Jackson's Final Panic

by Gerald Posner
page 1

Michael Jackson MJ Kim / Getty Images A close Michael Jackson confidant tells The Daily Beast's Gerald Posner he believes the star triggered his death with a foolhardy plan to void a concert commitment: mixing pills to prompt a minor hospital visit. Plus, behind the scenes at the stormy meetings where Jackson’s advisers told him he was insolvent; threats that creditors would seize his assets if he didn’t do the concerts; friends’ worries that he couldn’t physically do the tour; and the pop star’s bartering of performances in exchange for works of art.

A close confidant of Michael Jackson tells The Daily Beast that he believes that the superstar was so determined to avoid a rigorous tour schedule that he intentionally took a large amount of prescription drugs in order to induce a hospital visit—potentially triggering a medical escape clause in his performance contract—but wound up accidentally overdosing instead.

“Like a child who doesn’t want to go to school, Michael thought he could get away from his obligations if he had a ‘note from the doctor.’”

This top adviser, who spoke about this explanation for the first time on the condition of anonymity, says that he believes Jackson was determined to force the AEG Group, the promoter of his 50-concert London series scheduled to commence next month, to reduce the number of dates. But the adviser says that Jackson was also well aware that he was subject to serious cancellation penalties if he failed to show up for any gigs. Medical infirmity, a standard clause in most contracts like this, might have provided him a consequence-free out. AEG did not return calls for comment.

“Like a child who doesn’t want to go to school,” the team member tells me, “Michael thought he could get away from his obligations if he had a ‘note from the doctor.’”

This source, who was familiar with Michael’s use of prescription painkillers he had used with increasing frequency over a decade, says he believes that Jackson was determined to prompt that “note” by mixing pills.

This explanation is supported by the fact that Jackson asked his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, to stay overnight for the hours before he died. Dr. Murray’s attorneys say it was not the first time he had stayed overnight, but such a request was not typical. Sources in the Jackson camp tell me that Jackson knew that Dr. Murray, when he did stay, checked on him regularly. In other words, Jackson would have thought he had a safety net.

It’s also clear, based on a half-dozen sources in Jackson’s business and financial entourage, that Jackson desperately wanted out of the commitment to 50 concerts, which were to be held at London’s O2 Arena. Earlier this month, only weeks before his death, someone in the Jackson camp, presumably with the singer’s blessing, leaked information that the pop star was “reportedly fuming” at the expanded concert schedule and pace and demands of preparation. (At the Los Angeles dance studio where he practiced for his London shows, he once stopped outside to talk to fans who gathered daily. One fan told a British tabloid, The Sun, that Jackson said to the group, “Thank you for your love and support, I want you guys to know I love you very much….I’m really angry with them booking me up to do 50 shows. I only wanted to do 10, and take the tour around the world to other cities, not 50 in one place. I went to bed knowing I sold 10 dates, and woke up to the news I was booked to do 50.”)

That fateful shift—from 10 dates to 50—has roots going back to last September when, The Daily Beast has learned, his advisers held a summit meeting with him to drive home the concept that he was virtually insolvent. Since his 2005 acquittal on sexual-abuse charges, he initially supported himself at the largesse of Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, son of Bahrain's king. When that money pipeline was cut off, The Daily Beast learned that Jackson resorted to doing one-night gigs for private parties for Arab sheiks and Russians in London. These gigs, I am told, commanded up to $2.5 million for an hour performance—or sometimes were bartered in exchange for works of art.

But as fast as the money came in, Jackson spent it. His major asset, his music catalog that included the Beatles songs, was half owned by Sony, and his portion had so many liens and loans against it that it could take a probate court years to unravel its real value. By November, the Jackson confidant says, the pop star was given an ultimatum by his advisers. Either commit to the London concert tour or have creditors seize whatever assets he still prized.

At a meeting in Las Vegas in late 2008, Jackson met with Randy Phillips, Rod Stewart’s former manager and now the chief executive of AEG, who is one of the world’s largest concert promoters. The concerts could raise tens of millions of dollars for Jackson, money he desperately needed. The sticking point was over the number of performances. AEG, owned by secretive American billionaire Philip Anschutz, wanted dozens.

Friends knew that Michael was frail, his weight at 112 lbs. on his 5-foot-11 frame the lowest it had been in years. He had not toured publicly in over a decade. I’m told that even some of his old UAE friends, like the rally-car driver Mohammad Ben Sulayem, had doubts that Jackson was physically fit enough to complete a grueling tour. Jackson apparently knew his own limits. He insisted on no more than 10 performances.

On March 5, Jackson held a London news conference in which he announced to the press and fans that he would perform 10 concerts there beginning July 8. The concerts were dubbed “This Is It,” and Jackson told the group, “These will be my final shows performing in London. ‘This Is It’ really means this is it.”

Page 2.....Behind the scenes, AEG and Jackson’s financial advisers had evidently worked out a deal that required the pop star to do more shows. When Jackson learned of that after the press conference, it kicked off several days of stormy meetings, with Jackson at times threatening to balk at doing any. Jackson, as usual according to those who knew him, had failed to grasp all the obligations of the financial arrangement he had entered. Five days later, on March 10, a brief press release added 11 dates to the 10 that Jackson had already announced. The next day, the number of shows expanded to 45, and would soon be 50, extending into February 2010. The shows were scheduled so Jackson had at least one night off between each, and AEG released a statement that Jackson was in "tremendous condition after a battery of tests.”

By April, Jackson’s advisers were in talks with two hoteliers in Las Vegas to create a six-month show for the pop star, starting soon after his London dates finished in early 2010, which would fetch him, I was told, up to $100 million. Jackson, according to one close adviser, resented the pressure to start performing to pay past bills and avoid losing his music catalog.

Shortly after that news broke, AEG announced Jackson’s tour dates slipped. The opening night was moved from July 8 to the 13th and performances previously scheduled for July 10, 12 and 14 were moved to March 2010.

It is little wonder that with so much at stake, AEG had already hired a full-time tour doctor for the pop star. It was Jackson, however, who chose Dr. Murray. Jackson had met Murray in 2006 in Las Vegas, when one of Jackson’s children had become ill. A member of Jackson’s security detail knew Murray and called him. The doctor made a house call to Jackson’s hotel, treated the child, and the pop star and physician became fast friends.

When Jackson asked Murray to become the tour doctor, the Las Vegas and Houston-based Murray immediately accepted (unknown to Jackson, he had his own financial difficulties, and the lucrative AEG position was a godsend).

Based on an interview with senior members of Jackson’s entourage during the past year, Jackson picked Dr. Murray in part because he thought a “friend” would be less inquisitive about his medical past than a doctor selected independently by AEG. A source close to Jackson’s legal team says that Jackson complained often about the rigors of the training schedule.

It was during a routine check on Jackson during the early morning of June 26 when Dr. Murray noticed his client seemed to be in medical distress with a low pulse, unresponsive to questions or touch. Murray, a large man, began performing CPR on Jackson’s chest.

There are conflicting accounts on whether Dr. Murray had his cellphone with him. Some sources believe he did not, while others say he did but he did not want to stop the CPR to call 911, and thus risk losing Jackson’s pulse. What is indisputable: He did not make a call from his cell to 911. Instead, he kept shouting for help. Dr. Murray later told investigators that no one responded for at least 20 minutes. There was a landline phone in the bedroom, but Dr. Murray’s legal team says he couldn’t use it since there “was a security feature that blocked outside calls.” Again, it’s not clear if Dr. Murray tried to use that phone or just assumed it wouldn’t call out.

It was not until a Jackson employee arrived and called 911 on his own cellphone—according to Dr. Murray’s legal team—that emergency help was dispatched. By the time Murray, Jackson, and the ambulance arrived at the emergency room, Jackson still had a low pulse. But nothing the ER doctors did could revive him.

Before he could leave the hospital, Los Angeles police investigators were already questioning Dr. Murray. Before that, Dr. Murray, with a Jackson manager, broke the news to Jackson’s sister, La Toya, and her brother, Jermaine, that their brother was dead. Possibly, it turns out, the victim of self-inflicted injuries from a plan gone very wrong.

Gerald Posner is the award-winning author of 10 investigative nonfiction bestsellers, ranging from political assassinations, to Nazi war criminals, to 9/11, to terrorism (www.posner.com). Posner lives in Miami Beach with his wife, the author Trisha Posner.

Michael Jackson had more talent in his toenails, that GC Dobbs has in his whole rotten body.
Stop this needless necrophiliac sucking off other's fame to attract attention to you, scum of the earth!
Leave the dead rest in peace, you sick lowlife pervert!

Tell that to Posner the author you imbecile quisling and good morning to you ....Are you just getting home from Mass please pray for me

Great article. The response world wide proves that:

1. Dumb people worship stupid gods
2. MJ was a idiopt who ruined his own life after being given many opportunities that almost none every get
3. The worldl in it's mad desire for a guru are blinded to the reality.

Jesus Christ, 2000 years later, is still followed and worshiped by over a billion! MJ 100 years from now will be just a distant memory of the foolishness of a bankrupt generation of dumb asses.


The Greatest Man In History.




Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him MASTER.
Had no degree yet they called Him TEACHER.
Had no medicines yet they called Him HEALER.
He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles yet, He conquered the world.
He committed no crime yet they CRUCIFIED Him.
He was buried in a tomb yet HE LIVES today



After reading that I instantly knew what the greatest day for mankind was. It was pretty foolish of me not to know it right from the start....The day The GREATEST MAN in history was born to this earth.




Jesus Christ - A Name Unlike Any Other
The name, Jesus Christ, has caused more division, agitation and controversy than any other name in history. If you bring up God in a coffee shop discussion, nobody is really offended. If you speak about Buddha or Brahman, Moses or Mohammed, you really don't irritate the listener. However, the name Jesus Christ seems to cut right to the soul. Something makes this religious leader more contentious and convicting than all the others combined. What is it?

Unlike any other widely followed religious leader in history, Jesus Christ made a unique claim. He declared Himself God. Not a god, not god-like, but God incarnate - the Creator of the universe in human flesh. Intellectually, that's disturbing. Spiritually, that's the most liberating thing that could ever happen to humankind.

Jesus Christ - The Popular Alternatives
The typical responses to the life and claims of Jesus Christ sound something like this:

"Jesus Christ was a great man."

"Jesus Christ was a wonderful moral model."

"Jesus Christ was an enlightened religious teacher."

"Jesus Christ was an esteemed prophet."

However, as Christian scholar Josh McDowell declares in his foundational book, More than a Carpenter, these types of statements raise a compelling "trilemma." Once you examine the actual claims of Jesus and His eyewitness followers, there are really only three alternatives for who He really is - Jesus Christ was either a liar, a lunatic, or our Lord.

"The issue with these three alternatives is not which is possible, for it is obvious that all three are possible. But rather, the question is 'which is more probable?' Who you decide Jesus Christ is must not be an idle intellectual exercise. You cannot put Him on the shelf as a great moral teacher. That is not a valid option. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord and God. You must make a choice. 'But,' as the Apostle John wrote, 'these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and' - more important - 'that believing you might have life in His name' (John 20:31)." (Josh McDowell, More than a Carpenter, Tyndale House Publishers, 1977, pp. 33-34.)

C.S. Lewis, a popular British theologian, continues, "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The MacMillan Company, 1960, pp. 40-41.)

Jesus Christ - The Only True Choice
We absolutely believe in the humanity of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of man, the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). However, we also believe that Jesus Christ is God Almighty. Not a god, but The God. Throughout the Bible, He claims to be God, He is addressed as God, and He is worshipped as God. What follows on the next few pages are the Holy Scriptures that reveal that Jesus Christ is Lord and God.


MJ was a pathetic loser, self absorbed, spending 100's of millions on himself while ignoring the poor of the earth...even Madona goes out to help....

What does that have to do with the topic?

LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson was so distraught over persistent insomnia in recent months that he pleaded for a powerful sedative despite warnings it could be harmful, says a nutritionist who was working with the singer as he prepared his comeback bid.

Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse whose specialty includes nutritional counseling, said Tuesday that she repeatedly rejected his demands for the drug, Diprivan, which is given intravenously.

But a frantic phone call she received from Jackson four days before his death made her fear that he somehow obtained Diprivan or another drug to induce sleep, Lee said.

While in Florida on June 21, Lee was contacted by a member of Jackson's staff.

"He called and was very frantic and said, `Michael needs to see you right away.' I said, 'What's wrong?' And I could hear Michael in the background ..., 'One side of my body is hot, it's hot, and one side of my body is cold. It's very cold,'" Lee said.

"I said, `Tell him he needs to go the hospital. I don't know what's going on, but he needs to go to the hospital ... right away."

"At that point, I knew that somebody had given him something that hit the central nervous system," she said, adding, "He was in trouble Sunday and he was crying out."

Jackson did not go to the hospital. He died June 25 after suffering cardiac arrest, his family said. Autopsies have been conducted, but an official cause of death is not expected for several weeks.

"I don't know what happened there. The only thing I can say is he was adamant about this drug," Lee said.

Following Jackson's death, allegations emerged that the 50-year-old King of Pop had been consuming painkillers, sedatives and antidepressants. But Lee said she encountered a man tortured by sleep deprivation and one who expressed opposition to recreational drug use.

"He wasn't looking to get high or feel good and sedated from drugs," she said. "This was a person who was not on drugs. This was a person who was seeking help, desperately, to get some sleep, to get some rest."

Jackson was rehearsing hard for what would have been his big comeback — his "This Is It" tour, a series of performances that would have strained his aging dancer's body. Also, pain had been a part of his life since 1984, when his scalp was severely burned during a Pepsi commercial shoot.

"The Incredible Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno, who's been working out with Jackson for the past several months, said Jackson was focused on health.

"When he was with me, he wasn't different. He wasn't stoned. He wasn't high. He wasn't being aloof or speedy. Never talked about drugs," Ferrigno said. "I've never seen him take drugs. He was always talking about nutrition."

Several months ago, Jackson had begun badgering Lee about Diprivan, also known as Propofol, Lee said. It is an intravenous anesthetic drug widely used in operating rooms to induce unconsciousness. It is generally given through an IV needle in the hand.

Patients given Propofol take less time to regain consciousness than those administered certain other drugs, and they report waking up more clear-headed and refreshed, said University of Chicago psychopharmacologist James Zacny.

It has also been implicated in drug abuse, with people using it to "chill out" or to commit suicide, Zacny said. Accidental deaths linked to abuse have been reported. The powerful drug has a very narrow therapeutic window, meaning it doesn't take doses much larger than the medically recommended amount to stop a person's breathing.

An overdose that stops breathing can result in a buildup of carbon dioxide, causing the heart to beat erratically and leading to cardiac arrest, said Dr. John Dombrowski, a member of the board of directors of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

Because it is given intravenously and is not the kind of prescription drug typically available from pharmacists, abuse cases have involved anesthesiologists, nurses and other hospital staffers with easy access to the drug, Zacny said.

In recent months, Lee said, Jackson waved away her warnings about it.

"I had an IV and when it hit my vein, I was sleeping. That's what I want," Lee said Jackson told her.

"I said, 'Michael, the only problem with you taking this medication' — and I had a chill in my body and tears in my eyes three months ago — 'the only problem is you're going to take it and you're not going to wake up," she recalled.

According to Lee, Jackson said it had been given to him before but he didn't want to discuss the circumstances or identify the doctor involved.

Londell McMillan, attorney for Katherine and Joe Jackson, talked about Lee's disclosures Tuesday on CNN.

"It's a hearsay comment. It would be inadmissible anywhere in a court of law," he said. "I also wonder why anyone would make a comment about something that they don't have much knowledge about. They didn't see the drug administered. It's again because of the Michael Jackson factor."

Lee said the singer drew his own distinctions when it came to drugs versus prescription medicine.

"He said, `I don't like drugs. I don't want any drugs. My doctor told me this is a safe medicine,'" Lee said. The next day, she said she brought a copy of the Physician's Desk Reference to show him the section on Diprivan.

"He said, 'No, my doctor said it's safe. It works quick and it's safe as long as somebody's here to monitor me and wake me up. It's going be OK,'" Lee said. She said he did not give the doctor's name.

Lee said at one point, she spent the night with Jackson to monitor him while he slept. She said she gave him herbal remedies and stayed in a corner chair in his vast bedroom.

After he settled in bed, Lee told Jackson to turn down the lights and music — he had classical music playing in the house. "He also had a computer on the bed because he loved Walt Disney," she said. "He was watching Donald Duck and it was ongoing. I said, `Maybe if we put on softer music,' and he said, `No, this is how I go to sleep.'"

Three and a half hours later, Jackson jumped up and looked at Lee, eyes wide open, according to Lee. "This is what happens to me," she quoted him as saying. "All I want is to be able to sleep. I want to be able to sleep eight hours. I know I'll feel better the next day."

Lee, 56, is licensed as a registered nurse and nurse practitioner in California, according to the state Board of Registered Nursing's Web site. She attended Los Angeles Southwest College and the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Sciences in Los Angeles.

Comedian Dick Gregory, who knows Lee and her work, said he believes Jackson's insomnia had its roots in the pop star's 2005 trial on child molestation charges. Jackson's health had deteriorated so much that his parents called Gregory, a natural foods proponent, for help.

Gregory said Jackson wasn't eating or drinking at the time and, after he was persuaded by Gregory to undergo testing, ended up hospitalized for severe dehydration.

But Jackson obviously was healthy enough to withstand the level of medical scrutiny needed to insure him for the upcoming high-stakes London concerts, Gregory said. "That you don't trick," he said of the exams.

Lee, who has also worked with Stevie Wonder, Marla Gibbs, Reynaldo Rey and other celebrities, said she was introduced to Jackson by the mother of one of his staff members. Jackson's three children had minor cold symptoms and their pediatrician was out of town.

Lee said she went to the house in January, the first of about 10 visits there through April, and treated the children with vitamins. Michael, intrigued, asked what else she did and took her up on her claim she could boost his energy.

After running blood tests, she devised protein shakes for him and gave him an intravenous vitamin and mineral mixture — known as a "Myers cocktail," after Dr. John Myers — which Lee said she uses routinely in her practice.

"It wasn't that he felt sick," she said. "He just wanted more energy."

Lee said she decided to speak out to protect Jackson's reputation from what she considers unfounded allegations of drug abuse or shortcomings as a parent.

"I think it's so wrong for people to say these things about him," she said. "He was a wonderful, loving father who wanted the best for his children."