical facts in hand, even the least interested could acknowledge that Jackson was never as black as assumed and that alternative hypotheses are equally plausible as anything Nancy graceless has posited lately.
19 - Eric Olsen
all interesting, but I thought the consensus is that Jackson isn't the biological father
20 - Mihos
It's a consensus of tabloid reporting.
Those children look as much like him as Tito's look like Tito.
Paris Jackson looks alot like Lisa Marie.
21 - Eric Olsen
I don't like Friedman's style at all, but he sure seems to have been right most of the time
22 - Mihos
Im right with you on this one. Friedman has remained fairly objective throughout.
Any factual information on the biological origin of Jackson's children
is probably a major bombshell below his radar.
23 - nick
If MJ wasn't the father, that would bring the custody battle to an end right away.
She would just have to say it to the judge in their case and then he would have to go through a paternity test to see if their DNAs match
If they don't, he simply doesn't have any rights on those children...Battle over !
24 - Eric Olsen
I'm not sure about that since she "freely" gave up all parental rights, nad has since tried to get them back. From what I've seen they sure don't look much like him
25 - Mihos
If Lisa Marie and Jackson are the biological parents, the children would genetically have a predominance of American Indian genes followed by smaller percentages of Caucasian and then African.
His children would therefore look alot like American Indians.
Latoya and Marlon Jackson are the same complexion as Tito's children which appear Caucasian though both parents are African American with a predominance of American Indian blood on side and American Indian and some Caucasian on the mother's side.
Underestimating the effect of American Indian genes is easy. We don't think about them even existing anymore. Yet most American blacks have at least a few American Indian ancestors and the recombination of American Indian and African genes has an interesting effect.
Indian genes often dominate in these instances. Since many American blacks have Indians on both sides of their family lines the skin tone and facial features of the American Indian often predominate.
The singer Vanity and the actress Denise Richards are examples of modern black indians. If one of the parents is black Indian and the other Caucasian with Indian genes, another set of genes is expressed to the exclusion of others.
Joe Jackson has blue eyes.
Americans have been so uninterested or unconcerned with the genetic heritage of their black neighbors they often think of them as just black folks loving or no.
But your white neighbors are Italian, Jewish, Scottish or English, Scandanvian and so on.