LOS ANGELES (AFP) - - Sources "very close" to Michael Jackson's family denied claims by former British child acting star Mark Lester that he could be the biological father of the singer's daughter Paris, People magazine reported.
Lester, who played Oliver Twist in the 1968 film musical "Oliver!" told the News of the World: "I gave Michael my sperm so that he could have kids -- and I believe Paris is my daughter."
The 51-year-old Briton, who was a friend of Jackson and is godfather to all three of his children, said he was willing to take a paternity test to establish whether or not he is the father of 11-year-old Paris.
But People, citing sources close to the King of Pop's family, said Lester has never claimed to be Paris's father, although they acknowledged he had donated sperm to Jackson, who died on June 25 aged 50.
"They twisted his words around. He's not claiming to be the father of Paris Jackson," one source told the magazine, which specializes in news about entertainment stars.
The family's lawyer Londell McMillan downplayed the reports, saying "these are just merely claims with no legal standing whatsoever."
The probate court, he added, has no reason to go against its finding that Jackson was the father to Paris, Prince Michael, 12, and Prince Michael II, 7.
The birth mother of the two eldest children is former nurse Debbie Rowe, and the youngest, who is known as "Blanket," was conceived by a surrogate whose identity has not yet been revealed.
Lester "has known Michael (Jackson) for many years and his children play with Michael's children," Brian Oxman, a long-time family friend and former lawyer told the magazine, saying Lester had never hinted he was Paris' father.
Marc Schaffel, another Jackson associate, said the pop star made Lester godfather to all three of his children at a small, private ceremony in October 2003 when they were baptised.
Lester says Jackson first told him he was desperate to be a father in 1996. Both were then aged 37 and Lester already had three children.
Lester suggested the donation and Jackson agreed, with the arrangements being made through a Harley Street clinic in February of that year.
Eight months later, Jackson announced he had married nurse Debbie Rowe and three months later, the couple revealed the birth of Prince.
Paris was born just over a year later, in April 1998.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
'This is It': Jackson film out in October
US pop megastar Michael Jackson pointing to fans during the Sony music awards in 1996 at the Sydney Opera House. Sony studios announced Monday it would release on October 30 a film about Michael Jackson, "This Is It," drawn from hours of rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage taken in the days before he died.
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - - Fans will get to see Michael Jackson's final rehearsals in a film to be released on October 30, just four months after the sudden death of the King of Pop, Sony studios announced Monday.
"This Is It," is drawn from hundreds of hours of backstage footage of Jackson rehearsing and will feature interviews with some of his closest friends and creative collaborators.
It is named after the series of 50 London concerts the star had planned to perform for his July farewell -- before his death from an apparent cardiac arrest on June 25 at a rented mansion in Los Angeles shocked the world.
Sony said the film "will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer, his career and the stage spectacular that would have been."
Most of the footage was shot in June 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, home of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, which later became the site for the Jackson tribute watched by millions of people around the world. Other scenes were shot at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
The footage was "captured in high definition with state-of-the-art digital sounds," Sony said, adding that select sequences would be in 3-D.
Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment will co-produce the film with AEG Live and the estate, while Sony Pictures will distribute the film worldwide, Sony said.
The pop icon's mother, Katherine Jackson, also gave her approval to the multi-million-dollar deal approved by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Beckloff.
Neither Sony nor the court released figures of the deal reached with Jackson's estate and concert promoters AEG Live, but media reports said Sony paid 60 million dollars for rights to the footage.
AEG Live has yet to give its approval on the sharing of profits from the distribution of the footage.
Kenny Ortega, Jackson's creative partner on the "This Is It" concerts, said, "the world will see what our team was so fortunate to experience, which was the full commitment, passion and creativity that Michael put into this project."
It, "will show Michael as he truly was, creatively involved with every aspect of the production, from the staging and choreography, to the music, lighting, production design and conception of the original short films and video backdrops," he said.
The film announcement came as the Los Angeles County coroner's office said it had completed a "thorough and comprehensive" autopsy but would not release the results until police complete their investigation.
The probe has so far revealed that Jackson had a long addiction to painkillers.
Separately, Judge Beckloff said he was considering appointing a special guardian to represent the financial interests of Jackson's three orphaned children who are now heirs to his massive music empire.
The decision is intended to uphold the interests of Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Prince Michael II -- known as "Blanket" -- independently of the managers of Jackson's estate and their grandmother, who is their guardian.
More than a month after the singer's death, Jackson's family has yet to decide on a burial site.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
