New Emails Reveal A Lost, Self-Destructive Michael Jackson In His Last Days
More than three years after his death, the question of Michael Jackson’s mental stability near the end of his life is still being debated.
The Los Angeles Times has obtained around 250 pages of messages, most between executives at Anschutz Entertainment Group financing Jackson’s “This Is It” concerts, describing the producers’ concern for the superstar’s well-being and even going as far as to ask whether or not the 50 concerts would be a colossal flop.
Among the many emails was one from AEG’s Randy Phillips, who wrote just hours before Jackson’s last press conference that Jackson was “an emotionally paralyzed mess.” He wrote:
“MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent…I (am) trying to sober him up.”
In the end, Phillips reportedly described Jackon as “scared to death” and was forced to dress him.
AEG’s attorney, Marvin Putnam, refuted Phillips’ claims and suggested that the emails were exaggerated. Lawyers for AEG told the Times that the messages reviewed by the newspaper were incomplete and leaked to portray the company in a negative light for letting the singer continue his harsh and demanding schedule under such conditions.
Such messages will probably play a key role in two lawsuits coming next year. The first, from the shows’ insurers, ask a judge to nullify a $17.5-million policy that they say AEG got with false claims about Jackson’s health and readiness to perform. The second, from Jackson’s heirs, is a wrongful-death suit that accuses the entertainment giant of pressuring the singer to carry on despite indications he was too weak.
A number of emails show insurance company Lloyd’s of London unsuccessfully pushing for access to five years of Jackson’s medical records in order to expand the concert’s insurance coverage. Lloyd’s says requests for medical exams and blood work, as well as requests for written records and details about Jackson’s daily fitness program were denied or met “with no response”, as AEG suggested that Jackson’s physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, could give an oral recitation of Jackson’s recent medical history instead.
According to the emails, Murray finally responded to the requests on June 25 at Jackson’s Southern California home, writing that “authorization was denied” by Jackson. Less than an hour later, Jackson was dead.