Michael Jackson‘s longtime dermatologist broke his silence Wednesday, offering a carefully worded denial that he fathered two of the pop icon’s children.
“To the best of my knowledge, I am not the father of these children,” Dr. Arnold Klein told ABC News‘ “Good Morning America” Wednesday.
“I can’t answer it in any other way. I don’t want to feed any of this insanity that is going around.”
Klein spoke almost a week after a report surfaced alleging that the celebrity skin doc sired Jackson’s son Prince Michael, 12, and daughter, Paris Michael, 11.
Us Weekly, quoting anonymous sources, said Klein – not Jackson – acted as the sperm donor for surrogate mom Debbie Rowe, who was an assistant to the LA-based doctor at the time.
In the days since Jackson’s stunning death on June 25, Klein’s name also surfaced in more ominous reports naming him as one of the doctors being investigated for prescribing the pop legend powerful sedatives.
Investigators discovered Diprivan, a dangerous drug administered by hospital anesthesiologists, inside Jackson’s home.
Klein vehemently denied prescribing the drug.
“How am I going to prescribe Diprivan when I don’t know how to use it?” Klein said, adding that he treated Jackson with only mild doses of drugs.
Just three days before he died, Jackson visited Klein in his office. The 50-year-old pop sensation showed no indication he was in failing health, Klein said.
“He danced in my office,” Klein said. “He danced for my patients.”
A cavalcade of celebrities and Jackson’s loved ones paid tribute to the “Thriller” star on Tuesday at a moving memorial inside Los Angeles‘ Staples Center.
Near its conclusion, Paris spoke out publicly for the first, calling her “daddy” the “best father you could ever imagine” – a heartbreaking moment that reduced almost everyone in the 20,000-seat arena to tears.
Meanwhile, authorities released his death certificate, which did not list a cause of death. The official ruling will likely take weeks until toxicology results are completed.
Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said Jackson’s brain, or at least part of it, was still being held by investigators and would be returned to the family for burial once neuropathology tests were completed.
The site of Jackson’s final resting place remained shrouded in mystery Wednesday.
A private memorial was held at a cemetery in the Hollywood Hills that contains the bodies of dozens of stars, but it does not appear Jackson will be buried among them.
Permission is needed to bury him at his former home, Neverland Ranch – a location some of Jackson relatives favor for his final resting place.
