Michael Jackson’s family members are reportedly “bewildered” by Debbie Rowe’s claim that she stood by as a doctor unethically prescribed the superstar dangerous painkillers.
Rowe, who was married to Jackson from 1996 to 1999, appears in the new documentary “TMZ Investigates: Who Really Killed Michael Jackson,” detailing how she once worked for famed Hollywood dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein, who gave the pop king Demerol — an addictive and powerful opioid.
“I was basically as bad as [Klein],” Rowe, 63, shockingly states in the doc — airing tonight on Fox. “I regret that. I will regret it. And I am so sorry that I participated in it.”
The ex-wife’s eyebrow-raising comments have reportedly distressed Jackson’s elderly mom, Katherine, 92, and his brother Randy, 66.
“Debbie’s decision to speak to this show about what she knew about Dr Klein . . . has dumbfounded some of the older Jackson family members,” an anonymous insider told the Sun on Tuesday. “Debbie has not been this open with some of the brothers for sure, so for her to speak on a TV show is bewildering.”
The source, who describes themself as a “Jackson family friend,” says Katherine is particularly aggrieved.
“She is very upset,” they declared. “She and her aides cannot understand why Debbie has decided after all these years to break her silence on that part of her life.”
The insider added: “The feeling always was that Debbie was there to help Michael as his nurse. Now her comments have made some of them look at her in a different way.”
The Post has reached out to reps for Michael Jackson’s estate for comment about the new claims.
For years, Rowe worked as an assistant to Dr. Klein, a dermatologist who was known for treating a bevy of Hollywood’s biggest stars — including Elizabeth Taylor.
Rowe first met Jackson in the mid-1990s at Dr. Klein’s Los Angeles offices, where he was being treated for vitiligo.
Klein purportedly prescribed numerous patients powerful drugs which they did not need.
Rowe lifts the lid on her relationship with the doctor in the new documentary, saying: “There were times he would write prescriptions for things that had nothing to do with what we were treating them [patients] for.”
She further claims that Klein was “a person that you want to hang with because you’re going to be able to get something in return.”
Meanwhile, the documentary also claims that Jackson and Klein’s relationship turned into more of a friendship rather than that of doctor and patient, with the dermatologist allegedly keeping fraudulent documents on the singer.
TMZ Executive Producer Harvey Levin — who interviewed Klein in November 2009 — says it was “routine” for Jackson to go get high on Demerol “for hours at a time” at Klein’s office.
Levin, who appears in the new doc, states: “Dr. Klein was more than happy to oblige and he justified with minor procedures. And he did this over and over and over again.”
Jackson purportedly created 19 false aliases to collect different drugs, and Klein had kept a special book noting which prescriptions went to each fake identity, according to Ed Winter, the assistant chief coroner for LA County.
Klein died at age 70 of natural causes in 2015.
However, Klein is just one of many doctors who prescribed dangerous medications to Jackson over the course of his career.
The “Bad” singer first became hooked on painkillers after he suffered both second- and third-degree burns to his scalp during a pyrotechnic disaster while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984.
Jackson died in June 2009 after suffering cardiac arrest brought on by the anesthetic propofol — a drug reportedly routinely administered by his then physician, Conrad Murray.
The death was ruled a homicide, and Murray took all the blame. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison, serving just under two behind bars.
Rowe does not speak about Murray in the new doc. She also does not divulge any further details about her relationship with Jackson.
The couple wed in 1996, before welcoming two children together, Prince and Paris. They split in 1999, with Jackson receiving full custody of the two kids.
Rowe later claimed that she had been artificially inseminated and never had sex with the King of Pop. She now purportedly has a friendship with Paris, 24, but the status of her relationship with Prince, 25, is unknown.