Michael Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe is suing a woman for nearly $500,000 (£316,000) over claims she wanted money rather than custody of her children.

Rebecca White told the US TV show Extra that Ms Rowe was not interested in access to her two children with Jackson – Prince Michael, 12, and Paris, 11.

Ms Rowe sued over the comments in July, but Ms White failed to respond.

Her lawyers are now seeking a default judgment. A court hearing to decide the outcome is scheduled for November.

In legal papers filed in Los Angeles, Ms Rowe’s lawyers claim she should be awarded $490,000 (£300,000) in general and punitive damages.

The defamation and invasion-of-privacy action is seeking to recoup any money that Ms White may have been paid for her interview, Lawyers have estimated the fee to be $100,000 (£61,000).

They are also seeking $100,000 for emotional distress, $45,000 (£27,000) for medical and legal fees and $245,000 (£150,000) in punitive damages. Read on…

We’ve pulled up a  couple parts of the interview that were the most interesting. Here, from CNN, Jermaine discusses the allegations of Jackson’s drug addiction:

Jermaine Jackson told King he had no reason to believe his brother was addicted to drugs, a suspicion that detectives revealed when they requested a warrant to search Dr. Conrad Murray’s Las Vegas, Nevada, home and office.

“I have never seen him act abnormal around me or never known anything like that,” he said. He said he never talked about drugs with his brother “because it never came to my mind.”

While the coroner’s report on what killed Jackson has been delayed indefinitely, evidence emerged that he shopped for a doctor who would give him the drug investigators suspect led to his death.

In addition to denying the drug abuse rumors, Jermaine also dismissed the suggestions that Jackson’s three children were not his biological heirs. He doesn’t, however, know what to make of the rumors of Michael’s  “fourth child,” Norwegian music star Omer Bhatti.

When King asked if there was a chance the children might have show business careers, he said “there’s a great possibility.”

“They love film and they love movies and they know a lot about animation,” he said.

The arrangement for Debbie Rowe, the mother of the two eldest children, to have limited visitation with them is “perfect” and “wonderful,” he said. “We’ve talked about horses, she has a ranch.”

He disputed suggestions that Michael Jackson was not the biological father of the children.

“People come forth and say things just to get attention, but those are definitely Michael’s children.

“You can look at the kids and tell that they are Michael’s kids,” he said.

Jermaine said he did not know if Omer Bhatti, a 25-year-old Norwegian performer, was his brother’s son.

Ever since Michael Jackson’s death in June, we’ve heard conflicting reports about who the biological mother and father of his three children really are. Today, another man enters the fray, claiming that Paris Jackson is his biological daughter. Former child star Mark Lester told reporters that he donated sperm for Debbie Rowe, the mother who gave birth to Paris and Prince. He says the 11 year old Paris bears an uncanny resemblance to his own daughter, and he’s willing to take a paternity test to prove his claim.

This comes on the heels of a custody claim by another man, dermatologist Arnold Klein, who is also rumored to be the Jackson kids’ real daddy. When is the madness going to stop? These kids need a chance to be normal, and that’s never going to happen if they keep getting dragged into custody fights.

ABC News has more:

Less than a week after Jackson’s 79-year-old mother Katherine Jackson was awarded custody of his three children a former British child star has come forward saying he believes he’s the father of Jackon’s 11-year-old daughter, Paris.

“I believe that Paris could be my daughter, and I would be willing to take a paternity test,” Mark Lester, star of the 1967 film “Oliver,” told British tabloid News of the World.

Lester, 51, said that he donated sperm for Debbie Rowe, mother of Jackson’s two oldest children, Paris and Prince Michael I, 12. He contends that Paris bears an uncanny resemblance to his own daughters, particularly his 15-year-old.

“Looking at pictures of Harriet and Paris, there’s a very strong resemblance between the two of them,” Lester, also the children’s godfather, told News of the World,” “Paris has blue eyes, pale complexion and high cheekbones.”

At the beginning of the week, a custody plan between Rowe and Katherine Jackson was finalized, giving the Jackson matriarch custody of Paris, Prince, and Blanket. NY Daily News reports that Rowe, the surrogate mother of Michael’s two older children, was “concerned” about father Joe. Joe Jackson has been dogged for years by allegations that he abused Michael.

So the Jackson clan jumped into damage control mode, with Joe preparing a court declaration that promises he won’t meddle in the childrearing decisions of his grandkids. As part of the deal, Joe got barred from living at the family compound, where the kids will stay. Let’s hope Katherine Jackson knows what she’s doing!

More from the NY Daily News:

Joe Jackson has promised a judge he will step aside in the raising of Michael Jackson’s three kids.

“I do visit the family residence from time to time and will continue to do so; however, I will not be involved in raising the children,” the patriarch said in a two-page court declaration.

He said all “decision-making authority” will rest with his wife, Katherine Jackson.

Joe Jackson can’t live at the family compound in Encino, Calif., under the custody deal between Katherine and Debbie Rowe, biological mom of Michael’s two eldest children.

Rowe was concerned about Joe’s influence because Michael had accused his dad of physical abuse, a source told the Daily News.

Why does dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein think he has any authority over the kids’ future? The surprise request made on behalf of Klein has the gossip mags churning out more rumors that the dermatologist is the real biological father of Jackson’s elder two children. What a tangled web of connections! Klein has yet to confirm or deny these rumors.

More from E! Online:

Acting on behalf of Dr. Arnold Klein, attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan made a surprise appearance in court today to express his client’s concern for the “education, health care and welfare” of Jackson’s two eldest children, Prince Michael and Paris.

Not that Klein, who still has never flat-out denied that he is the biological father of those kids, thinks that their grandmother Katherine Jackson shouldn’t be taking care of them.

Klein is merely “acting on promises he made to Michael with respect to ensuring the long-term health and stability of the children and their ability to enjoy as normal of a life out of the spotlight as could be reasonably possible,” Kaplan and cocounsel Bradley P. Boyer said in a statement Monday night.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff, who earlier today awarded Katherine Jackson custody of her three grandchildren and agreed to visitation rights for Paris and Prince’s biological mother (and Klein’s former assistant), Debbie Rowe, said that Klein had no standing to challenge his decision at this time.

Not so fast, says the New York Post, which is reporting this morning that Debbie Rowe is in fact getting a pretty chunk of change from the Jacksons. $4 million to be exact! It was grandmother Katherine Jackson who agreed to give Rowe these “spousal support payments,” even though Rowe didn’t have written documentation of any agreement between her and Michael. Guess the family was tired of dealing with her, huh?

Here’s the article:

Debbie Rowe has hit the baby-making jackpot!

A child-custody agreement announced yesterday will keep Michael Jackson’s two oldest children with his relatives — but only if they continue to pay the kids’ human incubator about $4 million as part of an informal “spousal” arrangement she had with the King of Pop before he died, sources said.

Lawyers for both sides tried to spin it that no money had changed hands, but in a carefully worded statement, the family admitted yesterday they would continue paying her dough promised to her by Jacko — a verbal contract that died with him.

Joe Jackson has confirmed that a 25-year-old aspiring rapper from Norway, is actually Michael Jackson’s fourth child.

In an interview posted on NewsOne.com, Joe Jackson talks about Omer Bhatti and told the reporter that he knew Michael had another child.

“Yes, I knew he had another son, yes I did,” Jackson said in the video.

He also discussed Bhatti’s dancing abilities and his resemblence to the Jackson clan. “He looks like a Jackson, acts like a Jackson, can dance like a Jackson,” he said.

As a child, Bhatti often traveled with Jackson and even lived at the singer’s Neverland ranch.

Court records show Bhatti was living at Neverland when authorities raided the estate in 2003 looking for evidence of child molestation.

Bhatti was briefly interviewed by investigators and was initially on the defense’s list of prospective witnesses.

But he was never asked to testify.

Is this just another example of Joe Jackson going off message, or is he telling us something that Bhatti and others don’t want us to find out?

We hope that now the kids will finally get a chance at a normal life. It seems like Katherine Jackson has a good head on her shoulders. Good luck!

From LA Times:

The mother of Michael Jackson will retain custody of his children, and the biological mother of the two elder children will visit and maintain her legal parental rights under an agreement reached by both sides,  The Times has learned.

Katherine Jackson, 79, the late pop icon’s mother, and Debbie Rowe, 50, who bore Jackson’s two older children, also agreed to mutually hire a child psychologist to advise them on how, when and where Rowe’s visits should take place, a knowledgeable source said.

The agreement will go before a Los Angeles judge Monday, and both sides expect the judge to approve it, the source said. Rowe did not ask for custody. “Debbie is really happy” about the arrangement, said the source, refusing to be identified because the agreement has yet to be announced.

The source said Rowe did not receive any money under the arrangement and will pay half of the fees for the child psychologist.

Neither side made any demands that were rejected, the source said, and the arrangement was agreed to without contentious negotiation.

Bhatti-gate started when reporters noticed that the Norwegian man sat at the front row of Michael Jackson’s memorial event, surrounded by the rest of the grieving family members. From the Mirror:

Omer Bhatti has revealed how Jackson feted him as an honorary son after inviting him and his family to move in with him.

Omer, 25, from Norway, who lived with Jackson at his Neverland ranch for eight years, hails the tragic pop legend as his “best friend”.

But he says there is no biological link between him and Jackson, despite widespread rumours he is the King of Pop’s illegitimate child, fathered during an alleged fling with Omer’s mum in 1983.

Omer, who lives in Norway, has revealed Jackson always used to say that he was like a son to him and he thinks that that must be the reason for all the rumours.

Confiding in a close friend from Oslo, Omer said: “Michael is not my father. He and I were just very, very close. He was my best friend.”

Responding to the abuse claim, Joe Jackson said, “That’s a bunch of bull-s….I raised him just like you would raise your kids, you know? But harm Michael, for what? I have no reason. That’s my son. I loved him and I still love him.” (source)

Here is a short clip from his interview with Larry King. Joe is practically interrupting Larry just to get his empty words out. I’m not convinced by his claims that he was a good father. And why on earth is he dragging slavery into this?? What does that have to do with beating your child? Obviously he’s just trying to distract and get himself off the hot seat.