She told the interviewer: "These poor babies. . . . I was getting phone calls that they were being neglected. Nobody was cleaning the rooms because Michael didn't pay the housekeeper.

"I was getting calls telling me Michael was in such a bad shape. He wasn't clean. He hadn't shaved. He wasn't eating well. I used to do all this for him and they were trying to get me to go back."

(It's unclear who "they" is. It's also surprising that Michael shaved.)

Now, Rwaramba may end up involved in the custody battle.

"I took these babies in my arms on the first day of each of their lives," she said. "They are my babies."

She claimed to the interviewer that she was the stabilizing, loving influence in the lives of Jackson's children - that Jackson was, believe it or not, a little odd.

"I used to hug and laugh with them," she said of the kids. "But when Michael was around they froze. I really miss Blanket. He makes me laugh. Only recently, he decided to do a concert for me. He was so cute, singing 'Billy Jean' and other songs by his father.

"I was laughing so hard. Prince and Paris were playing around. It was such a happy moment. Then suddenly Michael walked in and the kids just looked frightened. Michael was so angry."

Rwaramba added that the kids didn't like the masks that Jackson made them wear in public, and that even though they didn't go to school they were not being home-schooled. They had no teacher.

She also said that following the 2005 child abuse case against Jackson, he was essentially broke, living off handouts, like those of Bahrain King Sheikh Abdullah, and that he borrowed cash from his wealthy friends.

"The truth is, Michael didn't have money," she said. "One day out of the blue he received some cash but instead of buying a house somewhere so we didn't have to keep moving from one hotel to another or stay with friends, he told me, 'Go to Florence and buy antiques.' "

Rwaramba said that she spent nearly $1 million in Italy, "But we didn't even have a home so we had to put them all into storage."

Tattbit

* Many Americans grieved the death of Michael Jackson by sitting in a dark theater watching giant robots blow stuff up.

Since it opened Wednesday, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" has taken in a crazy $201.2 million, according to studio estimates. *

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

Send e-mail to gensleh@phillynews.com.