Debbie, who was married to the “Thriller” singer from 1996 to 2000, similarly had a complicated relationship with their children
15 years after Michael Jackson’s untimely death aged 50 on June 25, 2009, his legacy is carried on not only through his legendary footprint on music history, but more personally, through his children, Prince, 27, Paris, 26, and Bigi, 22, who was formerly known as Blanket.

The “Thriller” singer first became a father on February 3, 1997, when he welcomed Prince, whose full name is Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., with Debbie Rowe, who he had married on November 15, 1996, in Sydney, Australia.

Michael’s marriage to Debbie, when she was six months pregnant with their first child, came a year after he separated from his first wife, Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie Presley, and came about unexpectedly and after an intriguing proposition.

How did Michael and Debbie meet?
Michael met Debbie several years before they got married, as she was the assistant to his dermatologist, Arnold Klein, who started treating him for vitiligo in 1983. The two became friends, and further bonded in the wake of his divorce from Lisa Marie.Debbie has since reflected, both in the 2003 documentary The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See, and during testimony for his wrongful-death lawsuit, how Michael expressed to her that the hardest part of his divorce was his fear that he would never have children, and how she in turn offered to be the mother of his future kids.

Debbie and Michael in Paris, 1997
Relationship with her children
When Michael and Debbie divorced in April 2000, she gave him full custody rights of Prince and Paris, and per the terms of their prenuptial agreement, she also received an $8 million settlement, which is equivalent to around $15 million today.

The following year, she went one step further, requesting a judge to have her parental rights of the two terminated, however in 2004, after Michael was charged with ten counts of child abuse, she requested to have the decision reversed.

Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson’s ex-wife and mother of two of his children, returns to the courtroom for Jackson’s child molestation trial at the Santa Barbara County courthouse April 28, 2005 in Santa Maria, California. Jackson is charged in a 10-count indictment with molesting a boy, plying him with liquor and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion© Getty

Debbie in 2005
When Michael died in 2009, the children — he welcomed Bigi in 2002 via surrogacy — went to live with his mother, Katherine Jackson, who became their guardian.

Paris and her mom reconnected in 2013

The kids had a limited relationship with their mother throughout their childhood, though in 2021, during an appearance on Red Table Talk, Paris recalled reuniting with Debbie when she was 15 years old, in 2013, and developing a friendship with her.

The Jackson kids earlier this year
“It’s cool, getting to know her, seeing how similar we are, getting into what kind of music she really likes,” she shared at the time, adding: “It’s just cool having her as a friend.”