Debbie Rowe
The biological mother of Michael Jackson's two eldest children, who signed away parental rights after the couple's divorce in 2000, told a Los Angeles station that she planned to file for custody following the singer's death. Ultimately, she settled for supervised visitation rights, fulfilling Jackson's wishes to have his mother Katherine Jackson serve as legal guardian. In July 2009, Rowe filed a defamation and invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against Rebecca White, a Florida woman who claimed Rowe was solely interested in getting money from the Jackson family and wanted nothing to do with her two children. In March 2010, Rowe won and was awarded $27,000 by a Los Angeles judge. Michael's friend Frank Cascio recently told ABC News that the kids have met Rowe and have been told that she is their mother. "They respect her ... but it's not easy," he said.