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Re: Michael Jackson's This Is It Discussion
LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson still had a faint pulse and his body was warm when his doctor found him in bed and not breathing, a lawyer for the doctor told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Lawyer Edward Chernoff also said Dr. Conrad Murray never prescribed or gave Jackson the drugs Demerol or OxyContin. He denied reports suggesting Murray gave Jackson drugs that contributed to his death.
Chernoff told the AP that Murray was at the pop icon's rented mansion on Thursday afternoon when he discovered Jackson in bed and not breathing. The doctor immediately began administering CPR, Chernoff said.
"He just happened to find him in his bed, and he wasn't breathing," the lawyer said. "Mr. Jackson was still warm and had a pulse."
Chernoff said any drugs the doctor gave Jackson were prescribed in response to a specific complaint from the entertainer.
"Dr. Murray has never prescribed nor administered Demerol to Michael Jackson," Chernoff said. "Not ever. Not that day. ... Not Oxycontin (either) for that matter."
Paramedics were called to the mansion while the doctor was performing CPR, according to a recording of the 911 call. Medics spent three-quarters of an hour trying to revive Jackson. He was pronounced dead later at UCLA Medical Center.
People close to Jackson have said since his death that they were concerned about his use of painkillers. Los Angeles County medical examiners completed their autopsy Friday and said Jackson had taken unspecified prescription medication.
Murray was interviewed by investigators for three hours Saturday. His spokeswoman called Murray "a witness to this tragedy," not a suspect in the death, and police described the doctor as cooperative.
Three days after the death of the King of Pop, celebrities descended on Los Angeles for what promised to be a spectacular celebration of Jackson's life at the annual BET awards show.
Media requests for the Sunday night show doubled following the death, and the red carpet was lengthened. It was not immediately clear whether any members of the Jackson family, who gathered at their Encino compound over the weekend, planned to take part.
Previously announced performers including Beyonce and Ne-Yo, were working to overhaul performances they had planned for weeks so they could honor Jackson. Other stars tried to catch last-minute flights.
A private pathologist hired by the Jackson family completed a second, private autopsy Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the case.
A second autopsy can allow the family to get some information about a death almost immediately, including signs of heart, brain or lung disease or fresh needle punctures, said Dr. Michael Baden, a medical examiner not involved in the Jackson case.
"Usually if it looks normal with the naked eye, it looks normal under the microscope," said Baden, who recently performed a second autopsy on actor David Carradine.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson said after visiting Michael Jackson's family that the family still had unanswered questions about how he died.
Los Angeles County coroner's officials said their autopsy found no indication of trauma or foul play. But because of additional tests, an official cause of death could take weeks to determine.
There was no word from the Jackson family on funeral plans. Many of Jackson's relatives have gathered at the family's Encino compound, caring there for Jackson's three children.
On Saturday, three of Jackson's brothers — Jackie, Jermaine and Tito — visited Jackson's Neverland Ranch where they walked the manicured grounds and reminisced about his life. It is not clear what will become of the ranch, which has been under renovations.
Owen Blicksilver, a spokesman for the joint venture that owns the ranch and included Michael Jackson, said it was premature to discuss the future of Neverland. He said investor Thomas Barrack feels close to family members and wants to hear their thoughts on how best to honor Jackson's memory.
Blicksilver says Jackie, Jermaine and Tito Jackson were joined for lunch Saturday at the sprawling Santa Barbara County property by Barrack, who previously set up the joint venture with Michael Jackson after the singer nearly lost the ranch to foreclosure.
A White House adviser said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that President Barack Obama had written to the Jackson family to express his condolences.
In an interview that aired earlier Sunday, Jackson's father said he does not believe stress over the intense series of concerts the King of Pop planned for his comeback led to his death.
Joe Jackson also said he believes his son will be larger in death than he was in life. The patriarch of the Jackson 5 said he wished Michael Jackson were around to see the outpouring of affection since his death.
"Michael was the biggest superstar in the world and in history," Joe Jackson told Fox News Channel's "Geraldo at Large." "He was loved by everybody, whether poor or wealthy or whatever may be."
Re: Michael Jackson's This Is It Discussion
* Genetic condition had ruined his lungs and left him unable to sing
* He became so skeletal, doctors believed he was anorexic
* He had nightmares about being murdered – and wanted to die
* He used swine flu as an excuse to avoid coming to England
* He thought he was agreeing to 10 concerts – it was 50
Whatever the final autopsy results reveal, it was greed that killed Michael Jackson. Had he not been driven – by a cabal of bankers, agents, doctors and advisers – to commit to the gruelling 50 concerts in London’s O2 Arena, I believe he would still be alive today.
During the last weeks and months of his life, Jackson made desperate attempts to prepare for the concert series scheduled for next month – a series that would have earned millions for the singer and his entourage, but which he could never have completed, not mentally, and not physically.
michael jackson with face mask
Ailing: Michael Jackson may have worn a mask in public to protect his diseased lungs
Michael knew it and his advisers knew it. Anyone who caught even a fleeting glimpse of the frail old man hiding beneath the costumes and cosmetics would have understood that the London tour was madness. For Michael Jackson, it was fatal.
I had more than a glimpse of the real Michael; as an award-winning freelance journalist and film-maker, I spent more than five years inside his ‘camp’.
Many in his entourage spoke frankly to me – and that made it possible for me to write authoritatively last December that Michael had six months to live, a claim that, at the time, his official spokesman, Dr Tohme Tohme, called a ‘complete fabrication’. The singer, he told the world, was in ‘fine health’. Six months and one day later, Jackson was dead.
Some liked to snigger at his public image, and it is true that flamboyant clothes and bizarre make-up made for a comic grotesque; yet without them, his appearance was distressing; with skin blemishes, thinning hair and discoloured fingernails.
I had established beyond doubt, for example, that Jackson relied on an extensive collection of wigs to hide his greying hair. Shorn of their luxuriance, the Peter Pan of Neverland cut a skeletal figure.
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It was clear that he was in no condition to do a single concert, let alone 50. He could no longer sing, for a start. On some days he could barely talk. He could no longer dance. Disaster was looming in London and, in the opinion of his closest confidantes, he was feeling suicidal.
To understand why a singer of Jackson’s fragility would even think about travelling to London, we need to go back to June 13, 2005, when my involvement in his story began.
As a breaking news alert flashed on CNN announcing that the jury had reached a verdict in Jackson’s trial for allegedly molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch in California, I knew that history had been made but that Michael Jackson had been broken – irrevocably so, as it proved.
Nor was it the first time that Michael had been accused of impropriety with young boys. Little more than a decade earlier, another 13-year-old, Jordan Chandler, made similar accusations in a case that was eventually settled before trial – but not before the damage had been done to Jackson’s reputation.
Michael Jackson is pushed in a wheelchair
Frail: In a wheelchair last year, Michael Jackson looked in no state to perform 50 tough gigs
Michael had not helped his case. Appearing in a documentary with British broadcaster Martin Bashir, he not only admitted that he liked to share a bed with teenagers, mainly boys, in pyjamas, but showed no sign of understanding why anyone might be legitimately concerned.
I had started my investigation convinced that Jackson was guilty. By the end, I no longer believed that.
I could not find a single shred of evidence suggesting that Jackson had molested a child. But I found significant evidence demonstrating that most, if not all, of his accusers lacked credibility and were motivated primarily by money.
Jackson also deserved much of the blame, of course. Continuing to share a bed with children even after the suspicions surfaced bordered on criminal stupidity.
He was also playing a truly dangerous game. It is clear to me that Michael was homosexual and that his taste was for young men, albeit not as young as Jordan Chandler or Gavin Arvizo.
In the course of my investigations, I spoke to two of his gay lovers, one a Hollywood waiter, the other an aspiring actor. The waiter had remained friends, perhaps more, with the singer until his death last week. He had served Jackson at a restaurant, Jackson made his interest plain and the two slept together the following night. According to the waiter, Jackson fell in love.
The actor, who has been given solid but uninspiring film parts, saw Jackson in the middle of 2007. He told me they had spent nearly every night together during their affair – an easy claim to make, you might think. But this lover produced corroboration in the form of photographs of the two of them together, and a witness.
Other witnesses speak of strings of young men visiting his house at all hours, even in the period of his decline. Some stayed overnight.
When Jackson lived in Las Vegas, one of his closest aides told how he would sneak off to a ‘grungy, rat-infested’ motel – often dressed as a woman to disguise his identity – to meet a male construction worker he had fallen in love with.
Jackson was acquitted in the Arvizo case, dramatically so, but the effect on his mental state was ruinous. Sources close to him suggest he was close to complete nervous breakdown.
Michael Jackson's rental home
Death scene: The rented home in Bel Air where Michael Jackson passed away
The ordeal had left him physically shattered, too. One of my sources suggested that he might already have had a genetic condition I had never previously come across, called Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency – the lack of a protein that can help protect the lungs.
Although up to 100,000 Americans are severely affected by it, it is an under-recognised condition. Michael was receiving regular injections of Alpha-1 antitrypsin derived from human plasma. The treatment is said to be remarkably effective and can enable the sufferer to lead a normal life.
But the disease can cause respiratory problems and, in severe cases, emphysema. Could this be why Jackson had for years been wearing a surgical mask in public, to protect his lungs from the ravages of the disease? Or why, from time to time, he resorted to a wheelchair? When I returned to my source inside the Jackson camp for confirmation, he said: ‘Yeah, that’s what he’s got. He’s in bad shape. They’re worried that he might need a lung transplant but he may be too weak.
‘Some days he can hardly see and he’s having a lot of trouble walking.’
Even Michael Jackson’s legendary wealth was in sharp decline. Just a few days before he announced his 50-concert comeback at the O2 Arena, one of my sources told me Jackson had been offered £1.8million to perform at a party for a Russian billionaire on the Black Sea.
‘Is he up to it?’ I had asked.
‘He has no choice. He needs the money. His people are pushing him hard,’ said the source.
Could he even stand on a stage for an hour concert?
‘He can stand. The treatments have been successful. He can even dance once he gets in better shape. He just can’t sing,’ said the aide, adding that Jackson would have to lip-synch to get through the performance. ‘Nobody will care, as long as he shows up and moonwalks.’
He also revealed Jackson had been offered well over £60million to play Las Vegas for six months. ‘He said no, but his people are trying to force it on him. He’s that close to losing everything,’ said the source.
michael jackson this is it tour
Forced: Michael Jackson thought he was agreeing to 10 concerts at London's O2 Arena not 50
Indeed, by all accounts Jackson’s finances were in a shambles. The Arvizo trial itself was a relative bargain, costing a little more than £18million in legal bills.
But the damage to his career, already in trouble before the charges, was incalculable. After the Arvizo trial, a Bahraini sheikh allowed Jackson to stay in his palace, underwriting his lavish lifestyle. But a few years later, the prince sued his former guest, demanding repayment for his hospitality. Jackson claimed he thought it had been a gift.
Roger Friedman, a TV journalist, said: ‘For one year, the prince underwrote Jackson’s life in Bahrain – everything including accommodation, guests, security and transportation. And what did Jackson do? He left for Japan and then Ireland. He took the money and moonwalked right out the door. This is the real Michael Jackson. He has never returned a phone call from the prince since he left Bahrain.’
Although Jackson settled with the sheikh on the eve of the trial that would have aired his financial dirty laundry, the settlement only put him that much deeper into the hole. A hole that kept getting bigger, but that was guaranteed by Jackson’s half ownership of the copyrights to The Beatles catalogue. He owned them in a joint venture with record company Sony, which have kept him from bankruptcy.
‘Jackson is in hock to Sony for hundreds of millions,’ a source told me a couple of months ago. ‘No bank will give him any money so Sony have been paying his bills.
‘The trouble is that he hasn’t been meeting his obligations. Sony have been in a position for more than a year where it can repossess Michael’s share of the [Beatles] catalogue. That’s always been Sony’s dream scenario, full ownership.
‘But they don’t want to do it as they’re afraid of a backlash from his fans. Their nightmare is an organised 'boycott Sony' movement worldwide, which could prove hugely costly. It is the only thing standing between Michael and bankruptcy.’
Pop star Michael Jackson (centre) holds the hands of his two children Paris Michael, four, and son Prince Michael, five, with their faces covered during a visit to Berlin Zoo.
Legacy: Michael Jackson wanted to ensure the future of his children by leaving them 200 unpublished songs
The source aid at the time that the scheduled London concerts wouldn’t clear Jackson’s debts – estimated at almost £242million – but they would allow him to get them under control and get him out of default with Sony.
According to two sources in Jackson’s camp, the singer put in place a contingency plan to ensure his children would be well taken care of in the event of bankruptcy.
‘He has as many as 200 unpublished songs that he is planning to leave behind for his children when he dies. They can’t be touched by the creditors, but they could be worth as much as £60million that will ensure his kids a comfortable existence no matter what happens,’ one of his collaborators revealed.
But for the circle of handlers who surrounded Jackson during his final years, their golden goose could not be allowed to run dry. Bankruptcy was not an option.
These, after all, were not the handlers who had seen him through the aftermath of the Arvizo trial and who had been protecting his fragile emotional health to the best of their ability. They were gone, and a new set of advisers was in place.
The clearout had apparently been engineered by his children’s nanny, Grace Rwaramba, who was gaining considerable influence over Jackson and his affairs and has been described as the ‘queen bee’ by those around Jackson.
Rwaramba had ties to the black militant organisation, the Nation of Islam, and its controversial leader, Louis Farrakhan, whom she enlisted for help in running Jackson’s affairs.
Before long, the Nation was supplying Jackson’s security detail and Farrakhan’s son-in-law, Leonard Muhammad, was appointed as Jackson’s business manager, though his role has lessened significantly in recent years.
In late 2008, a shadowy figure who called himself Dr Tohme Tohme suddenly emerged as Jackson’s ‘official spokesman’.
Tohme has been alternately described as a Saudi Arabian billionaire and an orthopaedic surgeon, but he is actually a Lebanese businessman who does not have a medical licence. At one point, Tohme claimed he was an ambassador at large for Senegal, but the Senegalese embassy said they had never heard of him.
MICHAEL JACKSON AND CANCER SUFFERER GAVIN ARVIZO
Misguided: Michael Jackson showed no sign of understanding why anyone might be legitimately concerned about him sharing a bed with young boys
Tohme’s own ties to the Nation of Islam came to light in March 2009, when New York auctioneer Darren Julien was conducting an auction of Michael Jackson memorabilia.
Julien filed an affidavit in Los Angeles Superior Court that month in which he described a meeting he had with Tohme’s business partner, James R. Weller. According to Julien’s account, ‘Weller said if we refused to postpone [the auction], we would be in danger from 'Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam; those people are very protective of Michael'.
He told us that Dr Tohme and Michael Jackson wanted to give the message to us that 'our lives are at stake and there will be bloodshed'.’
A month after these alleged threats, Tohme accompanied Jackson to a meeting at a Las Vegas hotel with Randy Phillips, chief executive of the AEG Group, to finalise plans for Jackson’s return to the concert stage.
Jackson’s handlers had twice before said no to Phillips. This time, with Tohme acting as his confidant, Jackson left the room agreeing to perform ten concerts at the O2.
Before long, however, ten concerts had turned into 50 and the potential revenues had skyrocketed. ‘The vultures who were pulling his strings somehow managed to put this concert extravaganza together behind his back, then presented it to him as a fait accompli,’ said one aide.
‘The money was just unbelievable and all his financial people were telling him he was facing bankruptcy. But Michael still resisted. He didn’t think he could pull it off.’
Eventually, they wore him down, the aide explained, but not with the money argument.
‘They told him that this would be the greatest comeback the world had ever known. That’s what convinced him. He thought if he could emerge triumphantly from the success of these concerts, he could be the King again.’
The financial details of the O2 concerts are still murky, though various sources have revealed that Jackson was paid as much as £10million in advance, most of which went to the middlemen. But Jackson could have received as much as £100million had the concerts gone ahead.
It is worth noting that the O2 Arena has the most sophisticated lip synching technology in the world – a particular attraction for a singer who can no longer sing. Had, by some miracle, the concerts gone ahead, Jackson’s personal contribution could have been limited to just 13 minutes for each performance. The rest was to have been choreography and lights.
‘We knew it was a disaster waiting to happen,’ said one aide. ‘I don’t think anybody predicted it would actually kill him but nobody believed he would end up performing.’
Their doubts were underscored when Jackson collapsed during only his second rehearsal.
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley
Hidden life: It was 'clear Michael Jackson was gay' but he married twice, firstly to Lisa Marie Presley, above
‘Collapse might be overstating it,’ said the aide. ‘He needed medical attention and couldn’t go on. I’m not sure what caused it.’
Meanwhile, everybody around him noticed that Jackson had lost an astonishing amount of weight in recent months. His medical team even believed he was anorexic.
‘He goes days at a time hardly eating a thing and at one point his doctor was asking people if he had been throwing up after meals,’ one staff member told me in May.
‘He suspected bulimia but when we said he hardly eats any meals, the doc thought it was probably anorexia. He seemed alarmed and at one point said, 'People die from that all the time. You’ve got to get him to eat.'’
Indeed, one known consequence of anorexia is cardiac arrest.
After spotting him leave one rehearsal, Fox News reported that ‘Michael Jackson’s skeletal physique is so bad that he might not be able to moonwalk any more’.
On May 20 this year, AEG suddenly announced that the first London shows had been delayed for five days while the remainder had been pushed back until March 2010. At the time, they denied that the postponements were health-related, explaining that they needed more time to mount the technically complex production, though scepticism immediately erupted. It was well placed.
Behind the scenes, Jackson was in rapid decline. According to a member of his staff, he was ‘terrified’ at the prospect of the London concerts.
‘He wasn’t eating, he wasn’t sleeping and, when he did sleep, he had nightmares that he was going to be murdered. He was deeply worried that he was going to disappoint his fans. He even said something that made me briefly think he was suicidal. He said he thought he’d die before doing the London concerts.
‘He said he was worried that he was going to end up like Elvis. He was always comparing himself to Elvis, but there was something in his tone that made me think that he wanted to die, he was tired of life. He gave up. His voice and dance moves weren’t there any more. I think maybe he wanted to die rather than embarrass himself on stage.’
The most obvious comparison between the King of Pop and the King of Rock ’n’ Roll was their prescription drug habits, which in Jackson’s case had significantly intensified in his final months.
‘He is surrounded by enablers,’ said one aide. ‘We should be stopping him before he kills himself, but we just sit by and watch him medicate himself into oblivion.’
Jackson could count on an array of doctors to write him prescriptions without asking too many questions if he complained of ‘pain’. He was particularly fond of OxyContin, nicknamed ‘Hillbilly heroin’, which gave an instant high, although he did not take it on a daily basis.
According to the aide, painkillers are not the only drugs Jackson took.
michael jackson
Performer: Michael Jackson was unable to dance and sing like he once could due to his illnesses
‘He pops Demerol and morphine, sure, apparently going back to the time in 1984 when he burned himself during the Pepsi commercial, but there’s also some kind of psychiatric medication. One of his brothers once told me he was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was younger, so it may be to treat that.’
His aides weren’t the only ones who recognised that a 50-concert run was foolhardy. In May, Jackson himself reportedly addressed fans as he left his Burbank rehearsal studio.
‘Thank you for your love and support,’ he told them. ‘I want you guys to know I love you very much.
'I don’t know how I’m going to do 50 shows. I’m not a big eater. I need to put some weight on. I’m really angry with them booking me up to do 50 shows. I only wanted to do ten.’
One of his former employees was particularly struck by Jackson’s wording that day. ‘The way he was talking, it’s like he’s not in control over his own life any more,’ she told me earlier this month. ‘It sounds like somebody else is pulling his strings and telling him what to do. Someone wants him dead.
'They keep feeding him pills like candy. They are trying to push him over the edge. He needs serious help. The people around him will kill him.’
As the London concerts approached, something was clearly wrong. Jackson had vowed to travel to England at least eight weeks before his first shows, but he kept putting it off.
‘To be honest, I never thought Michael would set foot on a concert stage ever again,’ said one aide, choking back tears on the evening of his death.
‘This was not only predictable, this was inevitable.’
On June 21, Jackson told my contact that he wanted to die. He said that he didn’t have what it would take to perform any more because he had lost his voice and dance moves.
‘It’s not working out,’ Jackson said. ‘I’m better off dead. I don’t have anywhere left to turn. I’m done.’
Michael’s closest confidante told me just two hours after he died that ‘Michael was tired of living. He was a complete wreck for years and now he can finally be in a better place. People around him fed him drugs to keep him on their side. They should be held accountable.’
Michael Jackson was undoubtedly a deeply troubled and lonely man. Throughout my investigation, I was torn between compassion and anger, sorrow and empathy.
Even his legacy is problematic. As I have already revealed, he has bequeathed up to 200 original songs to his three children, Prince Michael, aged 12, Paris Katherine, 11, and Prince Michael II (also known as Blanket), seven. It is a wonderful gift.
Yet I can reveal that his will, not as yet made public, demands that the three of them remain with Jackson’s 79-year-old mother Katherine in California. It promises an ugly row.
Ex-wife Deborah Rowe, the mother of the eldest two, has already made it clear to her legal team that she wants her children in her custody, immediately.
The mother of the third child has never been identified. I fully expect that it will emerge that the children had a ‘test tube’ conception, a claim already made by Deborah Rowe.
Michael Jackson may very well have been the most talented performer of his generation, but for 15 years that fact has been lost to a generation who may remember him only as a grotesque caricature who liked to share his bed with little boys. Now that he’s gone, maybe it’s time to shelve the suspicions and appreciate the music.
Re: Michael Jackson's This Is It Discussion
Lots of troubling info and red flags in that article. Really bizarre if he seriously couldn't sing or dance anymore and his hangers on were forcing him into a comeback that would have immediately imploded and probably caused universal laughter. Imagine youtube clips of a frail Jackson lip synching on stage and unable to dance.
The gay allegations are interesting. No man has ever come forward in his career and admitted an affair with Jackson. If people as far back as the early 80s start telling their story(with proof of course), that whole "innocent Peter Pan" theory may have legs after all.
What a tragic story. Its definitely one for the ages...
- tejastech08
- Rep: 194
Re: Michael Jackson's This Is It Discussion
Lots of troubling info and red flags in that article. Really bizarre if he seriously couldn't sing or dance anymore and his hangers on were forcing him into a comeback that would have immediately imploded and probably caused universal laughter. Imagine youtube clips of a frail Jackson lip synching on stage and unable to dance.
The gay allegations are interesting. No man has ever come forward in his career and admitted an affair with Jackson. If people as far back as the early 80s start telling their story(with proof of course), that whole "innocent Peter Pan" theory may have legs after all.
What a tragic story. Its definitely one for the ages...
James, I'm not so sure he couldn't dance at this point:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen … al_al.html
They taped the rehearsals. I saw some guy on Larry King's show the other day who saw him rehearsing and he said it didn't look like a 50 year old guy, it looked like MJ in his prime.
Re: Michael Jackson's This Is It Discussion
James Lofton wrote:Lots of troubling info and red flags in that article. Really bizarre if he seriously couldn't sing or dance anymore and his hangers on were forcing him into a comeback that would have immediately imploded and probably caused universal laughter. Imagine youtube clips of a frail Jackson lip synching on stage and unable to dance.
The gay allegations are interesting. No man has ever come forward in his career and admitted an affair with Jackson. If people as far back as the early 80s start telling their story(with proof of course), that whole "innocent Peter Pan" theory may have legs after all.
What a tragic story. Its definitely one for the ages...
James, I'm not so sure he couldn't dance at this point:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen … al_al.html
They taped the rehearsals. I saw some guy on Larry King's show the other day who saw him rehearsing and he said it didn't look like a 50 year old guy, it looked like MJ in his prime.
Yeah I don't know if that online tabloid article can be trusted. In fact I'm pretty sure probably can't be.
Re: Michael Jackson's This Is It Discussion
I dont believe half that article, chinese whispers from anonymous sources, how is that credible?
There will be a an endless conveyor belt of these "revelations" and tell all books in the next few years. That Daily Mail story is written by a guy who is has a book coming out called "The Final Years Of Michael Jackson", WTF his body isnt even cold yet.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Michael Jackson's This Is It Discussion
Not to get into blame but I hope some questions are asked of these doctors and hangers on who seem to attach to celbs and fuck them up.
Look what happened to Heath Ledger, and Anna Nicole Smith or whatever her name was. Not exactly the same situations but it does seem a lot of famous people wind up abusing legitimate drugs and that people around them make things worse.
Re: Michael Jackson's This Is It Discussion
* Genetic condition had ruined his lungs and left him unable to sing
* He became so skeletal, doctors believed he was anorexic
* He had nightmares about being murdered – and wanted to die
* He used swine flu as an excuse to avoid coming to England
* He thought he was agreeing to 10 concerts – it was 50
Not exactly the most reliable newspaper there.
Re: Michael Jackson's This Is It Discussion
Memories of Michael Jackson, who was believed to be a WWE fan: "Many years ago I turned down an opportunity to join my wife, along with several WWE corporate types, at a private function at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. I believe the occasion was a birthday party for a Jackson family member. My wife recalls the Jackson kids asking if "J.R. was o.k." as that apparently was around the time Kane BBQ'ed yours truly. Many within the Jackson household followed WWE on TV regularly as Jan remembers getting bombarded with questions and some of the Jacksons have attended WWE events over the years. My wife recalls the experience as being a great deal of fun and remembers being pretty sure that she saw Michael in costume wearing a "fat suit" so as to not to distract from the other family member's birthday celebration by causing a commotion amongst the visiting guests. Neverland Ranch was an extraordinary place for an individual's residence even someone as unique as Michael Jackson. Coming off the untimely death of Jackson this week at only 50 years of age, in hindsight I wish I had accompanied the Mrs on this trip. Jackson was an impeccable showman with precision like timing and possessed amazing crowd psychology.....which are all enviable traits of a great wrestler in any decade past, present or future.
"One thing left behind at the Neverland Ranch, by request, was a signed cookbook, "Can You Take the Heat" and a few bottles of J.R.'s BBQ Sauce. Small world indeed."
Memories of Farrah Fawcett: Farrah Fawcett and I had a mutual friend, the irrepressible John Paul Shellnut who resides in Houston, Texas and who is also great friends with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top fame. JP put me on the phone with Farrah many, many years ago after I told him of my fascination of the woman who was considered at one time to be the sexiest woman in the world. Michael Jackson's death seemed to have put Farrah Fawcett's passing on the back burner which I feel is unfortunate. The reason is that Farrah battled cancer so bravely and that battle should be a great example for all of us when we are faced with major challenges in our lives. Farrah was fun and feisty with me on the phone and I was probably childlike in my brief albeit memorable conversation with her as she was out socializing with my pal JP. Farrah even sent us a signed photo that we have hanging in our J.R.'s Family BBQ in Norman where she wrote a lovely inscription in her amazingly artistic handwriting. Farrah Fawcett was an icon who kept her gifts of sex appeal and charming personality as her calling card for many years even though her talents reached much farther than simply appearing on arguably the most famous poster ever made."
Source: http://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/jr-talks-j … ppthe-bash
