The King of Pop is a pop

Michael Jackson's wife has baby boy

February 13, 1997

Web posted at: 2:00 a.m. EST

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The King of Pop has a new title: Daddy! Michael Jackson's wife, Debbie, gave birth to a baby boy Wednesday night, sources told CNN.

For years Jackson has been pictured with thousands of other people's children. Now, at the age of 38, he finally has one of his own.

Jackson's wife of three months produced an heir to the king amid tight security at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and after a day of much speculation over whether the child had been born.

KNBC-TV in Los Angeles reported Wednesday that a woman identifying herself as Mrs. Jackson had called the station to say she had given birth. The station stood by its story even though The Associated Press quoted a hospital source as saying the baby had yet to be delivered.

Jackson announced that Debbie Rowe, a 37-year-old nurse for his dermatologist, was pregnant with his child on November 4, 1996 -- 10 days before the couple was married in Australia.

It's the second marriage for both. Jackson was married to Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of late rock 'n' roll legend Elvis Presley, for 20 months before their divorce in January 1996.

Good dad potential

In a broadcast interview, actress Elizabeth Taylor, a close Jackson friend, said she would be the baby's godmother.

With an eccentric pop icon for a father, some people may wonder what's in store for Jackson the younger. Clinical psychologist Evelyn Kohan thinks the singer has the potential to be a good dad.

"He might be a very good loving parent," said Kohan. "That he enjoys children, that he relates to his own child within and can understand what children like and what they enjoy (is a good sign)."

Unauthorized Jackson biographer Randy Tarborrelli says the singer was determined to become a father.

"He wanted to have a child and he did it in the way he does most things, doggedly an in pursuit of the best way to go about it," said Taraborrelli. "And this is how he decided to go about it."

Jackson and his new wife have denied a tabloid report by London's News of the World that they conceived the child through artificial insemination and that Mrs. Jackson was paid $528,000 to carry the baby.

Another London tabloid, Daily Mirror, reported in December that Jackson will pay his wife a $1.24 million fee when the child is born and $2.3 million for custody if their marriage breaks down.

A normal upbringing?

The singer's entry into fatherhood has drawn a skeptical eye from many corners, even his former publicist. Michael Levine said Jackson was "not someone that I think the vast majority of parents would choose as their first choice for a baby sitter."

The biggest reason is a lengthy and well-publicized police investigation into molestation allegations brought by a teen-age boy in 1993. But Jackson flatly denied the claims and authorities never brought charges against him.

Kohan says Jackson could face a difficult task in trying to give his child a normal upbringing.

"I think it is going to be a tremendous challenge to him to impart real-life values to a child who's going to be brought up in a very unreal lifestyle that surrounds super-celebrity and super-wealth," said Kohan.

But Tarborrelli looks upon Jackson's stardom as an wonderful opportunity for the child in his formative years.

"Michael has a lot of love to give, and ... a great deal of money," said Tarborrelli. "He can give his child the kind of lifestyle most children never experience."

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