Santa Maria- Michael Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe, the mother of two of his children, took the stand at his child-molestation trial yesterday and lifted the veil on her bizarre relationship and pseudo-marriage to the pop star.

Rowe, a nurse in a plastic surgeon’s office who got to know Jackson during his frequent visits, testified that after she and the singer married in 1996, “[we] never shared a home; we never shared an apartment.”

After their divorce three years later, Rowe said, she was permitted only brief visits with her children: Prince Michael I, 8, and a daughter, Paris, 7.

Rowe also revealed that the boy’s real name is Michael Joseph Jackson Jr.

Drawing gasps from the jury, she testified that she was limited to seeing her kids for eight hours every 45 days.

But because Jacko and the youngsters were often traveling, she usually missed those visits. If she couldn’t get to where they were, she explained, it was her tough luck – the visit “was pushed off for the next 45 days.”

When Rowe did get to see her children, she said, their time together was frustrating.

Their meetings were held in hotels, under the watchful eye of a stern, overprotective nanny who didn’t want them to finger-paint because she feared they’d get dirty.

“The environment was sterile. It wasn’t a quality relationship,” said Rowe, 46.

Rowe said she agreed to give up her kids.

Asked by prosecutor Ron Zonen if that meant she gave up her parental rights, Rowe paused and looked off into the distance before answering, “Yes.”

She said she hasn’t seen her children in more than two years.

Rowe testified that she said she hadn’t seen Jackson since Oct. 12, 1999, until she was contacted by his staff through Dr. Arnold Klein, the plastic surgeon for whom she worked.

Klein called her in February 2003 to tell her that Jacko’s people had phoned him to ask him to see if she could help them, said Rowe, a prosecution witness.

Rowe immediately called Jacko’s aide Ronald Konitzer, she said.

“He told me there was a video coming out and it was full of lies,” she said. “He asked me if I could help. I said, ‘Of course.’ ”

The video Konitzer was referring to was a damaging TV documentary, “Living With Michael Jackson,” by British journalist Martin Bashir in which the pop star defended sharing his bed with kids and was shown holding hands with his accuser, then a 13-year-old cancer patient.

In a blow to the district attorney’s case, Rowe testified that she was never given a script or rehearsed by Jacko’s people to say positive things in a video they made to rebut the documentary.

Prosecutors had called Rowe to bolster their argument that Jackson conspired to hold the accuser’s family captive to get them to counter the documentary.

In his opening statement, DA Tom Sneddon told the jury they would hear Rowe tell a story similar to that of the accuser’s mother.

“Debbie Rowe will tell you her interview also was completely scripted,” he said on Feb. 28. “They scripted that interview just like they scripted the [accuser’s mother’s] interview.”

But Rowe went the other way during her testimony. She recalled how Jacko told her “there was a bad video coming out. He didn’t go into any more detail.” But she did say he asked her to work with Konitzer and other aides.

She said she told Jackson she wanted to see her children.

“I said, ‘Are you OK? Are the children OK?’ ”

She asked, “Can I see you when it was over with?” And he said, “Yes.”

The call lasted about two minutes.

Rowe also said that when Jackson’s aides tried to feed her the questions they were going to ask on the videotape, she refused to listen.

“I didn’t want anyone to come back to me to say my interview was rehearsed,” Rowe said.

She claimed that she had been offered a list of questions by her interviewers, but declined to look at them. “It was a cold interview and I wanted to keep it that way,” she said.

Asked if she was completely truthful in the interview – in which she praised Jackson – she replied, “No.”

Asked why she hadn’t been truthful, she answered, “Because my personal life is my personal life, and no one’s business.”

Before making the videotape, Rowe said she told Jackson’s staffers that their lawyers had to get together to draft an addendum to the confidentiality agreement she had signed after the divorce.

The agreement “said I couldn’t speak to the press or anyone in the public about Michael, the children or our lives together,” she explained.

On the day of the videotaping, she said, she met with Jacko’s staffers at the home of one of his aides, Marc Schaffel, and spent nine hours filming, she said.

Three hours of the videotape were recovered by police during various raids on Jacko’s home and those of his associates.

Early in her testimony, Rowe struggled to avoid eye contact with Jackson, but finally gave in after 25 minutes – glancing his way and giving him a tight-lipped smile. Jackson sat stone-faced during her 40-minute stint on the stand.

Rowe noted that Schaffel, in arranging the videotape session, told her he was excited about the project and “that he was happy for me and that we’d see each other again . . . to be reintroduced to the children and to be reacquainted with their dad.”

When Zonen asked why she was looking forward to seeing Jackson, a teary-eyed Rowe said, “He’s my friend.”

The day’s session ended before she could be asked what lies she told on the videotape.

Rowe, who got a $1 million home in Beverly Hills as part of her divorce settlement, is currently embroiled in a court battle with Jackson over visitation with the children.

She is expected back on the stand today for more questioning.

In earlier testimony, Hamid Moslehi, Jackson’s former videographer, testified about his participation in making the rebuttal videotape and said he did not see the pop star’s young accuser and his family rehearse or read a script.

New York Daily News – In tearful testimony that may backfire on prosecutors, Michael Jackson’s ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, called the pop star “my friend” yesterday and said she hoped to “reconnect” with him and the two kids she bore for him.In her first 40 minutes on the stand in his child molestation trial, Rowe, who is battling Jackson for custody of his two oldest kids, seemed almost pleased to see the pop star and didn’t give prosecutors the venom they’d hoped for.

She gazed warmly at her ex at one point and declared: “I promised him I would always be there for him and the children.”

Jackson, 46, who sported freshly coiffed hair and a flashy burgundy suit with satin pants, appeared to look right back at the blond makeover-enhanced ex he hadn’t seen since their 1999 divorce.

In a big blow to prosecutors, Rowe completely contradicted their repeated claims that she was coerced with promises of child visitation and “highly scripted” to say nice things about Jackson in a 2003 video.

Rowe, who sported a conservative black suit, said she didn’t need coaxing when Jackson called and asked for help. She immediately agreed to appear in a TV show to counteract Martin Bashir’s scathing documentary “Living With Michael Jackson.”

“He [Michael] told me there was a video coming out – full of lies – and [asked] would I help. As always, I said ‘Okay!'” she testified.

Rowe broke down in tears when she revealed it was she who raised the subject of visiting their children, Prince Michael I, 8, and Paris, 7 – but only after she had already agreed to help.

“I asked [Michael] how he was. I asked how the children were. Iasked if I could see them when everything settled down.”

She said Jackson replied: “Yes.”

Rowe denied there was any “quid pro quo” between her and Jackson, but admitted “I was excited … to see him and the children when it was over.”

Another highly emotional moment between Rowe and Jackson occurred when she recounted how Jackson aide Marc Schaffel described the kids she hasn’t seen in several years.

“He [Schaffel] said the kids were fine. He told me how big they’d gotten and how beautiful they were … and how strong-headed Paris is,” Rowe said, turning to Jackson with a beaming smile. “I was excited to be reintroduced to them and be reacquainted with their dad. He’s my friend.”

Later in her testimony, the former assistant to Jackson’s dermatologist hinted Paris got the strong-willed trait from her. “As Mr. Jackson knows, no one can tell me what to say. I speak my own mind,” Rowe said.

And with that, Rowe denied prosecution claims she was scripted before her video interview. She said she refused to even look at the questions ahead of time.

“I didn’t want anyone to say it was rehearsed,” said Rowe.

In his opening statement, District Attorney Tom Sneddon had promised jurors Rowe would say she was “scripted [by Jackson’s aides] … and when they didn’t like her answers, they told her what to say.”

Prosecutor Ron Zonen repeated the claim just three days ago in a motion hearing.

Near the end of the day, Zonen had just begun to question Rowe about whether all of the nice things she said about Jackson in the show, which aired on Fox TV, were true. “No,” she said.

Rowe is slated to return to the stand today for more grilling.