LONDON - Late King of Pop Michael Jackson reportedly did not want to look like his “bullying” dad, and that is why he bleached his skin and butchered his face with surgery.

Jackson’s pal John Randy Taraborrelli, a journalist who has known him for 40 years, has revealed that he was petrified he would grow into an identical version of Joe.

Taraborrelli’s statement has come at a time when, amid speculation over whether Jacko really fathered his three children, rumours have started to circulate that the star’s hatred of his violent dad stopped him from reproducing, as he feared they would look like their grandfather.

Taraborrelli, 53, said that Jackson was traumatised by regular beatings from his dad, now 79.

“His motive for cosmetic surgery was not, as many surmised, too look more like his idol Diana Ross,” the Daily Star quoted him as saying.

“It was so that he would look less like his father - the man who had so mistreated him and whose strong, broad-nosed face he saw looking back at him from the mirror,” he added.

As Joe managed his kids to success as The Jackson 5, he would punish anyone fluffing up in rehearsals for big shows.

Since Michael led the group, he inevitably took most of the flak.

“The violence worsened as the boys got older and the music business became their life,” Taraborrelli said.

“When he was late for one rehearsal, Joseph came up from behind and shoved him. Michael fell and was badly bruised.

“Michael was spirited enough to fight back, once he hurled a shoe at his father but Joseph screamed: ‘Boy, you just signed your own death warrant.’

“He then held Michael upside down by one leg and pummelled him over and over,” he added.

However, said the journalist, Jackon’s obsession with surgery ruined his looks.

Taraborrelli said: “His appearance was becoming increasingly bizarre. He had also begun using a skin-bleaching cream, which he bought by the crate. Gone was the brown-skinned, broad-nosed youth with an Afro whose natural charisma charmed an audience.”

The journalist added: “In his place was a fragile, doll-like man it was impossible not to stare at in disbelief. He had achieved his goal of transforming himself, but at a barely imaginable price. In the public’s eyes, all this made him not only a freak but a joke.” (ANI)