http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,195449,00.html
Jackson : Custody Question Of Kids
Michael Jackson’s problems are far from over, despite the very breezy version of his life that appeared in The New York Times business section yesterday. Jackson’s legal difficulties are actually headed for a dramatic climax in just seven days.
Right now lawyers for Jackson’s ex-wife are negotiating with the fallen pop star’s reps over depositions in Debbie Rowe’s ongoing visitation/custody case. As things stand today, Jackson is supposed to be in New York in one week to answer a wide range of questions about his parenthood.
You may recall that his two eldest children, Prince and Paris, were born to Rowe during their brief marriage. The children have been told by Jackson that they don’t have a mother, yet Rowe—as I revealed here last year—is their only biological parent.
Upon their divorce, Jackson paid Rowe what is estimated to be about $9 million over several years. But he stopped short of the remaining $2 million owed because he said Rowe had violated their confidentiality agreement. In fact, she gave “Entertainment Tonight†an interview about her horses and ranch, and said nothing about Jackson or the kids. But at the time Jackson was cash-crunched and looking for a way out of his agreement with the feisty blonde.
But Jackson owes Rowe more than she could ever give him. Not only did she “give†him two children, she came to his defense twice during his child molestation scandal. The first time was in February 2003, right after Martin Bashir’s special with Jackson painted him in a bad light. Rowe immediately appeared on TV at Jackson’s request and described him as a wonderful, loving parent who wouldn’t hurt a fly.
The second time was in May 2005, when Rowe took the stand at Jackson’s trial and offered similar praise as a defense witness. Her testimony was so persuasive that the jury managed to forget about countless questions raised in their minds by witnesses for both sides.
Rowe’s reward for helping Jackson was one visit with the children in late summer 2005, during which she was not allowed to tell them she was their mother. Since then, she hasn’t seen or heard from them.
But recently Rowe regained her parental rights in Los Angeles family court after thinking she’d signed them away. Jackson’s response was to force the private judge, a retiree whom both sides had hired, to recuse himself from the case, thus creating new delays in determining if Rowe would ever see the rest of her settlement or ever have a relationship with her kids.
A few months ago, Rowe changed lawyers after an arduous and successful run with Iris Finsilver of Palm Springs. She is now represented by “fresh blood,†Eric George of Beverly Hills, whose determined to get Rowe her rightful due. Some people in the court of public opinion may argue that Rowe “sold†her kids or signed away her rights to them, but legally, neither is true. It will be interesting to see if Jackson shows up in New York next week, and if he brings the children.
Either way, hearings are scheduled in Los Angeles on May 18 and 24 in Rowe v. Jackson separate from the depositions.
Also on the table for next week may be depositions in the ongoing case brought by Prescient Capital, aka Darien Dash (cousin of Damon Dash) for $48 million in fees --a significant chapter omitted in yesterday’s Times. Then there are further depositions that have been allowed by the California judge in Marc Schaffel’s $4 million case. That trial is supposed to begin on June 2nd.
Meanwhile, there’s no sign of Jackson’s charity record, the one he was doing for New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina struck on August 31, 2005. Since then, countless recording artists have donated time, money, supplies, energy, etc to help the shamefully forgotten people of the gulf coast. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw even rented 18 wheelers full of food and brought them to Biloxi. Now Paul Simon—who brought doctors and medicine to the region—sings about it all beautifully on his new album. But not a peep from Jackson.
Indeed, the website for Jackson’s putative record label, Two Seas, seems to have vanished from the web. Its url now directs to a German fan club. I do not know what happened to the kid who sent out a statement to a bunch of journalists on April 23rd claiming that Jackson was working with 50 Cent and planning a new album as well. You’ll notice this column was the only one that didn’t report that “news†because when we asked Two Seas intern “Teddy Blass†for a number, it turned out to be a fax number at Sony’s Los Angeles offices.
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