Cruel stage dad Joe Jackson won’t be getting his hands on his son’s children any time soon, under a secret custody deal struck by Michael Jackson’s mom, Katherine, and baby incubator Debbie Rowe, sources said yesterday.
Rowe agreed not to pursue any custody claim on ex-hubby Jacko’s children — two of whom are biologically hers — as long as his loathsome dad is out of the picture when it comes to raising them, according to The Sunday Mirror newspaper in London.
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ONGOING MICHAEL JACKSON COVERAGE
“The last thing she wanted was for those kids to be looked after by Joe and go through what Michael went through,” a source told the paper. “When [Rowe and Jackson] were [married], Michael poured out his heart about how much he loathed Joe for what he had done.”
In a bizarre twist, a source close to the Jackson family told The Post that the tentative pact giving Katherine Jackson custody also calls for continuing an odd charade that began when Michael was alive and Rowe gave birth to two of his three kids: Prince Michael, 12, and daughter Paris, 11.
At the time, MJ and Rowe agreed that Rowe would never identify herself to the children as their mom — and the new custody pact would continue to demand that, the source said.
Instead, Rowe is referred to as a family friend, “Miss Debbie,” the source said. She’s also called that in front of Jackson’s 7-year-old son, Prince Michael II, also called Blanket. His sperm-donor father and surrogate mother have never been identified.
Jackson’s will named his mother as guardian of the kids. But Rowe was said to be mulling a possible court fight.
Under the tentative deal, she promises not to battle the mom in exchange for getting supervised, monthly visits with Prince Michael and Paris, a family friend told The Post.
Although Joe and Katherine Jackson are still married, they’ve lived apart for years.
The three children are currently with Katherine.
In a sensational 2003 British documentary on MJ, Jacko said that during his childhood, his dad would often lash out with any weapon within reach: “Ironing cords, whatever’s around . . . throw you up against the wall, hard as he could.”
Meanwhile, Neverland apparently will not be another Graceland.
While the company that owns Michael Jackson’s ranch has publicly hinted it’s open to burying the singer there and developing the property as a museum, the firm’s owner has privately said it’s not going to happen.
Tom Barrack, 62, chairman of Colony Capital, which owns a controlling share of the property, met late last week with concerned ranchers who live near Jacko’s home north of Los Angeles and told them not to worry.
Additional reporting by Lucas I. Alpert