REPORT: Rumored Love Child Says Jackson Not His Father
Jul. 25 2009, Published 11:32 a.m. ET
In a rare case of someone refusing to exploit a major tragedy for personal gain, a 25-year-old man has come forward denying the late Michael Jackson was his father.
It has been suspected that Omer Bhatti, originally from Norway, was Jackson's illegitimate child for years, stemming from a 1983 fling with the boys mother.
Bhatti and Jackson first met when he was 12, on vacation with his family in Tunisia, reports UK paper The Mirror.
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Jackson was so smitten he had the entire boys family moved to Neverland Ranch, where he employed both of his parents and often engaged in sleepovers with Bhatti, the report says.
"Michael is not my father. He and I were just very, very close. He was my best friend," the paper say Bhatti imparted to a friend.
Bhatti and brood returned to Norway in 1994 at the start of Jackson's financial woe. And, although never claiming to be his son, was welcomed with the most immediate of family at Jackon's televised memorial.