Mark Lester and Paris Jackson
ZUMA; AKM-GSI
"Michael made me their godfather, and as a godfather, I do have a responsibility," Mark Lester, the former child star who played the title role in the 1968 film Oliver!, tells British TV show Lorraine of Paris, 15, and her brothers Prince, who is testifying Wednesday in the negligence case against AEG Live LLC, and Blanket.
"I would love to go and just pick them up and give them a big hug, and then we all go and have fish and chips … just be normal, hang out."
Lester, 54, says he did have phone contact with "a close member of the family" last week.
"I understand that things, although are not great with Paris, they're not too bad, and she's being looked after," he says. "She's doing okay. She'll be alright. She'll be fine."
He adds: "If they ever need to come over to the U.K., they can come and visit. It would be lovely to see them. The door is always open for them to come … It's a shame that in the four years [since Michael's death], we haven't really seen them."
The Jackson kids have had their lives so scrutinized, says Lester, but it wasn't always that way. Michael shielded them from the spotlight, he says, and they once led a relatively normal life.
"We spent many times just chilling out over a pizza or fish and chips, lying on the floor, watching DVDs, just behaving like any normal family with teenage kids or younger children," Lester says. "No pretense, no showbizzy stuff … He really enjoyed that. I know he did."
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