London, July 3 Just weeks before his death, Michael Jackson tried to adopt Octomum Nadya Suleman's eight babies, it has emerged.

The King of Pop, who already had children Prince, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Prince Michael II, known as Blanket, approached penniless Suleman offering to look after the babies in return for cash.

The 50-year-old singer, who was desperate for a larger family, was concerned at reports Suleman was considering giving the children up for adoption.

He ordered aides to contact Suleman's publicist Victor Munoz.

Jacko's people called Munoz three times and quizzed him about his client and told him that Jackson wanted to adopt the babies.

Then Jackson called Munoz personally.

He said: "Blanket would love to have more siblings. I could take care of all the babies, they could live with me and wouldn't need for anything. They would have a bright future.

"I want to take care of Nadya. She will be happy and won't have to worry about caring for her children any more."

The singer clearly believed his star power could convince the Suleman to handover the kids.

"When Michael called I thought it was a joke at first. I was getting hundreds of calls every day and many from celebrities' agents saying their client wanted to help," the Mirror quoted Munoz as saying.

"But when the person on the end of the line said 'Hi it's Michael Jackson' I was a bit taken aback. Michael wanted to know how the babies were, how Nadya was coping.

"He then said he could take care of the children if Nadya couldn't. It was creepy. He was basically offering to buy the children. I was a bit shocked," he added. (ANI)