Where Is Debbie Rowe Now? All About Michael Jackson’s Ex-Wife’s Life 26 Years After They Divorced

Emily BlackwoodSat, June 6, 2026 at 9:00 AM UTC

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Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson ' Debbie Rowe and Paris Jackson.Credit: Balkis Press/ABACA/Shutterstock;Paris Jackson/Instagram -

Debbie Rowe married Michael Jackson in 1996 and had two children with the singer, Prince and Paris, before announcing their split in 1999

Rowe waived her parental rights in 2001 but reconnected with Paris in 2013 after Jackson's death

She has kept a low profile but spoke out about her love for Paris after her breast cancer diagnosis in 2016

Despite being briefly married to one of the most famous men on the planet, Debbie Rowe has remained largely out of the spotlight.

Her unexpected marriage to Michael Jackson — which happened in 1996, the same year he amicably divorced Lisa Marie Presley — lasted four years, during which she gave birth to two of the King of Pop's children: Prince and Paris Jackson. (Jackson later welcomed his younger son, Bigi, via surrogate in 2002.)

Rowe waived her parental rights in 2001 and had limited communication with their kids, who were raised by their grandmother, Katherine Jackson, following their father's death in 2009. Though she testified in both Jackson's 2005 child molestation trial and his family's 2013 wrongful death lawsuit, Rowe hasn't spoken publicly about the late singer in over a decade.

So, where is Debbie Rowe now? Here's everything to know about her life, 26 years after divorcing Michael Jackson.

Rowe was married to Jackson for three years

Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson.Credit: Graham Macindoe/Getty

The former couple became friends in the 1980s, after Rowe started working as a nurse for Jackson's dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein. Though they never publicly indicated that their relationship had turned romantic, they got married in Australia in November 1996.

In the 2003 Fox TV special The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant To See — widely regarded as Jackson's rebuttal to Martin Bashir's Living with Michael Jackson documentary, where he admitted to letting children sleep in his bed — Rowe claimed that she married the singer to fulfill his dream of becoming a dad.

"I said, 'Let me do this. I want to do this. You've been so good to me,' " she said at the time. "I could do something for him and this is what I could do."

Prince was born the following year in 1997, and they welcomed Paris a year later. When their split was announced in 1999, a spokesman for Jackson said in a statement to the Los Angeles Timesthat the former couple had "mutually agreed to end their marriage" and "remain friends."

She waived her parental rights to their two children

A year after they divorced, Rowe gave up her parental rights to Paris and Prince and claimed that it was best for them that she not be in their lives.

"Not that I don't love them. I do. I think they are adorable," she said during court proceedings, per the Los Angeles Times. "They're his kids. They're his kids. They are not my kids."

Jackson named his mother as the guardian of his children, and she was granted custody following his death in 2009. Though it's unclear if Rowe maintained a relationship with Prince, she reconnected with Paris in 2013. Jackson's daughter shared rare photos with her mom in a since-deleted Instagram post in February 2026.

Rowe testified in Jackson's 2005 trial

Debbie Rowe in 2005.Credit: Pool Photographer/WireImage

During Jackson's 2005 child molestation trial, the prosecution called on Rowe to testify that her 2003 televised interview was scripted, CNN and Billboard reported. Janet Arvizo, the alleged victim's mother, made a similar claim regarding a video where she praised the singer, per The New York Times.

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However, Rowe flipped on the stand and claimed her interview was unrehearsed. She told the jury that she promised to "always be there for him and the children," and that she had expected to reunite with them after the interview aired.

The King of Pop was eventually acquitted of all charges and maintained his innocence until his death in 2009.

Her last public appearance was in 2013

The last time Rowe spoke publicly was during the Jackson family's wrongful death lawsuit against concert promoter AEG Live, who they claimed negligently hired and supervised Dr. Conrad Murray.

Murray was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for his role in Jackson's death.

According to the Los Angeles Times, she testified on the stand that she witnessed the pop star using propofol to sleep twice during the 1990s and claimed that his doctors were in competition to see who could give him the most powerful painkiller.

"Michael had a very low pain tolerance, and his fear of pain was incredible, and I think the doctors took advantage of him that way," Rowe said. "He trusted people — foolishly, foolishly trusted a lot of people."

Where is Rowe now?

Paris Jackson and Debbie Rowe.Credit: Paris Jackson/Instagram

Rowe has kept a low profile since testifying in Jackson's wrongful death suit, appearing occasionally in her daughter's social media posts.

After she was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2016, Paris shared a since-deleted photo on Instagram of her kissing Rowe's head to celebrate that she had completed chemotherapy. "My badass mom, kickin butt n takin names," the caption read. "Ain't she f–kin fabulous."

During that time, she told Entertainment Tonightthat Paris had been her "rock."

"She's amazing," Rowe continued. "She's been with me the whole time ... I can't tell you how much I love her."

Most recently, Paris shared a photo of her and Rowe on her Instagram Stories to celebrate Mother's Day in 2026, according to several outlets.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”