Michael Jackson met Debbie Rowe when he was dealing with his pain of divorce from Lisa Marie Presley.
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley had just begun their life as husband and wife when their marriage came to an end, even before they could settle down. The two tied the knot in 1994 and got divorced in 1996.
Jackson especially wanted to become a father but his dream was cut short by the divorce. That's when another woman entered his life who was ready to give him what he wanted the most.
Debbie Rowe worked as a nursing assistant at Jackson's dermatologist's office when the pop star was struggling with his heartbreak. Rowe, who herself was coming out of a divorce from her first husband helped the devastated Jackson deal with the situation. "I was trying to console him, because he was really upset," she said, as reported by ABC News.
"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,'" she added.
Jackson wanted kids with blond hair and blue eyes and Rowe was perfect for this. She said that she believes "there are people who should be parents and he's one of them." Jackson was "a fabulous man, and such a good friend" who was there for her since the day she met him. So, when the King of Pop expressed his wish, Rowe just told him, "I will have your babies."
The 61-year-old understood that Jackson was "divorced, lonely and wanted children," and so "I offered him my womb, it was a gift. It was something I did to keep him happy," she said. Right after the Billie Jean singer signed off the divorce papers, Rowe and Jackson got married in Sydney, reported The Mirror. Rowe gave birth to Michael Joseph Jackson (Prince), in 1997.
During the birth of daughter Paris, 22, in 1998, Rowe went through a lot of complications with which it was concluded that she wouldn't be able to become a mother anymore but Jackson was delighted with his two children. The Thriller crooner in his interview with Martin Bashir revealed that he was so desperate to take Paris home that he carried her while she was still covered in blood.
"I snatched her and just went home with all the placenta and everything all over her," he said, reported Reuters, as cited by People. He continued, "I’m not kidding. Got her in a towel and ran. They said it was fine... And I got her home and washed it all off.”
In an interview with News of the World after the demise of the pop star, Rowe revealed that they were never once sexually active and the birth of their children was the result of artificial insemination by an anonymous sperm donor. The Mirror reported that there were rumors of Rowe's doctor boss, late Arnold Klein being the father of Jackson's kids, but the doctor refused to either deny or confirm the claims.
Prince prefers to pay no heed to the reports floating around and believes that Jackson was his father. He once said, "Every time someone asks me that, I ask, ‘What’s the point? What difference does it make?’" He added, "Specifically to someone who’s not involved in my life. How does that affect your life? It doesn’t change mine.”
For Paris too, Jackson is her biological father and no one can tell her otherwise. She told the Rolling Stone in 2017, “He is my father. He will always be my father. He never wasn’t, and he never will not be. People that knew him really well say they see him in me, that it’s almost scary."
“I consider myself black. [Dad] would look me in the eyes and he’d point his finger at me and he’d be like, ‘You’re black. Be proud of your roots.’ And I’d be like, ‘OK, he’s my dad, why would he lie to me?’ So I just believe what he told me. Because, to my knowledge, he’s never lied to me," she added.
Rowe and Jackson divorced in 1999 and she gave him full custody of the kids. Just like Rowe said, she gave Jackson the happiness of being a father and was barely involved in their lives.
References:
https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/MichaelJackson/story?id=8023028&page=1
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/michael-jacksons-ex-debbie-rowes-23005167
https://people.com/celebrity/michael-jacksons-odd-bedtime-stories/
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/paris-jackson-life-after-neverland-128510/