Michael Jackson's former wife wiped away tears on Wednesday as she testified that the pop icon called her for help after the broadcast of a damaging British documentary in 2003 and that she agreed in the hope of seeing their family reunited.
But Debbie Rowe said that contrary to prosecution assertions she was not bullied into giving an interview about her famous ex-husband and refused to follow a script.
Ms Rowe, the mother of two of Mr Jackson's three children, smiled at the singer as she took the witness stand and identified herself as "Deborah Rowe-Jackson".
Prosecutors called Ms Rowe to the witness stand as evidence that Mr Jackson and his camp panicked after the broadcast of the documentary, which showed him holding hands with a 13-year-old boy who would later accuse him of molestation, and began a heavy-handed campaign to salvage the singer's reputation.
It was during that time, they claim, that Mr Jackson and associates held his young accuser's family prisoner at his Neverland Valley Ranch and forced them to participate in a so-called rebuttal tape.
Prosecutors say Ms Rowe, who was married to Mr Jackson from 1997 to 1999, was similarly coerced into defending the entertainer.
Ms Rowe, a former nurse for Mr Jackson's dermatologist, bore Mr Jackson's two oldest children, son Prince Michael and daughter Paris. She surrendered her parental rights in 2001 but prosecutors say she recovered them last year after filing suit.
Mr Jackson has a third child, Prince Michael II. Ms Rowe, who came to court in a black pinstriped suit with shoulder-length blond hair, said that prior to the broadcast of Living with Michael Jackson in February 2003 she had not seen the superstar since their divorce four years earlier.
"(Jackson) told me there was a video coming out and it was full of lies and would I help. And I said, as always, yes," Ms Rowe told a packed courtroom, her voice breaking with emotion. She said she asked to visit their two children, whom she had not seen in about two years, and Mr Jackson agreed.
Mr Jackson, 46, is charged with molesting a boy, then 13, at Neverland, plying the youth with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit false imprisonment, child abduction and extortion. He faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors have said that Ms Rowe was promised visitation rights with her children in exchange for defending Mr Jackson, but she stopped short of making that claim. Ms Rowe said that when Mr Jackson called, she hoped "to be reintroduced to them and to be reacquainted with their dad".
Asked why by Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen, Ms Rowe dabbed at a tear and said: "He's my friend."
Ms Rowe said she was not paid for the nine-hour interview and could not take part until her divorce lawyer obtained a waiver of a confidentiality agreement with the pop star.
Though prosecutors have said that taped interviews with Ms Rowe and the family of Mr Jackson's accuser were "highly scripted," Ms Rowe denied that she was coached, saying she did not want to be later accused of giving rehearsed answers.
"As Mr Jackson knows, no one can tell me what to say," Ms Rowe said. "I tend to speak my own mind."
But Ms Rowe said she lied throughout the interview, specifically when praising Mr Jackson's parenting skills. Court adjourned for the day before she could elaborate.
Though Ms Rowe's testimony, which resumed yesterday, appeared at times to fall short of what prosecutors had promised, she was the strongest witness so far to link Mr Jackson directly to the efforts to repair his image - which is crucial to proving the conspiracy charges against him.