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'He just wanted the best for his children'

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By Olivia Kelleher
Monday Jun 29 2009

MICHAEL Jackson was a warm-hearted father who wanted his children to have the ordinary childhood that he was deprived of, an Irish magician who performed for the superstar's kids said yesterday.

Magician Liam Sheehan entertained Jackson and his children at Blackwater Castle, Castletownroche, Co Cork, when they stayed there in 2006 .

He said the reclusive star was extremely proud of his fun-loving children Paris, Prince Michael and Prince Michael II.

The Cork-based magician was asked to spend two weeks at the venue with the Jackson family by castle-owner and friend Patrick Nordstrom, after the family nanny came across his business card.

Mr Sheehan said he was particularly taken with the personality of Jackson's then eight-year-old daughter Paris, who had a strong bond with her father.

"I found Michael to be a fantastic and loving father and the children adored him. I would have thought the kids would be weird but they were so normal," he said.

Mr Sheehan said he was amazed to find that Jackson was without an entourage at the castle. It was simply Jackson, the children, a schoolteacher and a friend.

Mr Sheehan said Jackson's nanny at the time, Grace, told him how difficult it was for the entertainer to trust anyone who entered his world.

"She said he went on a helicopter trip one time with a so-called friend and when they landed the helicopter, the field below was swarming with paparazzi. There was always trying to get something from him and he knew that. She said he was betrayed a lot. But he was very normal to talk to. I would have been a fan but I put that aside and just treated him like a normal human being.

Gentle

"He was very gentle. There was somebody very normal trying to get out. They told us in the castle that he would come down during the night for a bowl of apple crumble. He loved simple things like that."

Mr Sheehan is the proud owner of a set of playing cards that were signed by Jackson's children and a dollar bill signed by the entertainer himself.

He only spent two weeks in Jackson's world but insists he will always treasure his memories of an ordinary family.

"It was fantastic to get the call to spend time with them. Whatever people say, those children adored their father. They were left run around the castle grounds and enjoyed every minute of it. I will never forget those two weeks."

- Olivia Kelleher