REUTERS
Debbie Rowe, ex-wife of singer Michael Jackson, leaves after testifying in a lawsuit brought by the late singer's family against concert promoter AEG Live, at Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles.
LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson' s ex-wife Debbie Rowe sobbed on the witness stand yesterday, telling jurors that MJ was the victim of "idiots" — doctors who allegedly raced to pharmacies to dope up The King of Pop.
Rowe, appearing in a lawsuit pressed by Jackson's family against concert promoters AEG Live, said The Gloved One deserved better care than what he received from a string of Doctor Feel Goods.
"Michael had very low pain tolerance, and his fear of pain was incredible," Rowe told jurors in the 69th day of mom Katherine Jackson's civil action. "And I think the doctors took advantage of him that way."
Rowe called out her former boss and MJ confidante Dr. Arnold Klein and plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Hoefflin for allegedly overmedicating The Gloved One for much of the 1990s.
"These idiots were going back and forth the whole time, not caring about Michael," Rowe said, wiping away tears.
"Hoefflin would call and say, 'I have a better drug.' They were competing. "
Rowe, who got hitched to Jackson in 1996 in a marriage that lasted three years, was called to the stand by AEG Live as a hostile witness.
Jackson's family is suing AEG, claiming that the entertainment giant should be held liable for Dr. Conrad Murray, a physician for MJ's planned final tour.
Murray was convicted in criminal court for giving Jackson lethal doses of anesthesia, which the singer took for sleep medication.
Rowe's testimony about Jackson's extensive drug use could help AEG show that MJ had been abusing medication for years — and that Murray was only the last doctor to drug up The King of Pop.
The dermatologist Klein regularly loaded up Jackson with Demerol and Percocet, while Hoefflin favored Dilaudid, a synthetic heroin, for MJ, according to Rowe
The mother of Jackson's two older kids — Paris and Prince — also recounted how Hoefflin allegedly put MJ under, without actually treating him.
Jackson suffered from scarring after several nose jobs. MJ would complain about it to Hoefflin, and the surgeon more than once put Jackson under anesthesia to simply change bandages, according to Rowe.
"He [Hoefflin] said he didn't see the scarring," said the reclusive Rowe, who wore black pants and royal blue top.
Jackson was famously injured in 1984 when his hair caught fire during Pepsi ad shoot. The burns left unsightly scars on top of Jackson's head.
So doctors inserted balloons under Jackson's scalp and inflated them to stretch and smooth out the skin, Rowe said.
"The procedure was extremely painful," Rowe testified.
That terrifying Pepsi incident has long been considered the moment that sent Jackson moon walking down the path of abusing medication.
Rowe said she talked a wasted Jackson into aborting his "Dangerous" tour in 1993 and going into rehab after visiting him in Mexico City.
"He was a hot mess. He was depressed," she told jurors. "He had taken something... I thought he was back on the Demerol again."
Jackson first met Rowe in 1980s when he saw Klein for acne treatment. She now lives on a horse ranch in rural, northern LA County and shuns attention.
The ex-wife, though, was spotted in public more frequently earlier this year, spending time with her 15-year-old daughter Paris.
Additional reporting by David K. Li in New York
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