MICHAEL JACKSON - MICHAEL JACKSON PICKS UP A HANDBAG

Pop superstar MICHAEL JACKSON turned heads during a shopping trip in Los Angeles - when he bought himself a handbag with a young boy's picture on it.

Wearing a plastic mask with eyes and lips painted on it, Jackson recently visited the swanky shopping centre THE GROVE, where, in an accessories store, he focused on something he decided he wasn't leaving without - a $210 (GBP140) custom designed handbag.

The purse had a see-through external plastic pocket which allows women to insert pictures of their children.

A source tells American tabloid the STAR, "He really liked the picture on the display purse. It was a shot of one of the designer's two boys.

"The clerk tried to tell him that one was just for show and that she could order Jackson a similar one so that he could place pictures of his three kids in it."

The 44-year-old BAD singer ordered three of the bags, but begged for the one on display too, according to eyewitnesses.

The persuasion worked - Jackson left the store with a new women's bag, with the picture of the stranger's children on it.