Michael Jackson's ex-wife told jurors yesterday the entertainer was surrounded by "opportunistic vultures" out to take advantage of a man she knew privately to be kind, selfless and "generous to a fault".
Debbie Rowe
The testimony by Debbie Rowe, the mother of Jackson's two oldest children, was a setback to prosecutors who had called her as a witness to link the entertainer (46) to an alleged conspiracy to imprison the family of a then-13-year-old boy who accuses him of sexual molestation.
Jackson faces charges of holding the boy's family at his Neverland estate and bullying them into making a videotaped interview singing his praises in early 2003 in the wake of a televised documentary in which he defended his practice of sharing his bed with children.
Ms Rowe, who never lived with Jackson but was married to him from 1997 to 1999, also filmed a nine-hour interview as part of Jackson's public relations effort, but she denied her answers were scripted, contrary to a claim by prosecutors.
She said the only direct contact she had had with Jackson in the six years since their divorce came when he called to ask her to grant that taped interview. She said she had done so in the hope of being able to see their children, Prince Michael and Paris.
Prosecutors, who plan to rest their case next week, have suggested Jackson manipulated Ms Rowe by dangling the prospect of a renewed relationship between her and the children.
Ms Rowe surrendered her parental rights as part of her divorce and at one point was only able to see the children for eight hours every 45 days. She has since sued and recovered her parental rights.
She remains in a court fight with Jackson over visitation but admitted that after so many years, returning to the children now as their mother was "complicated." Jackson has a third child, Prince Michael II, by an unknown mother.
She said she had not seen the children or spoken to Jackson since the 2003 interview. Even so, she said she still considered Jackson "a friend - if he'd talk to me".