Who is Michael Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe and where is she now?

17 June 2021, 16:40

Debbie Rowe is the mother of Michael Jackson's first two children, Prince and Paris Jackson.

But how did they meet and where is Debbie Rowe now? Here are all the important facts...

Who are Michael Jackson's children Prince, Paris and Blanket?

1. Who was Michael Jackson first married to?

   

   Michael Jackson's first wife was Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley.

   The couple married in 1994, but had divorced in 1996. However, they remained on good terms.

2. Who is Debbie Rowe and how did she meet Michael Jackson?

   

   Debbie Rowe is an American nurse, best known for her marriage to Michael Jackson, with whom she had two children.

   Rowe met Michael Jackson while working as a nurse in Dr Arnold Klein's dermatology office, where Jackson was being treated for his vitiligo skin condition.

   She said that after Jackson's divorce from Lisa Marie Presley, he was upset at the possibility that he might never become a father.

   Rowe, a longtime Jackson fan, proposed to give him children. In an interview with Playboy, Lisa Marie said that she knew at the time that she and Jackson were married, that Rowe wanted to have his children and that Rowe had "a crush on him".

   According to her friend Tanya Boyd, Rowe would obsess over the singer. She would say: "If people knew him like I knew him, they would not think he was strange. He's unique, kinky, actually."

   Their friendship lasted for several years, during which time Rowe married and divorced teacher Richard Edelman, a man she claimed to have felt "trapped" by.

   Rowe and Jackson talked to each other about their unhappy marriages. Like Jackson's first wife, Rowe supported him when he was accused of child sexual abuse.

   Jackson kept his friendship with Rowe a secret from his wife, who eventually found out but thought nothing of it. She said she felt Rowe was not her husband's type as she was not glamorous enough.

3. When did Michael Jackson marry Debbie Rowe?

   Jackson and Rowe married on November 13, 1996, at the Sheraton on the Park Hotel in Sydney, Australia.

   The night before the wedding, Jackson had called Lisa Marie Presley, who gave him and Rowe her blessing.

   In front of 15 friends, the pair exchanged vows at the hotel. An eight-year-old boy named Anthony, Jackson's nephew, served as the best man.

   Much of the public and media reaction to the marriage was negative. Some believed Jackson was marrying a person he did not love, and Rowe was having a baby who may not have been biologically Jackson's.

4. Who are Debbie Rowe's children?

   

   As Presley had refused to carry Jackson's children, Rowe offered to give birth to a child for him.

   Soon after Presley and Jackson's separation, Rowe became pregnant but suffered a miscarriage in March 1996.

   Several months after his divorce from Presley, it was revealed that Rowe was pregnant with his child.

   Newspaper reports at the time claimed that Jackson would be raising the child alone, and that he impregnated Rowe artificially with his own sperm cells.

   Jackson and Rowe's first child, Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr (also known as 'Prince Michael'), was born on February 13, 1997.

   Six weeks after the birth, Rowe saw her son for the first time, but did not raise the child with Jackson. At Neverland, Prince was cared for by a team of six nannies and six nurses during his first few months.

   Rowe announced that she was pregnant with Jackson's second child in November 1997. The baby was a girl named Paris, after the French city in which her parents said she was conceived.

5. When did Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe divorce?

   Rowe later asked Jackson for a divorce, which he granted on October 8, 1999.

   Rowe received around $10 million in a settlement. Rowe also gave Jackson full custody rights to her children.

   In 2006, Rowe applied for access to her two children to be reinstated and reached an agreement with Jackson. Following his death in 2009, his mother Katherine was made the permanent guardian of Prince Michael, Paris, and their half-brother Prince Michael II.

   A new custody arrangement was made with Rowe, who now had visitation rights with her two children and continued to receive support payments.

6. Where is Debbie Rowe now?

   

   EXCLUSIVE: Debbie Rowe Talks Cancer Battle and How It Helped Her Reconnect With Daughter Paris

   In 2014, Rowe announced on Entertainment Tonight that she was engaged to music producer and former Neverland Ranch videographer Marc Schaffel, who worked with Michael Jackson on his 9/11 charity single 'What More Can I Give'.

   Schaffel was the only Jackson employee who was given access to visit Rowe following their divorce in 1999, and he helped Rowe with her health issues.

   In 2016, Debbie Rowe was diagnosed with breast cancer.