Jackson Divorcing Second Wife
  Jackson Divorcing Second Wife
Associated Press Writer
Friday, Oct. 8, 1999; 2:34 p.m. EDT
LOS ANGELES  The wife of pop superstar Michael Jackson filed for divorce today, ending a nearly three-year marriage that produced two children.
Papers filed on behalf of Deborah Rowe Jackson in Los Angeles County Superior Court cited irreconcilable differences. It said the couple had been separated since July 15.
The divorce petition said both parties reached a confidential agreement regarding property and debts. They did not indicate whether a custody agreement had been reached for the couple's children, 2-year-old Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. and 1-year-old Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson.
Jackson and his wife "mutually agreed to end their marriage," spokesman Howard J. Rubenstein said in a statement.
"Michael and Debbie remain friends, and they ask that the public respect their desire not to further comment or speculate upon the reasons for their decision," his statement said.
In a telephone call from New York, he declined to provide other details and said neither Jackson nor his wife would be making any statements.
Rubenstein said he didn't know the whereabouts of the multiplatinum-selling singer, whose hits include "Thriller" and "Billie Jean."
Calls to the attorneys representing Jackson and Ms. Rowe were not immediately returned.
At the time, Jackson said: "Debbie and I love each other for all the things you'll never see on stage or in pictures. ... I fell for the beautiful, unpretentious, giving person that she is, and she fell for me just being me."
In April, Jackson told a London tabloid newspaper, The Mirror: "I love my wife, and we have a happy marriage."
Jackson, 41, married Ms. Rowe, a nurse in his plastic surgeon's office, on Nov. 15, 1996, the same year he and Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley, ended their two-year marriage.
In July, Jackson won a lawsuit claiming he violated a settlement stemming from accusations that he molested a 13-year-old boy. An arbitrator entered a judgment in favor of Jackson in a suit filed by the boy's father.
Jackson reached an out-of-court settlement of a molestation lawsuit in 1994. But the father filed another suit in 1996, claiming that his reputation and his son's were harmed when Jackson called the allegation "lies, lies, lies, lies" in an interview.
The allegations against Jackson were investigated by authorities in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties, but Jackson was not charged with any crime.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press