MJ`s close pals claim he was not a paedophile, homosexual

Washington: Michael Jackson`s close pals have denied rumours that the late King of Pop was not a paedophile or homosexual. Prop designer Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush along with make-up artist Karen Faye addressed persistent rumours about the King of Pop`s sexual orientation, plastic surgery and reported drug abuse.

According to Faye, the rumour that Jackson started taking painkillers after his hair caught fire during the shooting of a 1984 Pepsi commercial is not true. She said that Jackson started taking drugs in 1993, almost ten years after Pepsi commercial. "Just before we went on tour for `Dangerous`, he had an operation, in order to help the scarring. But he didn`t have enough time to heal," a news channel quoted Faye as saying. "So in order to keep going, he started using painkillers, because it is very painful when nerve endings are severed," she added. Bush and Faye were with Jackson in Bangkok when California authorities accused him of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy. "The day that came out, he was stepping onstage in front of 80,000 people," said Bush. "It was devastating because he had to go out every day in front of a world and the media that was saying he was paedophile," said Faye. According to Faye, painkillers `gave Jackson the ability to get through` the emotional pain brought by the allegations and his already existing physical pain. Jackson settled the accusation for reported 20 million dollars, months after he was alleged of assault. Jackson`s family and close friends are adamant that he was not a paedophile or homosexual, as many thought. Jackson constantly checked out hot girls who appeared in his videos, according to his friends. "Before I washed his hair, we knelt down on the ground and Jackson put his arms around me and wept. We would pray for God to help us and for people to know the truth," Faye said. Jackson also underwent plastic surgery. Faye said that he was suffering from vitiligo, a skin condition producing white blotches, reports a news channel. "He was always trying to perfect everything," she said about his plastic surgery. But Faye denied that the he had a prosthetic nose. "It was the tape that he used to wear on his nose to keep it in form or else it would expand," she said. But Faye also said that the `Thriller` hitmaker went a little too far with plastic surgery. Jackson was not at all ready for the `This Is It` tour, Faye and Bush insisted. Jackson was `bone-thin,` according to Bush. "I feared he was physically unable to do the shows," Faye said. ANI