AP Phto/Aaron Lambert, Pool; Carlo Allegri/Getty ImagesUPDATE: On March 3, 2010, a judge granted Debbie Rowe a $27,000 judgment from Rebecca White as a result of her defamation case. The payout includes $10,000 in damages for emotional distress, though is considerably less than the $500,000 she originally sought.
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She's done it before. By most accounts, she's eager to do it again. But she hasn't done it yet.
Sell out her kids, that is.
Debbie Rowe's attorney Eric George has denied to E! News a report that the baby mama to two of Michael Jackson's three children is seeking a final mother-loaded payday of $4 million in exchange for dropping her potential bid for custody.
George called the allegation, given the front-page treatment by today's New York Post, "completely false."
The report, which claimed that Rowe's would-be payoff would not only buy her silence in the current custody battle but in all future guardian proceedings should Katherine Jackson no longer be able to care for the children, comes as both sides are working to broker an out-of-court—and more to the point, an out-of-the-spotlight—settlement.
'Cause if there's one thing the Jacksons know how to do, it's keep their dirty laundry out of public view.
In an open letter issued to the Post today, George branded the story an example of "overzealous and inaccurate sensationalism" and categorically denied the allegations.
"There has been no agreement reached between Ms. Rowe and the Jacksons," he wrote, adding that no custody or visitation determinations have been made and that Rowe "has not and will not" give up her parental rights.
The most vehement denial, however, came with regard to the alleged payout.
"Ms. Rowe has not accepted—and will not accept—any additional financial consideration beyond the spousal support she and Michael Jackson personally agreed to several years ago."
The letter went on to request a retraction of the story and blasted the paper for disseminating "so blatant a falsehood."
Team Rowe has also sent a cease-and-desist missive to so-called pal, Rebecca White, who told Extra that Rowe is working on getting custody, despite emails the beleaguered baby-mama wrote White, stating, "These kids are not mine. They were never mine. They were always Michael's. I was Michael's best friend."
"Our firm has sent Ms. White a letter disputing the truth of her statements and demanding that she make retraction in order to avoid legal action," Rowe's legal team said in a statement to E! News.
As it stands, the Jackson family matriarch was granted temporary custody of Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket, who was born to an unknown surrogate, last month and is looking to make the arrangement permanent; a hearing on the matter has been pushed (twice) to July 20 to accommodate negotiations.
Jackson's attorney, L. Londell McMillan, said last week that the family was working to "privately and amicably resolve this important matter in a dignified manner for the benefit of the children first and all involved."
Oddly enough, no explanation has yet been offered as to how bad-mouthing the kids' birth mother to a tabloid for a hefty payday of their own plays into their dignified, privacy-seeking game plan.
Meanwhile, though a friend of Rowe's said the long absentee mother definitely planned on attending the upcoming proceedings, George said last week that Rowe "has not reached a final decision on pending custody."
It was a strong backtracking from her previously televised claim that Prince Michael and Paris "are my flesh and blood. I'm going after my children."
For now, the Jackson three are currently holed up at the family's Encino home.
—Additional reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum
(Originally published on July 14, 2009 at 11:19 a.m. PT)
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