I’m the father of Michael Jackson’s children and I’ll take a DNA test to prove it: British actor who says his girl looks just like ParisThe child star of Oliver! yesterday pledged to take a DNA test to determine if he is the father of Michael Jackson’s children.
Mark Lester, who made his name in the 1968 film version of the musical, said he believed there was a ‘good possibility’ he is the father of Prince Michael, 16, Paris, 15, and Blanket, 11.
The 54-year-old was close friends with Jackson for more than three decades and claims he donated sperm for the superstar before the first child was born.
Mr Lester said: ‘I wouldn’t have a DNA test without the children’s permission but when the children come of age, and it’s not far away, and they decide they want me to do it then I will.
‘It is up to them. I don’t want to tell them what to do. I just want to reconnect and be the godfather that Michael made me.’
He added: ‘My 18-year-old daughter Olivia looks like Paris. People have also pointed out similarities between myself when I was younger and Prince Michael.’
Mr Lester found fame at the age of eight when he played the title role in the film of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver!
He became good friends with Jackson in London in 1978 when the singer was performing with the Jackson 5.
In 1995, shortly after Mr Lester’s third child was born, Jackson broached the subject of fertility, he said. ‘I remember Michael ringing and saying, “Oh, you don’t have any fertility difficulties do you?”
Will she want to meet him? Paris with her birth mother Debbie Rowe on Saturday, the two have recently reconciled.
He was half joking so I joked, “Oh, I just look at her and she gets pregnant”.
‘So then in a light-hearted way he said, “Will you help me out?”
Initially I thought he wanted me to do something with his ex-wife Debbie Rowe and I was thinking, “I don’t think so”.
‘Then out of the blue about a year later, he mentioned sperm donation and I agreed. Michael set it up for me to turn up to a clinic in Harley Street to do it. It was weird.
I went in a couple of times to donate but we never talked about it ever again.
‘It was a really strange request but while Michael was alive I never gave it another thought. I didn’t donate to get something out of it.’
Mr Lester is now an osteopath and lives in Cheltenham with his second wife Lisa and the four children from his first marriage.
He said his children became friends with Jackson’s children and when they met up they were like ‘one big happy family’. Jackson made him godfather to his three children in 2001, he said.
But Mr Lester said it was only two months after Jackson died aged 50 in June 2009 after overdosing on painkillers and tranquillisers that he first considered that he could be the father of the children.
Lawyers for Jackson’s family have previously rubbished his claims, saying they have ‘no merit’ and branding them a ‘genetic lottery attempt’.
The singer’s brother Jermaine has also insisted the children were all fathered by Jackson.
Jackson’s British former bodyguard Matt Fiddes has previously claimed he could be the father of Blanket, saying he agreed to become a sperm donor in 2001.
The Jackson children are due to be witnesses in a £26million lawsuit against concert promoter AEG Live.
Jackson’s family say the firm, which organised his 50 farewell gigs in London, ignored fears over his health.
