The New York Post published a scathing story in their newspaper today asserting that Debbie Rowe, the presumed biological mother of Michael Jackson‘s children, accepted a cash settlement of $4 million in lieu of seeking custody of her children (who are currently under the guardianship of the children’s grandmother Katherine Jackson). In response to the claim made by the NYP, CNN reports that Rowe accepted no such claim and is still intent on appearing at the children’s custody hearing in SoCal on July 20. Additionally, TMZ obtained a letter written by Rowe‘s attorneys demanding that the NYP retract their original story. Here is the cover of today’s NYP highlighting their Rowe story and a portion of their report:

Michael Jackson’s baby mama Debbie Rowe has sold her kids again — this time squeezing about $4 million from her former mother-in-law in exchange for giving up her parental rights, a family source told The Post yesterday. “It’s one final payday,” the disgusted Jackson confidant said. The family isn’t happy about the mega-payout — which was set to be sealed in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon — but they consider it a necessary evil, the source said. “They felt it was like a ransom-type thing. [Rowe] jumped back into the picture because she wanted money,” the friend said.

In response, here is a copy of the letter that Rowe‘s attorneys sent to the Post:

Debbie Rowe’s lawyer just fired off a letter to the New York Post demanding a retraction of its story that Rowe has accepted $4 million to walk away from Michael Jackson’s two eldest kids. The letter — written by Rowe’s lawyer Eric George — says “Among the several contenders for overzealous and inaccurate sensationalism, the New York Post has now seized top honors.” George says “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.” This is a very significant statement and we’ve confirmed it with another Jackson source.

It remains to be seen if the Post will retract their story but something tells me that they prolly won’t … just this afternoon, the NYP published a new story online that claims that Rowe sent emails that claim she does not want the children but also doesn’t want to be seen as the woman who doesn’t want her kids:

Michael Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe said “Hell no” when discussing the possibility of gaining custody of her two kids, according to a series of bombshell e-mails made public this afternoon. Rebecca White, a close friend of Jacko’s baby mama, revealed to the syndicated TV show “Extra” a series of emails and text messages written by Rowe to her regarding the custody of Jacko’s kids — Michael Jr. 12, and Paris, 11 — just days after the King of Pop’s death. “My lawyer is telling me I have to take some responsibility about the welfare of the children,” Rowe wrote in a July 5 email to White. “Do I want the kids? Hell no. Does it look good for me to ask for them? Absolutely. I don’t want to look like the woman who gave away her kids and just forgot about them.” The e-mails bolstered The Post’s exclusive story today revealing that Rowe had made a $4 million deal to dump the kids — a “secret deal” White said Rowe told her was in the works. “In one text message [Rowe] had just said, ‘Just wait until [July] the 14th. Everything will be done after the 14th.’ There’s definitely going to be a secret deal. There’s definitely going to be a settlement that’s going to come out of this,” said White. The Post reported that Rowe squeezed the money from her former mother-in-law, 79-year-old Katherine, as part of a mega-payout. In a bogus letter to The Post earlier today, Rowe’s lawyer Eric George had the audacity to claim there had been no secret deal reached. “Particularly insidious is your misrepresentation that Ms. Rowe has accepted money to give up custory rights,” George said in the letter. “That statement is unequivocally false” … In an earlier email dated July 2, Rowe said “These kids are not mine. They were never mine. They were always Michael’s. I was Michael’s best friend.”

HMMM … it looks like the back-and-forth fighting between the NYP and Debbie Rowe is only going to continue … and possibly get nastier. To be honest, I don’t know which side to believe … both are equally valid. I guess we’ll find out soon enough if Debbie Rowe really wants her children or if she will be happy to take a cash settlement and go on her merry way.

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