Michael Jackson’s ex-wife still faces limited visitation rights

Los Angeles – Michael Jackson’s ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, went to bat for the pop star at his child molestation trial, but he played hardball with her in their recent child visitation deal, the New York Daily News has learned.

The top-secret agreement allows Rowe, whose testimony last April helped save Jackson, only sporadic visits with Prince Michael I, 8, and Paris, 7, and she can’t even tell the children she’s their mother, sources said.

“Debbie is not supposed to tell the kids she is their mother. That topic is off-limits. But it will be revisited when they are older,” said a source familiar with the temporary, court-supervised plan.

The former dermatologist’s aide, who divorced Jackson in 1999, was secretly reunited with her children – after almost five years without contact – in August in an L.A. hotel room.

The children’s nanny, Grace Rwaramba, took the kids to the sitdown while Jackson remained in Bahrain in the Middle East.

Jackson still has full custody of the kids and can take them out of the country at will, the source familiar with the visitation plan said. The children are currently home in California at Neverland Ranch, but they vacationed with Jackson in Bahrain last summer.

When Rowe’s tearful testimony damaged the prosecution in Jackson’s trial, some observers suggested the King of Pop would reward her with generous visitation of the kids she legally gave up to him in October 2001.

A judge later ruled Rowe’s surrender of parental rights was invalid due to “procedural” errors and she got a second chance at the bargaining table.

But after months of legal wrangling, Rowe didn’t even score a regular schedule of visits with the children she wept for on the witness stand. Instead, she’s at the mercy of Jackson and the nanny to arrange visits when she asks for them.

Although Jackson smiled and batted his eyes at Rowe in court, he has no interest in rekindling a friendship – much less a romantic relationship, a third source close to the situation said. “A phone call to say ‘thanks’ would have been nice. It didn’t happen. He (Jackson) truly does not want her in his life.”

Actor: Growing up as Potter not as bizarre as you’d think

New York – What’s it like growing up as the magical Harry Potter? For teen actor Daniel Radcliffe, it’s not that weird.

Radcliffe, the 16-year-old star of the upcoming “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” has spent almost a third of his life making movies. His latest film, based on J.K. Rowling’s novel, opens in two weeks.

“I’ve got quite a surreal mind anyway, so I don’t think it’s made much difference to how I see everything,” he told Time magazine. “That’s what’s weird: I don’t think of it as being that bizarre.”

Radcliffe was first cast as Potter when he was 11. Since then, a lot has changed: he’s taller and his face has become more defined, his voice has changed, he’s got complexion issues and is growing starter stubble.

For director Mike Newell, that causes problems.

“I’ve just been working on a scene which we shot in our first week, and Dan still looks like the little kid that he was in “Sorcerer’s Stone,” he told Time. “Now, 11 months later, he doesn’t look like that at all.”

Garcia gets ‘deadication’

San Francisco – Call it a “deadication.”

Jerry Garcia’s hometown has named a 600-seat amphitheater in his memory. On the bill for the grand opening Saturday were Jefferson Starship, David Gans and master of ceremonies Wavy Gravy, who like Garcia, has been honored with his own flavor of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.

The amphitheater is located in a park in the same neighborhood where Garcia grew up and started his strumming.

On Wednesday, some of The Grateful Dead guitarist’s artwork was installed at San Francisco City Hall as part of an inaugural exhibit for a new gallery. The exhibit includes drawings from Garcia’s childhood and days as a student at The California School of the Arts.

Garcia died on Aug. 9, 1995, from heart trouble brought on by sleep apnea.

Michelle Wie gives $500,000 to Bush-Clinton Katrina fund

Las Vegas – Sixteen-year-old golfer Michelle Wie gave a $500,000 check to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, then played a round of golf with former President Bill Clinton.

Wie, who turned pro Oct. 5 in her native Hawaii, presented the check to Clinton at the Southern Highlands Golf Club on Sunday. Images of devastation moved her to donate, she said.

“I just saw clips of it and I really wanted to help out,” Wie said. “I really do hope it helps a lot of people. … Compared to all the disaster, it’s such a little amount of money.”

“I want to thank Michelle for this very generous contribution to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund,” Clinton said in a statement.

John Lennon memorabilia big draw at Las Vegas auction

Las Vegas – A white suit belonging to John Lennon that he wore on the album cover of “Abbey Road” sold for $118,000 at an auction while the Austin Princess he drove in the movie “Imagine” went for $150,000.

Anthony Pugliese of World Films in Del Ray, Fla., bought the suit, and the automobile was bought by a private Japanese investor, said Darren Julien, president of Julien’s Auctions, the firm holding Saturday’s auction in Las Vegas.

Pugliese also bought the jacket Lennon wore in “Imagine” for $32,000, Julien said.

Marilyn Monroe’s 1961 appointment book was bought for $16,000 by goldenpalace.com and Elizabeth Taylor’s headdress worn in the movie “Cleopatra” sold for $13,500, Julien said.