London, Aug 2 - How would it feel if your holidays were paid for by Michael Jackson? Susan Essien Etok would know. The 32-year-old Briton fondly remembers all the holidays sponsored by the late 'king of pop', thanks to their friendship for 12 years.

The legendary singer paid for her holidays to Africa, the Middle East and South America during the last three years. And Susan, who holds a PhD in Biomedical Materials Engineering from Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, had several times stayed at Jackson's Neverland ranch in California.

Whenever Michael came to London, they met and renewed their friendship.

'I never knew how much I have spent for my holidays as it was always Michael who paid for my trips. He was so generous towards his friends and I was lucky to have him as a friend,' Susan told IANS.

While doing her bachelor's degree in Materials Engineering at Loughborough University in 1995-98, Susan did a bit of modelling and appeared in a series of Pepsi advertisements. She also acted as an extra in 1998 in a Hollywood movie 'Free Enterprise', which was shot in downtown Los Angeles.

While she is hesitant to reveal the person who introduced her to Jackson, she clearly remembers the day they met after she finished filming in Los Angeles.

'We all hung out together and got on well immediately. Michael and I had a similar sense of humour and we used to laugh and make fun of each other a lot,' Susan said.

'Michael was a very kind and generous human being. He was innocent and had the heart of a child,' she added.

According to Susan, Michael led a very normal life behind closed doors. He loved his kids Blanket, Prince and Paris... they were his life. However, she says, Paris was clearly a daddy's girl and was fiercely protective of him -- as was visible from her moving tribute at his memorial service.