As with the death of any monarch, the passing of the King of Pop has caused chaos in his empire. But of all the rumors whispered and speculation spread, of all the questions left unanswered surrounding the death and life of Michael Jackson, perhaps most intriguing of all is how the most famous man in the world married and started a family with a cipher who worked in his dermatologist’s office.
Who is Debbie Rowe?
It was 30 years ago that Rowe, a nursing assistant in the office of Dr. Arnold Klein, a Beverly Hills, Calif., dermatologist, first met one of his famed clients — Michael Jackson.
“I go ‘Hi’. And he goes ‘Hi,’ and I said, ‘You know what? Nobody does what you do better, and nobody does what I do better. Let’s get this over with.’ And he laughed, and we just became friends. It was just right away,” said Rowe in a 2003 interview. The interview, much of which had never been aired before, was obtained exclusively by ABC News from F. Marc Schaffel Productions. Schaffel is a friend of Rowe and former associate of Jackson.
The interview, like many of her statements in the first few years after her marriage and amicable divorce from Jackson, painted the singer as a loving father, to whom she was happy to turn over her children. ‘I Didn’t Change Diapers, I Didn’t Get Up in the Middle of the Night. Michael Did It All,’ Rowe Says in 2003 Interview
How Did They Get Married?
Rowe says that her early relationship with Jackson was fun and friendly but basically frivolous. She had recently come out of a first marriage and Jackson was about to wed Lisa Marie Presley.
There was plenty of talk suggesting Michael’s 1994 marriage to Lisa Marie Presley was merely an attempt to boost an image that had been tarnished by accusations of child molestation and a general perception of weirdness. But some who knew the couple together said it was the real thing.
Michael and Lisa Marie talked about having children together, and Lisa Marie’s recent blog speaks of true love. During their marriage, Michael had a musical rejuvenation, releasing “HIStory,” a best- selling CD that included the ballad “You Are Not Alone.”
But loving as it may have been, after 19 months, the marriage to Lisa Marie crumbled. Rowe said that left her friend Jackson devastated.
“I was trying to console him, because he was really upset. He was upset because he really wanted to be a dad. I said,’So be a dad.’ He looked at me puzzled. That is when I looked at him and said. ‘Let me do this. I want to do this. You have been so good to me. You are such a great friend. Please let me do this. You need to be a dad, and I want you to be.’”
The Man Who Fit The Bill
It was an offer friends said had a built-in appeal to the King of Pop, who told them he wanted children with blond hair and blue eyes; Debbie Rowe fit the bill. At some point the bill would come due. But Rowe said initially hers was a heartfelt offer to a generous and loving man she thought should be a father.
“I believe there are people who should be parents, and he’s one of them. And he is such a fabulous man, and such a good friend, and he’s always been there for me, always, from the day I met him,” Rowe said.
Although she has consistently refused to discuss the couple’s sex life, in this 2003 interview Rowe did say she was pregnant well before she and Michael were wed.
Can I Have Some Privacy, Please?
“There were people following me, there were people in front of my apartment, and it’s scary. I mean, yeah they want a picture, but why? Why? I found out at one point that a picture of me pregnant was worth half a million dollars.”
Among those making money on the pregnancy, it’s been repeatedly suggested that Debbie Rowe was paid to breed Michael’s children. She’s repeatedly denied this — but admitted there were certain natural benefits to being Mrs. Michael Jackson, a title she said she assumed for only one reason.
“To prevent some of the taboo of a child out of wedlock. The kids were going to have it hard enough as it was, and they didn’t need to have that label upon them like their father has had so many placed upon him, they shouldn’t.”
While Jackson was on tour for the “HIStory” release in Australia in 1996, Rowe and Jackson wed in a private ceremony.
