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American musician Michael Jackson has been married twice and has three children.

Michael & Lisa appear nude in Jackson's music video for "You Are Not Alone"

In 1994, Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley, on May 26th 1994 in the Dominican Republic, the marriage was severely criticized by the media and lasted less than two years, they filed for divorice on Jan 18th 1996. However, the pair started to meet late 1992 and kept meeting up to at least February 1998, so the whole affair lasted no less than five years. Despite some comments questioning the validity of this union, Presley has always maintained that they both shared a married couple's life during their time together. The separation date on divorce papers was indicated with Sunday, December 10th, 1995 - a day when Jackson was still hospitalized after suffering dehydration during rehearsals for his "One Night Only" special at New York's Beacon Theater.

Michael Jackson with his children, Prince II (center) and Prince Michael I (right) at Disneyland Paris, June 18, 2006

Jackson married his dermatologist's nurse Debbie Rowe in Sydney, Australia on 13th November 1996^[1], with whom he has fathered a son, Prince Michael I, born 13 Feb 1997, and a daughter, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, born 3 Apr 1998. Jackson and Rowe were divorced in April 2000^[2]. Rowe later said that she wanted Jackson to have the children as a "gift", which she had offered even while Jackson was married to Presley ^[1]. She gave up her parental rights to the children in October 2001^[2], but after Jackson's arrest in 2003, she applied for temporary custody. A lawsuit followed ^[2] and Rowe revealed that she had regretted relinquishing her rights to her children. In 2006 the case was settled, of which the details have not been released.^[3] On September 6th 2006, Jackson was ordered to pay Rowe $60,000 in court fees from the custody battle ^[3]. The godparents of Prince and Paris are Macaulay Culkin and Elizabeth Taylor.

Around February 2002^[1], Jackson claimed another son, the newborn , Prince Michael II apparently with a surrogate mother whose identity has not been disclosed. In late 2002, Jackson stirred up controversy while staying at the Adlon hotel in Berlin, by briefly suspending him over the edge of a balcony in an incident dubbed the "baby dangling" incident. Jackson defended his actions, saying that he held the child very tightly though he had issued an apology in a public statement made a few days afterwards saying he was "caught in the moment (of fans cheering)". Jackson's children are veiled or masked when they appear in public with him, which he describes as a security measure. Rowe said it was her idea from the beginning as they had been sent many death threats in the past; however, in a recent interview, Jackson said that he would love to take his children on stage one day so his fans can see his children's faces.

Michael Jackson with his youngest son, Prince II, at Disneyland Paris, June 18, 2006

After the children were seen in Martin Bashir's Living with Michael Jackson documentary special, many in the press and the public questioned whether Prince and Paris were actually Jackson's biological children, as they had no noticeable African features about them. Jackson explained that his own father is African-American, but has blue eyes, and that some of the Jackson family ancestors are Caucasian, and even American Indian. Deborah Rowe, mother of the first two children, is Caucasian and Jewish. However, in the beginning of the interviews for the same special, Jackson states that Blanket's mother is black but later in the interview he also stated that Blanket's mother is white. Rowe has always maintained that Jackson is the father of her two children with him.

There have been rumors that Jackson was having children by various women. One false claim was made by a woman stating that she was pregnant with quadruplets fathered by Jackson. Jackson had suffered the same problem two decades earlier with a woman claiming Michael was a father of one of her fraternal twins, a story from which his legendary hit "Billie Jean" was derived.

1. Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness, New Edition, J.Randy Taraborelli, 2004

2. PERLUSS, P. J. "Filed 2/15/06"Published on FindLaw, Accessed 1 April 2007

3. DEUTSCH, L. "Jackson, Ex-Wife Settle Child Custody" "Chicago Tribune", October 2, 2006. Accessed 1 April 2007