Michael Jackson with his children on a visit to Harrod's department store in London in 2005. He tried to shelter them from the glare of the media - sometimes literally.

Michael Jackson tried to shelter his three kids from the media maelstrom that surrounded him wherever he roamed - even making them wear masks in public.

Now, with his death, Jackson's freaky family is about to be exposed and his kids face eviction from the fantasy land that has been their life up to now.

It's a world in which new toys arrived as if by magic every day, and included midnight shopping sprees and bleary-eyed visits to museums and amusement parks after dark.

It's a world where on any given day the nomads could find themselves inBahrain,Dubai,Ireland,Las Vegas- evenFranklin Lakes,N.J.

Jackson had two children by nurseDebbie Rowe:Prince, who is 12, andParis, 11.

In an interview, Jackson said he fathered his third child, 6-year-old Prince Michael II, nicknamed Blanket, using a surrogate mother he has never met "and my own sperm cells."

Who ends up raising theJackson Threefrom here on out could be decided by a court.

"If the mother did not relinquish her parental rights, she can seek custody," attorneyGloria Allred, a longtime Jackson foe, told the Daily News yesterday. "If he indicated in his will the person whom he wishes to serve as guardian, then the court will give great weight to his preference."

The judge can overrule the King of Pop and "do what the court believes is in the children's best interest."

Mark Lester, the child star of Jackson's favorite movie - "Oliver!" - is the godfather of the three kids, but in a briefMSNBCinterview after the death was announced he gave no indication that he would seek custody of the kids.

Jackson shocked the world in 1994 when he marriedElvis Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie. Their 19-month circus of a marriage produced no children - but one very public TV declaration that "yes, yes, yes" they had sex.

Skeptics called the union a sham designed to divert attention from the child molestation allegations that shattered Jackson's public image.

A year later, Lisa Marie told Jackson to beat it.

Odd path to fatherhood

Then in 1996, the pop star gave the world another shock when he announced he was going to be a poppa - and that Rowe, his "longtime friend of 15 years," was the momma.

Rowe, a nurse who treated the superflaky singer's skin condition, denied reports she was paid to carry his kid.

Jackson also insisted the baby was conceived the old-fashioned way - not by artificial insemination - and later moonwalked down the aisle with Rowe.

When Rowe became pregnant with Paris, she said the child was named after the city in which she was conceived and called Jackson a doting dad. "I hope we have lots of kids together," she said in a rare interview.

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