"Michael Barrymore is dead," says former TV star FORMER television presenter Michael Barrymore says that he no longer wishes to be known by his old stage persona as he claimed the press "killed" a moniker beloved by millions of television viewers in the 80s and 90s. Former TV presenter declares Michael Barrymore is "dead" Michael Parker, as the ex-star now wants to be known, claims that press "killed" Barrymore Parker, giving a newspaper interview for the first time in a decade, also said that he has gotten to know himself for the first time - despite turning 60 last May. The press killed Michael Barrymore. My real name is Michael Parker - Michael Barrymore is dead. Although I have been a couple of times to the jumping-off point, I didn't kill myself. If I had, it would have completed the story. Parker added: "I don't have to be doing what I've been doing since I was eight, which is making people laugh to deflect things. It's the first time I've gotten to know me and I was 60 in May. Barrymore also claimed a conspiracy by rival networks to end his career and "damage the ITV brand." "It smacks me that there was a definite conspiracy to destroy ITV's main brand at the time: "We want to get rid of anything that works for them." I never shy away from the fact that I'm an alcoholic and that I have had my problems, but I've never murdered anybody. I've never got up in the morning and thought I'll harm someone. I've just had an extraordinary sequence of events that have been on public display that I've had no control over. Parker, 60, enjoyed a glittering TV career in the 80s and 90s hosting light entertainment shows such as Strike It Lucky and My Kind Of People, the former of which attracted an audience of 18 million people at its peak. But his television career, for all intents and purposes, ended after 31-year-old Stuart Lubbock was found dead in a swimming pool in his Essex home in 2001. Following a long campaign by Mr Lubbock's father, Barrymore was arrested in 2007 on suspicion of murder, but was released without charge three months later.