Michael Jackson’s mystery children

Some mysteries may never to be solved. Who killed JFK? Where’s Jimmy Hoffa? What’s up with the Bermuda Triangle?

But the world inched closer yesterday to a possible answer to a mystery that has stumped some of the keenest gossip minds for more than a decade: Who fathered Michael Jackson’s children?

The online tabloid TMZ.com - which scooped the international media last week on the pop icon’s death - yesterday claimed to remove the glove of secrecy, weighing in with the stunner that Jacko did not sire his kids . . . and that the presumed mother of two of them was a surrogate.

“We’ve learned Michael Jackson was not the biological father of any of his children. And Debbie Rowe is not the biological mother of the two kids she bore for Michael. All three children were conceived in vitro,” TMZ reported, saying it was unclear who donated the sperm and eggs.

Meanwhile, Us magazine’s Web site, citing “multiple sources,” said of the two eldest, Prince Michael and Paris: “Their biological father is Arnold Klein, Jackson’s L.A.-based dermatologist and Rowe’s former boss . . . ”

Such an arrangement might resolve media speculation - based on his children’s lack of black features - that Jackson purposely had white kids through surrogates.

But Us contradicted TMZ on one point, quoting Rowe’s lawyer Marta Almli: “Particularly hurtful . . . is the most recent rumor - which is entirely false - concerning the maternity of the children. Ms. Rowe is the biological mother of the two oldest children.”

Parenthood issues could be critical if custody or Jackson’s will are challenged. Jackson’s mother, Katherine, was granted temporary control of assets and temporary custody Monday, and Rowe reportedly is not making a claim.

But yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported that a 2002 will names Jackson’s three kids and his mom as beneficiaries, but leaves out his dad, Joseph, whom Jacko claimed made his childhood hell.

TMZ also reported Prince Michael II’s surrogate mother was never told the identity of the “receiving parent” - raising the prospect she may yet emerge.

Meanwhile, TMZ reported the LAPD wants to talk to Klein about whether he gave Jackson prescription drugs. And a Jackson nutritionist said she got a frantic call from a Jackson staffer four days before he died, pleading for the powerful sedative Diprivan.

Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse, said, “He called and was very frantic and said, ‘Michael needs to see you right away.’ I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ And I could hear Michael in the background . . . ‘One side of my body is hot, it’s hot, and one side of my body is cold.’ . . . I said, ‘Tell him he needs to go the hospital. I don’t know what’s going on, but he needs to go to the hospital . . . right away.”