Debbie Rowe is suing the “friend” who leaked damning e-mails that Debbie allegedly wrote, which read, in part “Do I want the kids? Hell no. Does it look good for me to ask for them? Absolutely.” The NY Post published the supposed e-mails, along with a separate story that Rowe worked out a behind-the-scenes deal that she would not challenge Katherine Jackson’s custody claim in exchange for a lump sum payoff of $4 million.
Rowe denied those stories, and said through a spokesperson that she “has not and will not give up her parental rights… and will not accept any additional financial consideration beyond the spousal support she and Michael personally agreed to several years ago.”
Many of you believed that something sneaky was going on though, as it seemed like Rowe must have had a financial motivation to seek custody of the children she once tried to relinquish all rights to and hadn’t seen since birth. Whatever is happening, Rowe denies writing those e-mails and is suing the person who claims she did. Given the background of Rowe’s “friend” who sold the e-mails to Page Six, Rebecca White, I tend to believe Rowe that she didn’t write that at all:
Debbie Rowe has filed suit against Rebecca White, who claimed that Rowe sent her an email saying she did not want custody of her children with Michael Jackson.
White was also interviewed on a syndicated TV show and claimed to be friends with Rowe.
“Do I want the kids? Hell no,” White said Rowe wrote to her in an email. But in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Rowe says she is not friends with White and did not send her that or any other email. “The statements attributed by Ms. White to Ms. Rowe in said emails were fabricated by Ms. White and are false,” the lawsuit states.
RadarOnline.com has learned that this is not the first time Rebecca White has been accused of fabricating stories. She once worked as a personal assistant to Naomi Campbell and then later sold – or attempted to sell – several stories about celebrities to tabloids. Many of those stories were proven false. Story developing….
[From Radar Online]
It seems pretty easy for people to cash in on celebrities by claiming some fake story and then selling it. If this woman has done this multiple times before there’s no reason to trust her.
We don’t know Rowe’s motivation but it does look like she served as a kind of surrogate for Michael Jackson and may have never intended to take a role as mother to their children. In the one interview I saw with her, she struck me as a decent person who was sincere about her friendship with Michael and wanted to have kids for him. She didn’t seem ready or willing to be a mother at all, and it’s understandable that people are questioning why she seems to want to try at this point.
Debbie Rowe is shown at her ranch in Palmdale, CA on 7/13/09. Credit: INFPhoto.com. She called the cops on the paparazzi because they were double parked and climbing her fence.
debbie looks preggo in this pic. lol. i think debbie and katherine jackson should have joint custody so the kids r still in micheals family but also in a more stable enviroment with debbie and not around joe jackson so much
Even if Debbie didn’t write the emails, I still believe she cut another deal with the Jacksons to re-sell the children to them. In her world, “I have concerns about the children” is code for “I need you to give me more money to drop those ‘concerns.'” Don’t forget, during Michael’s child molestation trial, she raised “concerns” as well, which were quickly bought off for another cash settlement.
I think that Debbie actually isn’t after money here. I rather think she is yelling about her rights in an effort to blackmail (kinda harsh, but true) the family into keeping the kids away from Joe Jackson. If she was friends with MJ and then had kids with him, it’s likely they had conversations about how his parents acted. I’ve seen that all the time… friends of mine and even boyfriend who have had crappy parents and somehow feel that that will make them crap as parents too. And it always comes up if we get to talking about raising children. If he told her it would not be a stretch for her to make some media noise, get the family’s attention (I’m sure nobody over there wants a custody battle), and then make sure Joe Jackson has nothing to do with the kids.
I think TMZ is pushing this kind of view as well (my impression, from the majority of their reports).
It’s perhaps the most positive outlook of any way you could frame this. Really though, somebody needs to step up and keep those kids away from him. Bravo if that woman is Debbie the dermatology nurse.
The question is, why didn’t any of these news outlets Google Rebecca White before running the story about the emails she supposedly received? Does no one even do their basic journalistic homework any more?
White sounds like a pretty lazy fraudster if she didn’t even bother to change her name.
I agree with Trey. I also think Debbie’s biggest concerns are not money. She seems to have a working ranch, which would mean it generates revenue.
If you were a surrogate, and then the single parent died, wouldn’t you want the best for your offspring even if that wasn’t the original arrangement? I think Debbie’s just trying to do the best for the kids.
Since MJ notoriously defaulted on all his debts, and most tellingly, didn’t even pay his damn local pharmacy bill, all indications are that Debbie never got paid her original spousal support anyway. What the hell is wrong with trying to get your original agreement enforced??? That certainly doesn’t mean that all you want is money. She was a surrogate and MJ never paid up to begin with. Hell yeah I’d still be trying to enforce the original support agreement. Only way to get it is to keep taking him to court.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing.
But seriously she is so transparent. I hope they do go to battle for custody because her own words and actions will come back to haunt her. It will be interesting to see her try to defend herself as wanting to be a mother and take care of children that she gave away in front of a judge. The judge would have a field day with her.
Hanger on.
Oh, please. If this Water Buffalo didn’t smell the chance to get more cash, we wouldn’t have heard from her.
If MJ’s estate was bankrupt and the kids were left destitute, I doubt Debbie would remember she actually birthed any kids.
gg: You make a valid point about all of MJ’s debts. Perhaps he never did meet all the financial terms of his original agreements with Debbie Rowe? If not a lot of what we’re reading about could be a soft attempt to blackmail them into meeting the original terms of the agreement. I’m not a fan of hers. The Jackson family is a large clan with even more extended relatives. Surely within that group a suitable guardian can be found.
My understanding is that each time Debbie has gone to court, it was to try and get Michael to hold up his end of the surrogate/alimony agreement, which he had not. Each time, they reached another “settlement amount”, meaning, she said, okay, you’re way behind in your payments, but I will take less and we’ll stand by this NEW AGREEMENT superceding the original agreement.
My understanding is that he’s never stuck to ANY agreement they’ve made. That is why people keep thinking she wanted “more” money – when in fact she was trying to get him to stick to the original agreement. I see nothing wrong with that. He was obviously trying to skip out on all his debts, seeing as there are so many creditors owed and he went “bankrupt”, even though he had a $10k per month house rental payment (that I also doubt he paid).
Nice take on it gg! I had completely forgotten about those times he was in court with her… which I only paid vague attention to anyways :'( The whole child-molestation trial kinda up and blotted everything between “It Doesn’t Matter If You’re Black Or White” and the recent show/bankruptcy bruhaha.
Recent from TMZ:
“As for additional money, we’re told Rowe is not requesting that. In fact, our sources say lawyers for Jackson’s estate have not even been consulted about the discussions between lawyers for Katherine and Debbie. If there were any issue of additional monies, the estate lawyers would have been consulted.”
http://www.tmz.com/2009/07/17/settlement-near-in-jackson-custody-case/
Thanks Trey. 🙂
I used to be a family law paralegal many moons ago and have always been interested in the Rowe children, following this since MJ and Rowe divorced.
As far as the child molestation cases, MJ did himself no favors by being so secretive, and then lying and changing stories so frequently about the other aspects of his life and his children. If he’d just come out as being gay, which I believe the stories that he was, I think it would’ve defused a lot of the speculation and crazy spinoff stories. Of course it’s nobody’s actual business, but hey, when you are perhaps the biggest star in the world, you gotta check yourself and be honest to the public or they’ll smell a rat.
In any case, he was a very conflicted man and must’ve been miserable his entire life. May he rest in peace.
wow, she wants even more money!