However, even the King Of Pop’s daughter Paris has previously confessed she sees her mother as ‘more of a friend,’ having remained in her father’s custody in the wake of her divorce.
Michael Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Row, 67, looked completely unrecognisable after she stepped out in a rare outing in April last year, nine years after battling breast cancer
Debbie has largely stayed out of the spotlight ever since their highly publicised divorce more than two decades ago (pictured together in 2006)
Michael met Debbie when she was working as an ᴀssistant to his dermatologist Arnold Klein, shortly after his divorce from Lisa Marie.
A devoted fan of the singer, Debbie suggested she could bear his children – an account that was later corroborated by Lisa, who told Playboy in 2003 that even during their marriage, Michael was aware the besotted Debbie ‘had a crush on him’ and wanted to have his children.
Debbie was the same age as Michael and became his second wife in 1996 in a secretive ceremony in Sydney, only for the pair to divorce four years later in 2000.
Since her split from the star, Debbie has taken a step back from the spotlight, though in 2022 she appeared in a TMZ documentary where she admitted she felt ‘partly to blame’ for Michael’s death.
In TMZ investigation, Who Really Killed Michael Jackson, Debbie wept as she admitted she regrets not doing more to help Jackson when he became addicted to painkillers.
Michael died aged 50 following a drug-induced cardiac arrest in June 2009 at his home in Los Angeles and his personal physician at the time, Dr Conrad Murray, was jailed for involuntary manslaughter.
Rowe said: ‘I was basically as bad as him [Klein] and I am so sorry I participated in it.’
Debbie’s comments were said to have ‘dumbfounded’ Michael’s family at the time, with sources claiming she had ‘never’ spoken with some of the Jackson family about the star since his death.