BROOKE SHIELDS formed an instant bond with MICHAEL JACKSON after they met - but insists their relationship was purely platonic.
The actress was introduced to the singer when she was just 13 and the pair made headlines as they stepped out as a couple.
In a new candid interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Shields recalls that in the 1980s she was "the most celebrated virgin ever" while Jackson was trying to adjust to the scores of women who "wanted to throw themselves at (him) and feel like they were going to teach him".
But she insists she was able to befriend the superstar straight away because he didn't put any pressure on her to advance their relationship.
And the 44 year old maintains that as the years passed, "the more asexual he became to me." She adds, "Nothing was jaded about him." But The Blue Lagoon star admits Jackson did express a certain curiosity about her early romances.
She explains, "He was like a little kid who talked about the bases - what first base was, what second base was. It sounded very odd to the outside, I can imagine, but to the inside, to someone who's never really left his bubble, you can understand how he would be curious." Shields, who will pay tribute to Jackson at Tuesday's (07Jul09) Los Angeles memorial, has fond memories about her last meeting with Jackson, which was at Elizabeth Taylor's 1991 wedding to Larry Fortensky.
She says, "We snuck in and took pictures of ourselves next to her dress. We always seemed to revert to being little kids." Jackson died on 25 June (09) after suffering a cardiac arrest in his California home.