SPOON bender Uri Geller fears his friendship with Michael Jackson has been "shattered" following a controversial TV documentary about the eccentric singer's life.

The psychic, who persuaded Jackson to star in the damning ITV1 documentary, says he feels anger towards interviewer Martin Bashir.

He has accused him of a double betrayal -- of himself and Jackson. Geller now fears he may never be able to repair his long friendship with the American pop star.

Speaking ahead of a stage appearance in Bolton, he said: "This may have shattered our friendship. Bashir must have known that it would be tarnished in this way and I am disappointed and concerned at the betrayal."

Part of the film, made by Manchester-based Granada Television, showed Jackson admitting he regularly sleeps with youngsters in his bed and it has led to calls for Jackson's three children to be taken into care.

Bashir, in the closing minutes of the documentary, expressed his concern about the singer's lifestyle. Yet he told Jackson in footage not screened as part of the programme: "It almost makes me weep when I see you with your kids because your interaction is so natural, so loving and so careful."

Bashir has been accused of being underhand and two-faced. He denies both accusations.

But Geller says Jackson has done nothing wrong and has been misrepresented. He said: "Michael Jackson is an honest, humble, shy, nervous man and he would never harm or hurt children.

"Bashir promised he would film Michael in all sorts of situations, like in an African orphanage, but nothing materialised. The only positive thing is that myself and Michael insisted Granada donated some of the money from the documentary to sick children.

"I haven't phoned Michael yet because he is busy and he is trying to get his life back to normal. How come Bashir says one thing and then we end up with a documentary saying something different?"

Geller spoke to the Bolton Evening News ahead of his appearance in the town at the Albert Halls on Monday.

He said he regretted encouraging his friend to appear in the documentary, Living with Michael Jackson.

"With hindsight it was not the right thing to do," he admitted. "It misrepresented him. There was a moment when he was asked about the operations he had had on his face and Michael said he had only had two.

"I don't know why he said that. I think he was under pressure and embarrassed to talk about it, but other people take his denial to mean something else.

"It's nobody's business what he does to his face."

Jackson was Geller's best man when he renewed his wedding vows with his 50-year-old wife, Hanna, and the pair's friendship goes back years.

When asked if he believed Jackson's skin colour was due to an illness, he said: "Yes, I do believe the colour is because of a disease. And as for the baby incident -- Michael doesn't feed his baby with a veil on, but it was because Bashir's cameras were there.

"Michael loves his children. Dangling his child over a balcony was an error of judgement and he knows that."

Geller will be putting on a show in which he stresses the power of positive thinking and prayer.

The two-hour performance, in which he will bend spoons and mend broken watches using, he says, the power of his mind, is set to be a sell out.

Geller will talk about his life growing up in Tel Aviv, Israel. There will be a harrowing monologue in which he opens up about the worst moment of his life -- when he pulled a trigger of a gun and shot a man dead.

He had been fighting in a war and he feared for his life when the man pointed a gun at him. The 55-year-old said: "It was a matter of survival. I had my Uzi gun and it was last line of defence. I knew whoever pulled the trigger first would be the survivor.

"I still have nightmares about it now, 35 years on. He has become a part of me and I'm sure I will meet him one day in heaven. That's when I will make my peace."

Geller has been married to Hanna for 30 years and their pair have two children, Daniel, 22, and Natalie, 20, both of whom still live at home in a village in Berkshire.

He said: "People's lives change after they come to my show. I show them that no matter what happens to you, there will always be a future. I've seen people blown up in front of me and I've had doors slammed in my face. But with the power of positive thinking it is something you can overcome."

Geller said his spoon-bending abilities came to him when he was aged four. He said he was eating his dinner when his spoon bent and then broke.

"I have honed my skill since then," he said.