By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY
AP Music Writer | Posted: Saturday, June 27, 2009 12:00 am
LOS ANGELES - Spiritual teacher and medical doctor Deepak Chopra said Saturday he had been concerned since 2005 that Michael Jackson was abusing prescription painkillers and most recently spoke to the pop star about suspected drug use six months ago.
Chopra said Jackson, a longtime friend, asked him for painkillers in 2005 when the pop star was staying with him following his trial on sex abuse allegations.
Chopra said he refused but added the nanny of Jackson's children repeatedly contacted him with concerns about Jackson's drug use over the next four years.
He said she told him a number of doctors would visit Jackson's homes in Santa Barbara County, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.
Whenever the subject came up, Jackson would avoid Chopra's calls, Chopra said.
Meanwhile, The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Michael Jackson's family wants an independent autopsy.
Jesse Jackson said Saturday there were unanswered questions surrounding the King of Pop's death, including about the role of the personal cardiologist who was with him.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office performed an autopsy on the singer's body on Friday but deferred a finding on the cause of death pending further tests that could take more than a month.
Jesse Jackson said the family's wound from the pop star's death was being kept open by the mystery of the cause of death.
Janet Jackson arrived at her brother Michael's Holmby Hills estate, where moving vans arrived earlier in the day.
Janet Jackson, wearing dark glasses, drove up in a Bentley and went directly to the estate. About eight movers had taken dollies and packing equipment through the gates. It wasn't immediately known what was being taken out.
Most of Michael Jackson's family members had gathered in their Encino compound, where they were contemplating funeral arrangements and caring for his three children. They are feeling confused, upset and angry by the lack of information about those who were around the pop superstar in his final days, a person close to the family said.
Jackson's family wants to know more specifics about what role AEG, the concert promoter that was staging his 50-date concert series at London's 02 Arena, was playing in his life, said the person, who requested anonymity because of the delicate nature of the situation.
They also want to know more about the role of his advisers and representatives, who they believe were put in place by the promoter.
AEG spokeswoman Natalie Whorms in London had no comment.
Jackson never communicated to his family who he had in place to handle his business affairs, the person said, adding that they were told by the singer's phalanx of advisers that he likely had a will, but it may be many years old. The family is distrustful of what they are being told - but they are determined to find out more, the person said.
"There are decisions going down without the family being in the loop; it's becoming an issue,'' the person said.
Randy Phillips, AEG Live president and chief executive, said Friday that it was Jackson who insisted that Dr. Conrad Murray, a financially troubled cardiologist who was with the entertainer when he collapsed Thursday, be put on the tour payroll.
"As a company, we would have preferred not having a physician on staff full-time because it would have been cheaper without the hotels and travel, but Michael was insistent that he be hired,'' Phillips said. "Michael said he had a rapport with him.''
Jackson collapsed Thursday at his rented home in Los Angeles. Police seized Murray's car in search of evidence, but have insisted that the doctor has been cooperative and do not consider him a criminal suspect.
Records reveal years of financial troubles for Murray, who practices medicine in California, Nevada and Texas; his Nevada medical practice, Global Cardiovascular Associates, was slapped with more than $400,000 in court judgments, and he faces at least two other pending cases and several tax liens.
The person close to the family said that while there were reports that the singer was distant from his family, Jackson spoke with his mother, Katherine, quite regularly and his father, Joe, had seen his son shortly before his death. His other eight siblings, including fellow superstar Janet, may not have talked to him recently but were not estranged.
The pop star left behind three children: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, 12; Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11; and Prince Michael II, 7. The elder children were born to ex-wife Deborah Rowe, while the youngest is his biological son, born to a surrogate mother.
Rowe and Jackson married in 1996 and divorced in 1999.
No family members were present in the mansion when Jackson died Thursday, the person close to the family said. In the call to the emergency dispatcher released by fire officials Friday, an unidentified caller tells a dispatcher that Jackson's doctor is performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Asked by the dispatcher whether anyone saw what happened, the caller answers: "No, just the doctor, sir. The doctor has been the only one there.''
Coroner's officials said they released Jackson's body to his family late Friday night. The family is still trying to determine what kind of memorial to have for Jackson and when, and are debating between the idea of having a private ceremony or a grand celebration open to the public, the person close to the family said.
Jackson appeared to have suffered a heart attack, another person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. A heart attack is a blocking of the arteries that deprives the heart of adequate blood and can cause cardiac arrest.
Jackson's brother Jermaine has said it was believed the pop singer went into cardiac arrest, an interruption of the normal heartbeat that can be caused by factors other than a heart attack.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office said there were no signs of foul play or trauma.
Phillips said AEG Live held multiple insurance policies covering cancellation of the shows, and that some time in February Jackson submitted to several hours of physicals that the insurance underwriter insisted upon, and that Jackson passed them all.
"We had pretty good coverage, but a lot of it is going to depend on the toxicology results,'' he said. "We need to know what the cause of death was.''
AP Writers Gillian Flaccus, Beth Harris and Mike Blood and AP Global Media Services Production Manager Nico Maounis in Los Angeles and Shawn Pogatchnik in London contributed to this report.
Arab world mourns Michael Jackson
By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO - A Bahraini royal mourned him publicly, young Lebanese held a candlelight tribute, Egyptian musicians hailed him as an inspiration.
Beyond his global reach, Michael Jackson held a special place in the Muslim world, as one of the first major Western entertainers to break through cultural barriers in the 1980s.
Some made a connection with the pop icon because of rumors, never substantiated, that he had converted to Islam. Others embraced him as one of their own after he sought refuge in the Gulf emirate of Bahrain in 2005, following a bruising trial on child molestation charges in the U.S.
"God have mercy on him. He was a Bahraini. He lived with us,'' said Jassim Ali, 35, shopping for Jackson CDs on Saturday in a music store in the capital, Manama.
Jackson only spent a year in the emirate, as a guest of Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad Isa Al Khalifa, a son of Bahrain's king and an aspiring songwriter who had befriended the entertainer. Jackson kept a low profile there, largely staying close to his host.
After Jackson's departure, the sheik sued Jackson for $7 million, saying he had failed to fulfill a joint music venture, but the two settled in November, with terms not disclosed.
The sheik said Saturday, in a statement in the Gulf Daily News, that "the world has lost a giant in the music industry.''
"We are all very saddened by that,'' Al Khalifa said in comments confirmed by his spokesman.
Across the Arab world, the tributes to Jackson, who died Thursday, mirrored those elsewhere around the globe, though some argued the singer had a special appeal in the region.
"Religion is a big part of identity in this part of the world, and the idea he became Muslim boosted his popularity,'' said Egyptian cultural critic Tarek el-Shinnawi.
The conversion rumors were fueled, in parts, by comments by Jackson's brother, Jermaine, a convert to Islam, who has said his brother showed interest in the faith. In November, a British tabloid claimed Michael Jackson converted at a friend's home in Los Angeles.
The Jackson brothers were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses.
Others simply loved Michael Jackson for his music. At his peak, in the 1980s, a time without Internet and satellite TV, the Arab world was more shielded from Western pop culture. Jackson was one of the few successful crossover artists.
In Egypt, keyboarder and music distributor Fady Badr traveled to Alexandria to take a few days off work to come to terms with the pop star's death.
"He's the reason I got into this business,'' said 28-year old Badr. "Everything he did was new, he had such a power of voice and style; this industry would wait for his new ideas to get us inspired.''
A manager of the Cairo Jazz Club, Shady Hamza, said that he was flooded by calls from local bands and musicians to help arrange a tribute night to the singer.
"I feel like I lost a brother,'' said Hamza, 30. "He turned so many of us into the whole music thing - for a lot of musicians, Michael Jackson was their first encounter.''
In Lebanon, about 100 young fans lit candles and sang along to his songs in a downtown street lined with bars and restaurants. A few tried to moon walk while others cheered.
Qays al Zu'bi, a Bahraini lawyer who said he helped Jackson with his finances when he lived in the emirate, said the singer had qualities about him that endeared him to people in the region, including his close relationship with his children and his vision.
"He had an aura about him,'' said the lawyer. "Despite the scandal in the United States, I saw mothers at the lobby of his hotel who brought their children to introduce them to Michael Jackson.''
Associated Press Writer Reem Khalifah in Bahrain contributed to this report.