Michael Jackson's ex-wife told jurors today that the entertainer was surrounded by "opportunistic vultures" out to take advantage of a man she knew privately to be kind, selfless and "generous to a fault."
The testimony by Debbie Rowe, the mother of Jackson's two oldest children, was a setback to prosecutors who had called her as a witness to link the 46-year-old entertainer to an alleged conspiracy to imprison the family of a then-13-year-old boy who accuses him of sexual molestation.
Jackson, 46, faces charges of holding the boy's family at his Neverland estate and bullying them into making a videotaped interview singing his praises in early 2003, just as his public image was unraveling in the wake of a televised documentary in which he defended his practice of sharing his bed with children.
Ms Rowe, who never lived with Jackson but was married to him from 1997 to 1999, also filmed a nine-hour interview as part of Jackson's public relations effort at the time, but she denied her answers were scripted, contrary to the earlier assertion by prosecutors.
Ms Rowe said she had participated in the video after taking a call from Jackson himself and had hoped to restore a relationship with their children, Prince Michael and Paris.
She surrendered her parental rights as part of her divorce from Jackson and at one point was only able to see the children for eight hours every 45 days.
Ms Rowe, who has since sued and recovered her parental rights, said she had not since seen the two children since the interview.
She remains in a court fight with Jackson over visitation rights for her children, but admitted that after so many years, returning to them now as their mother was "complicated."
Jackson has a third child, Prince Michael II, by an unknown mother.