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Murphy: Dad, Yes; Deadbeat, No

Mon., Aug. 6, 2007 9:02 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

Eddie Murphy has finally copped to being a Beverly Hills pop. It's being labeled a Beverly Hills deadbeat with which he takes issue.

With Melanie Brown teaming with camera-ready attorney Gloria Allred for a press conference and paternity action, seeking to establish Murphy as the father of Scary Spice's four-month-old daughter, the Shrek star finally admitted that Angel Iris Murphy Brown is indeed the fruit of his loins.

However, while Murphy confirmed his paternity of the girl, he was quick to deny the Spice Girl's other claim, that he had failed to live up to his financial responsibilities as a father.

In an atypically forthcoming statement released by usually reticent spokesman Arnold Robinson, Murphy "acknowledges paternity of the child Angel and has paid child support to Ms. Brown, as well as covering the expenses of her pregnancy."

"Eddie Murphy always has and will continue to honor his responsibilities as a father."

The statement also disputed one of Brown's most adamant claims about the newborn—that Angel was planned by both Brown and Murphy in the throes of their relationship last summer.

"I am here today for one reason and one reason only; her name is Angel," Brown, 32, said during her press conference with Allred last week. "Angel is my baby and Eddie's. She will always know that she was planned and wanted by both of us."

"Mr. Murphy and Ms. Brown dated very briefly and never made any plans of ANY sort," the caps lock-employing Robinson said in the statement.

During their appearance trumpeting Brown's paternity action, Allred blasted the Dreamgirls thesp for his "shocking and appalling conduct since he learned Ms. Brown was pregnant."

Murphy, 46, initially challenged the paternity of the girl last year, but a June DNA test proved he was the father. Since then, however, Brown claims Murphy has made no attempt to contact the child or pay "one penny of child support." In her paternity filing Friday, Brown requested sole custody of the child.

Allred reiterated these complaints in the wake of Murphy's announcement.

"He has not indicated in his statement or to us that he plans to visit the baby," she told the Associated Press.

But it's unlikely Murphy, who recently became engaged to his post-Brown companion, movie producer Tracey Edmonds, will let the paternity battle play out in public.

As Robinson said in the statement, the actor "views this as a private matter and as such will not be making any further comments about it."