Jackson’s ex-wife says ‘I want my children’

[riazishere]

LOS ANGELES: custody battle for Michael Jackson’s three children was looming last night after his former wife told a local TV station: “I want my children.â€￾

Debbie Rowe said she would seek a restraining order against Jackson’s father, Joe, to keep him away from Michael Joseph Jr, 12 — known as Prince Michael — daughter Paris Michael Katherine, 11, and son Prince Michael II, 7, also known as Blanket.

Ms Rowe, who has kept her silence over the past week and is believed to have previously signed away custody rights to her children, is the latest figure to join the fight for Jackson’s legacy.

The first indication that Ms Rowe, mother of Jackson’s two elder children, was prepared to fight for their future, amid suggestions that Jackson was not their father, came as footage was released of Jackson dancing in rehearsals two nights before he died.

Looking pale and gaunt, he is nonetheless seen moving with the vigour, grace and precision that was the hallmark of his dancing.

The film was released by AEG, the promoter of his final series of concerts that were planned for this summer in London. The footage gives a glimpse of what was in store for fans at his planned gigs in London.

Jackson, who had not performed a live series of concerts for a decade, died on Thursday last week. A long day of rehearsals as he ran through his dance routines and songs at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles was captured on film and may be issued as a DVD.

Ms Rowe’s intervention came after Jackson’s mother, Katherine, 79, was granted temporary custody of all three children. She is looking after them at the Jackson family compound in Encino, Los Angeles. Joe Jackson, who is still married to Mrs Jackson but who often lives in Las Vegas, has been at the family home in recent days.

Late yesterday a judge delayed a guardianship hearing that had been scheduled for Monday, at the request of Ms Rowe's attorneys and those of the singer's mother, who has temporary custody of all three children. It will now take place on July 13.

A website reported that Ms Rowe told a reporter in a 90-minute phone conversation that she was willing to submit to any testing, including of her DNA, to prove that she is the mother of the pop singer’s two older children. The younger son was born to an unknown surrogate mother. Ms Rowe also reportedly said that she would submit to psychological testing.

It was not clear last night if Ms Rowe merely wanted better visiting rights to see her children. Experts say that she has the strongest legal claim to Jackson’s two older children, as she is their natural mother, even though she gave up her parental rights after her divorce from Jackson and has rarely seen them in the past few years.