A former child star and long-time friend of Michael Jackson, Mark Lester says he could be the father of one of the late pop star’s children. Speaking to the News Of The World, Lester said he had donated sperm to the King of Pop and was willing to take a paternity test. “I believe Paris could be my daughter,” he said, and noted she bore a physical resemblance to his daughter, Harriet.

Reports say calls to Lester’s home in Cheltenham were not immediately returned. The 51-year-old, who rose to fame playing Oliver Twist in the 1968 film of the stage musical, had been friends with Jackson for nearly 30 years.

He is godfather to Paris, 11, and Jackson’s two other children, 12-year-old Prince, and Prince Michael II, seven. The star suffered a cardiac arrest at his Los Angeles home on 25 June at the age of 50.
His mother, Katherine, became the permanent guardian of his three children last week. In a video on the News Of The World website, Lester said he had come forward at this time “because I have concerns about the welfare and upbringing of the children”.

“There’s a contact issue,” he added. “I dearly want to remain in contact with those kids and I feel now this is the only way that I can ensure that.” The former actor, who now works as an osteopath, also detailed how the arrangement with Jackson had come to pass.
“Michael Jackson asked me in a private conversation if I would be willing to donate sperm on his behalf,” he said. “I was phoned up by a London clinic and I was asked what would be a convenient time for me to attend. I made an appointment to go along.”
Lester, who was a child star in the 1968 film Oliver!, told the News of the World he received no reward for his sperm donation. He said: “It was a gift to him, no money was paid, it was something I was honoured to do he wanted children so badly.”

Lester said he assumed the mother of the child would be Debbie Rowe, Jackson’s then-wife. There has previously been speculation that Jackson’s dermatologist, Arnold Klein, was the father to his two children with Rowe.
The star’s third child was born to a surrogate mother, whose identity was never revealed. “Of all of Michael’s children, I would assume that the one who looks most like me is Paris,” Lester said.
“Paris has blue eyes, pale complexion and high cheekbones. My girls all have very similar features.” There has been no comment on Lester’s claims from the Jackson family.
Meanwhile, Michael Jackson’s friend Uri Geller has told Sky News the pop star confirmed to him the British actor Mark Lester is the real father of his daughter Paris.

Lester, the godfather to Jackson’s three children, said he donated his sperm at a London clinic. He told a Sunday newspaper he is prepared to take a paternity test to prove it.
Long-time friend Geller supported the dramatic claims. Geller told Sky News: “I am not surprised, I knew it all along simply because Michael told me.” “As a close friend of Mark, I respect his own situation to reveal this information at this time. “Mark has his own reasons, I really have to respect them.”
Jackson, who died in June, first revealed his desperation to be a dad to Lester in January 1996, when both men were aged 37. Lester already had three children with his then-wife Jane, but the singer allegedly felt incapable of procreating naturally.

“He realised having kids was a natural thing but that he just couldn’t do it,” Lester said.
“I think he’d already tried using his own sperm but it hadn’t worked for him, so I made an off-the-cuff comment saying, ‘Try mine!”’ He said Jackson eventually agreed and the donation was arranged secretly even to Lester’s own wife through a clinic in London’s Harley Street in February 1996.
Eight months later Jackson announced he had married his dermatologist’s nurse, Debbie Rowe, three months before the couple revealed the birth of their first child, Prince. Paris was born just over a year later, in April 1998, and up until the pop singer’s memorial last month Lester was in weekly contact with them.

Crabtree said Lester, who is now an osteopath and acupuncture specialist in Gloucestershire, is keen to remain close to the Jackson children but feels he is now being squeezed out of their lives. “I’ve come forward now because I have concerns about the welfare and upbringing of the children,” Lester added.
He said since Jackson’s mother Katherine was granted custody of the children his phone calls and emails have gone unanswered. Lester said: “We have a special bond between my children, my family and Michael’s family and I feel a special affinity towards Paris and having no contact with them is very, very heartbreaking.”
“This isn’t what Michael would have wanted,” Lester said. Even those close to the former actor are stunned by the claims. “This is a real shock, this is incredible and I’ve got to say that Mark is a really nice person,” neighbour David Price told Sky News.

Meanwhile, Michael Jackson’s former British bodyguard has revealed his attempts to stop Mark Lester going public about the paternity of Paris Jackson. Speaking exclusively to Sky News Online, Matt Fiddes also confirmed the former child actor, who is godfather to Michael Jackson’s three children, has despaired at being shut out of their lives.

“Mark wanted to go public a couple of weeks ago about this but I talked him out of it,” he said. “We hoped a call would come in from the family but the phone never rang. “I’ve seen Mark spiral down since Michael’s death and become very depressed, but every effort Mark has made to stay in contact with the children has fallen on deaf ears.” Lester, 51, who appeared in Oliver! as a child, claimed in a Sunday newspaper that he donated sperm for Paris Jackson’s conception prior to the singer’s marriage to nurse Debbie Rowe.
In addition to being godfather to the Jackson children, Lester is also godfather to Fiddes’ three daughters. He said both he and Jackson shared faith in their friend as a rock for their respective families.

Such was the closeness between Jackson and Lester that the singer ordered his bodyguard to contact him first if ever his life was in danger. Fiddes told Sky News Online: “Michael told me on several occasions, ‘If anything happens to me, if I am ill or kidnapped, you must call Mark Lester’.”
Devon-based Fiddes, who runs a network of martial arts schools around the United Kingdom, also explained why the Jackson family may not have returned Lester’s phone calls or emails.
“Mark is an incredibly loyal guy and this is the last thing he want to do, but I know the Jackson family and love them dearly and the way they have been treated since childhood means they automatically put the shutters up.”

“Mark didn’t have any options left, he has tried everything,” Fiddes said.
“Mark is a great guy and is going through hell he just wants to see the kids as godparent and that’s all he wants to do.” Fiddes said: “He was so close to them as a family and changed their nappies as babies.”
Security man Fiddes also believes the singer’s mother Katherine, who now has custody of the singer’s three children, is their ideal carer. “Mrs Jackson came out to Devon last year and lived with us for six weeks and despite her age she has great support and is very capable,” he said.

“Michael was extremely close to his mother and it is just convincing her that Mark is honest.” Fiddes added: “I spoke to Mark at 11pm last night for an hour and he is distraught - he doesn’t want to be their dad, he just wants those kids back in his life as a godparent.”
After Jackson’s suspected drug-fuelled death on June 25 Fiddes previously revealed to Sky News how he and Uri Geller had tried in vain to keep the pop star away from illicit prescription drugs in previous years.
Courtesy: The Sun News