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Paris Jackson is back in the headlines in the United States today, and the reason is her mother. The singer and actress has been revisiting the first time she met Debbie Rowe — the woman who is both Michael Jackson’s ex-wife and the mother of Paris and her older brother Prince. Rowe, 67, has spent most of her life avoiding the spotlight, yet every time her daughter speaks about her, the world starts asking who she really is.
Rowe’s story runs from a dermatology office in Beverly Hills to a wedding in Sydney, a divorce worth a reported $8 million, a long custody struggle, a breast cancer diagnosis and a quiet life on a ranch in Palmdale. This is what is actually known about her — and what is not.
Debbie Rowe — Quick Reference Profile
| Full name | Deborah Jeanne Rowe |
| Date of birth | 6 December 1958 (age 67; turns 68 on 6 December 2026) |
| Birthplace | Spokane, Washington, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Primary role | Former dermatology medical assistant |
| Famous anchor | Michael Jackson (ex-husband); Paris Jackson (daughter) |
| Spouses | Richard Edelman (1982–1988); Michael Jackson (1996–2000) |
| Children | Prince Jackson (born 13 February 1997); Paris Jackson (born 3 April 1998) |
| Net worth | Not publicly verified |
| Height | Not publicly verified |
| Social media | Private — no public accounts |
From Spokane to a Beverly Hills Dermatology Office
Deborah Jeanne Rowe was born on 6 December 1958 in Spokane, Washington, to Barbara Chilcutt and Gordon Rowe. Her parents split a few weeks before her second birthday, and she was raised by her mother, several aunts and her maternal grandmother. She attended Hollywood High School.
Rowe married Richard Edelman in 1982 and converted to Judaism. The marriage ended in divorce six years later, in 1988. She then built a working life far from fame, as an assistant in the Beverly Hills dermatology office of Dr Arnold Klein, where Michael Jackson was being treated for vitiligo. The two met in the early 1980s, and Rowe, a longtime fan of the singer, became a trusted presence in his circle.
After Jackson’s divorce from Lisa Marie Presley in 1996, he was upset at the thought that he might never become a father. Rowe offered to bear his children. It was an extraordinary offer from a woman who had never sought fame, and it changed her life completely.
A Sydney Wedding, Two Children and an $8 Million Divorce
Rowe suffered a miscarriage in 1996, a loss that devastated her. Jackson comforted her through it, and within months she was pregnant again. The couple married on 15 November 1996 in Sydney, Australia.
Their son, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., was born on 13 February 1997 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and was soon nicknamed Prince. Their daughter, Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson, followed on 3 April 1998 at the Spaulding Pain Medical Clinic in Beverly Hills. Jackson took full responsibility for raising the children, and Rowe stayed almost entirely out of public view.
The marriage did not last. The couple filed for divorce in 1999, and it was finalised in April 2000, with Jackson receiving full custody of the children. Rowe received a reported $8 million settlement and a house in Beverly Hills, having signed a prenuptial agreement that limited her claim under California law. She later described herself as a private person who had been overwhelmed by the publicity of being married to Jackson.
Custody Battles, Courtrooms and a Slow Reconciliation
The years after the divorce were defined by the courts. In 2001, Rowe went to a private judge to have her parental rights over the two children terminated. Three years later, after Jackson was charged in a child abuse case, she went back to court to have that decision reversed, saying she feared for the children’s welfare. In 2005 she testified that she had been granted visits with her children for eight hours every 45 days.
Rowe sold her Beverly Hills house for $1.3 million in 2005 and bought a ranch in Palmdale, California. In 2006 she sued Jackson over payments connected to the custody case. When Jackson died on 25 June 2009, she reached a settlement with Katherine Jackson, the children’s guardian, that gave her rights to supervised visits. She also sued over reports about her children, winning $27,000 in damages in a defamation case in March 2010.
In April 2014, Rowe announced her engagement to Marc Schaffel, a music producer and former Neverland Ranch videographer who had worked with Jackson. The engagement was a rare glimpse into a personal life she otherwise kept firmly private.
Breast Cancer and a Life Out of the Spotlight
In 2016, Rowe was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her daughter Paris spoke out in her support, and Rowe completed chemotherapy in 2017, with Paris celebrating the milestone publicly. The illness brought mother and daughter closer after years of distance.
Rowe has almost never given interviews and keeps no public social media presence. Her life in Palmdale, far from the entertainment world, is the opposite of the fame that surrounded her marriage. Like Kris Jenner, another famous mother who built a public role around her children, Rowe’s name is inseparable from her family — but unlike Jenner, she chose to step away from it. Maye Musk took the opposite path, building a modelling career late in life; Rowe chose privacy instead.
What Paris Said in 2026 — and the $600 Million Estate Fight
The reason Rowe is trending again is what Paris said on the Call Her Daddy podcast, released on 12 August 2026. Paris explained that she first asked about her mother when she was about 10 or 11, then let the subject drop for years. She and Rowe connected when Paris was about 15, in 2013, and grew closer towards the end of her teens. “We’re very similar,” Paris said of her mother.
Paris described the first meeting in plain terms: she came downstairs to find Rowe in the living room with her grandmother, Katherine Jackson. “I came in. I was just like, ‘Hey, Mom,’ and she was like, ‘Hi.’ I sat down. We talked for a second. Then we went out for the day and just hung out.” She has since shared photos with Rowe on her Instagram Stories, in February and again in May 2026.
The family story has a harder edge in 2026 as well. On 29 October 2026, Paris asked a Los Angeles court to order $600 million moved from her late father’s estate into the Michael Jackson Family Trust, for herself and her brothers Prince and Bigi, with a hearing set for 4 December 2026. It follows an earlier win: in a ruling signed on 29 April 2026 and made public in May, retired judge Mitchell Beckloff ordered $625,000 in bonuses paid to outside estate lawyers returned to the estate, after Paris objected that the payments were not properly justified. John Branca remains sole executor after co-executor John McClain died in May 2026. The estate said none of the $625,000 went to the executors themselves.
What Is Debbie Rowe’s Net Worth?
Debbie Rowe’s net worth is not publicly verified. The only public figures tied to her finances are the reported $8 million divorce settlement from 2000 and the $1.3 million sale of her Beverly Hills house in 2005. No reliable source publishes a current net worth estimate for her, and celebrity net worth sites that offer one do not show their workings. Any figure presented as fact would be a guess, so it is left as not publicly verified here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Debbie Rowe? Debbie Rowe is the former dermatology medical assistant who was Michael Jackson’s second wife from 1996 to 2000 and is the mother of his two older children, Prince and Paris Jackson.
How old is Debbie Rowe? Rowe was born on 6 December 1958 in Spokane, Washington, which makes her 67 years old. She turns 68 on 6 December 2026.
Are Paris and Prince Jackson Debbie Rowe’s children? Yes. Prince was born on 13 February 1997 and Paris on 3 April 1998, both during Rowe’s marriage to Michael Jackson.
Why did Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson divorce? The marriage ended in divorce finalised in April 2000. Rowe, who has described herself as a private person, was overwhelmed by the publicity that came with being married to Jackson, and he received full custody of the children.
Does Debbie Rowe have a relationship with Paris Jackson now? Yes. The two reconnected when Paris was 15, in 2013, and have grown closer since, particularly after Rowe’s breast cancer diagnosis in 2016. Paris spoke warmly about her mother on the Call Her Daddy podcast in August 2026.
Is Debbie Rowe on social media? No public accounts have been verified for her. She keeps her life private and has almost never given interviews.
The Myth That Will Not Go Away
One claim has followed Rowe for years: that she “sold” her children to Michael Jackson. Her attorney denied it through public statements after Jackson’s death in 2009, when she also denied reports that she was not the children’s biological mother and that she was bargaining over her parental rights. The court record tells a plainer story — a woman who gave up custody in a divorce, fought in court to restore her parental rights, and then rebuilt a relationship with her children as adults. The money changed hands once, in a divorce settlement, not in a sale.
Rowe’s life is a reminder that the most famous marriages can hide the quietest people. She did not seek the spotlight, did not keep it when it found her, and has spent the decades since building a life away from it. In 2026, her daughter’s words — not her own — are what brought her name back into search results. That, more than anything, sums up who Debbie Rowe is.
