'I want to get back with Jacko'

Michael Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe broke down in tears last night as she told his child abuse trial she had desperately wanted a reconciliation with the singer.

Miss Rowe had taken the stand to testify against Jackson.

But in a dramatic development she described him as 'my friend', smiling broadly at the star who denies ten charges including child molestation, giving alcohol to a minor and kidnapping.

In another massive blow for the prosecution, Miss Rowe denied that her gushing interview praising Jackson in the wake of the controversial Martin Bashir documentary was in any way scripted.

The prosecution had been hoping she would tell the court in Santa Maria, California, that she was given a script of things to say about Jackson.

Janet Arvizo, the mother of Jackson's accuser Gavin Arvizo, has testified that Jackson aides made her rehearse for a video of her family rebutting the documentary in which the singer tells an interviewer he lets children sleep in his bed, though not in a sexual way.

Miss Rowe, however, insisted she did not look at any questions because she did not want people to think the interview was rehearsed.

Prosecutors had also expected Miss Rowe to testify that she was put under pressure to praise Jackson.

But she denied she was blackmailed into doing her interview in return for Jackson allowing her to visit their children Prince Michael, eight, and

Paris Katherine, seven - although she hoped she would be allowed to.

However, she did admit that not all her answers were true. She had said Jackson was a great father when she had not seen him with the children for three years.

Miss Rowe - who was seeing 46-year-old Jackson for the first time since they divorced in October 1999 - broke down as she started talking about her strong feelings for the singer with whom, she admitted, she had never shared a home.

But she beamed as she spoke of her 'excitement for seeing the children, for seeing Michael again and possibly reconnecting' after he contacted her to do the interview.