Michael Jackson's ex-wife to fight for children's custody

Michael Jackson's former wife Debbie Rowe has indicated that she will challenge his mother in court over the custody of their two elder children even as her lawyer insists that she is yet to reach a final decision.
   
Rowe, an Australian nurse, who married Jackson in 1996 and divorced him three years later, is the mother of singer's two elder children-- Michael Joseph, 12, Paris, 11.

Jackson's third child Michael Jackson II, known as Blanket, 7, was delivered by an unknown surrogate mother.

The pop star died at the age of 50 last week.

"I want my children. They are my flesh and blood. I'm going after my children," Rowe, 50, said in an interview to NBC yesterday in her first official comment over the issue.

Rowe gave up her rights to her two kids after her divorce in 1999, with Jackson getting the full custody and Rowe is said to have had little contact with them after her divorce and Jackson's 2002 will cuts her out from any parental rights.
   
But Rowe said that she would seek a restraining order to keep Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, away from the children.
   
"I am stepping up. I have to," she told the reporter.

However, her attorney, Eric M George later clarified that Rowe had not made a final decision to fight the case.
   
He did not refute the interview but said, "It would be a distortion of the truth to allow that single snapshot of a single conversation to stand as the truth of Debbie's position on these sensitive matters."

"So once again, the truth is that Debbie has not reached a final decision," he added.