MICHAEL JACKSON 1958 - 2009

[Monken]

Former Nanny Tells of Michael's Drug Use


By Stephen M. Silverman

Originally posted Saturday June 27, 2009 11:00 PM EDT
Grace Rwaramba and Michael Jackson
 
Photo by: AP; Ramey 
An alarming portrait of Michael Jackson in his final months has now been sketched by the nanny who cared for his three children. Grace Rwaramba, 42, tells The Times of London that she routinely pumped out the pop star's stomach after he'd ingested a dangerous combination of drugs.

"I had to pump his stomach many times. He always mixed so much of it," Rwaramba said, referring to drugs. "There was one period that it was so bad that I didn't let the children see him," she is quoted as saying. "He always ate too little and mixed too much."

Having now arrived in Los Angeles from London, Rwaramba, who is originally from Rwanda, is expected to be interviewed by LAPD detectives investigating Jackson's death on Thursday.


Proposed Intervention
Having at one time proposed a drug invention for Michael, and contacting his mother Katherine and sister Janet for their help with it, the nanny found herself fired by Michael. "He didn't want to listen," she says, "that was one of the times he let me go."

In Jackson's employ for more than a decade, Rwaramba started as an office assistant to the pop star before becoming a nanny to his three children: Prince, now 12; Paris, 11; and Blanket, 7. She was last fired by Michael in December, and claims that when she visited the children in April, she herself had to buy balloons for Paris's birthday, because Michael was so broke.

"Michael had no idea about money," Rwaramba says, citing a $1 million offer he received to appear in Japan. "By the time everyone took their share," she says, "he ended up with $200,000."


Search for Cash
According to Rwaramba, on Friday, the day after Michael died, his mother Katherine called her from Michael's Holmby Hill house and asked where he kept his cash. "She said, 'Grace, the children are crying. They are asking about you. They can't believe that their father died. Grace, you remember Michael used to hide cash at the house. I am here. Where can it be?' "

Rwaramba advised looking "at the garbage bags and under the carpets." Then, said the former nanny, "She said, 'Grace, where are you? Come. I will pick you up from the airport.' She sounded so strong. So strong!"

[Monken]

Thread of pain ran through Jackson's career
 
By JAKE COYLE
The Associated Press
Sunday, June 28, 2009; 6:46 AM

-- It was the last day of shooting for a Pepsi commercial at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1984, and the only hiccup had been an argument between Michael Jackson and an ad executive over whether the young superstar would take off his sunglasses.

"Then," as the executive later wrote, "we set his hair on fire."

Jackson was descending a staircase in an extravagant, pyrotechnic opening sequence, dancing to "Billie Jean," when a spark landed on his head. Jackson cried out. People nearby leapt on him to put out the fire, but Jackson was hospitalized for days with a burned scalp.

Thus began a thread of pain that ran through a remarkable career - and made painkillers all too accessible.

Because of accidents, frequent plastic surgery and the sheer intensity of his dancing, physical agony was the unshakable problem with being Michael Jackson.

Medical examiners in Los Angeles are perhaps weeks away from determining an official cause of death, but officials did say Friday that tests showed Jackson was taking prescription medication.

At the end of his life, a personal cardiologist was living with Jackson while he rehearsed rigorously for a historic comeback. Among the first steps police took was to tow the doctor's BMW, saying it might contain medication or other evidence.

Since his death, people close to Jackson have said they were worried about his dependence on the drugs. In 1993, while he was defending himself against child molestation charges, Jackson himself called it an addiction.


On Saturday, spiritual teacher Dr. Deepak Chopra said he had been concerned since 2005 that Jackson was abusing painkillers and spoke to the pop star about suspected drug use as recently as six months ago.

"In a way, this was coming, and in a way, it's frustrating that we couldn't do anything about it," he told The Associated Press. "The problem has been going on for a long time, but we didn't know what to do. There were attempts at intervention, and it didn't succeed."

Chopra said Jackson, a longtime friend, personally asked him for painkillers in 2005, when the singer was staying with him after he was acquitted on sex-abuse charges. Chopra said he refused.

He also said the nanny of Jackson's children repeatedly contacted him with concerns about Jackson's drug use over the next four years, and said Jackson would avoid his calls whenever the subject came up.

Well before Jackson had a doctor living under his own roof, there were ample reasons to turn to pharmaceuticals to relieve pain.

In the early 1990s, Jackson's dermatologist revealed the singer had a skin disorder known as vitiligo, which leads to white patches on the skin. And over the years, Jackson underwent numerous plastic surgeries, the most prominent being the narrowing of his nose. Few people know exactly how many there were in all.

Jackson was a passionate performer and an exceptional dancer, renowned for his choreographical perfection. Ailments were, or at least began as, a byproduct of his dedication.

In 1990, he was hospitalized with chest pains. In 1993, he canceled a performance due to dehydration and later cut his tour short because of his painkiller addiction. In 1995, he collapsed on stage at the Beacon Theater in New York and was hospitalized.

Then there was London. Mounting a comeback aimed at least in part on erasing the taint of years of scandal, Jackson was to perform a staggering 50 shows at the O2 arena, the first of them in mid-July.

It was a schedule daunting enough that Jackson was training in recent months with Lou Ferrigno, the star of TV's "Incredible Hulk." And while a 50-show run would be challenging even for an athlete in his prime, Jackson was 50 years old. As he aged, his appearance had become famously, almost spectrally, drawn.

Those involved in the production said Jackson was heavily involved in all aspects of the concert rehearsals. He had hired a personal trainer and was practicing with backup dancers and choreographers several hours a day.

"He was working hard, setting the example, overseeing the choreography, kicking butt and taking names," said Johnny Caswell, president of CenterStaging Musical Productions Inc., a Burbank, Calif., sound stage where Jackson rehearsed until late May. "He was ready to blow everybody out of the water."

Randy Phillips, president and CEO of AEG Live, the producers of the London show, said Jackson was dancing "as well or better than the 20-year-old dancers we surrounded him with. ... He was riveting."

Maryss Courchinoux, a 29-year-old from Paris who said she had been selected as a backup dancer for the show, described the tour rehearsals as more arduous than the performances themselves.

"A heart is a muscle," she said. "If you don't build it up little by little, you will have problems and start cramping up. I don't know what his lifestyle was before he started rehearsing."

Jackson's family said he died of cardiac arrest on Thursday at UCLA Medical Center. A person familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person had not been authorized to speak publicly, said it was an apparent heart attack.

Others familiar with a life in dancing and performing spoke similarly of its physical demand - in particular, the need for consistent practice. It is not, they said, a line of work in which a performer can figuratively jump from zero to 60 mph or more.

"You can never stop," said Jodi Moccia, a dance teacher and a choreographer who works with the cast of "Mamma Mia!" to prevent injuries. "Once you stop, those muscles don't come back like they usually do."

Four years ago, it was almost unthinkable that Jackson might attempt such an undertaking.

During his 2005 molestation trial, he appeared gaunt and had recurring back problems that he attributed to stress. The trial was interrupted several times by hospital visits. Jackson once even appeared late to court dressed in his pajamas after an emergency room visit.

After the acquittal, prosecutors argued against returning some items that had been seized from Neverland, the estate Jackson converted into a storybook playland. Among the items were the powerful painkiller Demerol and other prescription drugs.

That a performer with such a history of pain and a struggle with painkillers was attempting such an ambitious and grueling comeback was, some said, a collision course. Michael Levine, a publicist for Jackson in the early 1990s, called the stresses on Jackson "a toxic mix that nobody can withstand."

Others close to Jackson described a feeling of sad inevitability to his death.

Brian Oxman, a former Jackson attorney and family friend, told NBC's "Today" show: "The result was I warned everyone, and lo and behold, here we are. I don't know what caused his death. But I feared this day, and here we are."

[Monken]

One of my favorite songs by Michael; rock n roll like Dirty Diana. I still can't figure out how to post a video so here's the link, I love this song! Oh, & MJ loved those pyrotechnics!   
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-CcqOe9WWU

[Kat_Gram]

I did watch LKL last night.
Deepak Choptra was on and reiterated the same thing that he said in the article about MJ's drug use.
They did play clips and I was happy to see the clip from 1983 where MJ did the Moonwalk wearing his sparkling white socks. It had been a live performance. This is the one that I remember. I was exhausted, jumped up from the couch and tried to mirror his dance steps.
When someone makes and sells a MJ dvd retrospect, I am going to have to get one if it contains that.
I have an 11 year old gd who takes dance lessons, hip hop stuff and I try to keep up with her when she shows us what she is doing. We have alot of fun. We dance, laugh, fall on the floor, carry on, etc. Later, I limp home. This fall I am going to look and see if there are any hip hop fitness classes for me. It is a big stress reliever for me. When I was younger, going to clubs, Thursday, Friday and Saturdays was what I aimed for on Monday Tuesday and Wednesdays. Those days are over, but music and dancing is not.
..
Anyway, back to MJ, the parts of LKL that I saw, Deepak Choptra was the one who seemed the most honest about the drug use and the enablers that surrounded him. It's too bad that he never got over whatever tormented him from his childhood or went for treatment and cleaned up his act.   

[no rose colored glasses]

Sad, just like with Elvis, and Anna Nicole and many others, with their enablers by their sides 

[no rose colored glasses]

Well, I've heard a couple of people on TV interviews, supposedly close to MJ, say that they just hope people will celebrate his music for a few days before everything starts coming out.  (IMO, a lot of people know a lot about MJ, and have hidden it to protect him). 

Wow, just wow!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1196009/Im-better-dead-Im-How-Michael-Jackson-predicted-death-months-ago.html#


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1195999/24hr-sober-coach-hired-Michael-Jackson-desperate-family-brought-controversial-Doc-Hollywood-save-star.html


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196035/Doctor-I-saved-Jackson-morphine-overdose-TV-interview-US.html


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196018/Star-32-bed-Kent-manor-house-weekend.html

Thanks, I agree, a lot of people hid a lot of things to protect Michael. I would not be surprised in the least if he took his own life. This whole thing is sad, and I hope all the best for his three children.

[no rose colored glasses]

Jackson Family Doesn't Trust Michael's Doc
Posted Jun 28th 2009 10:56AM by TMZ Staff

Michael Jackson's family has its suspicions about Dr. Conrad Murray and what went down on the day Jackson died.

A source close to the family tells TMZ they feel Dr. Murray should not be cleared of any wrongdoing just yet. The family requested a second autopsy to find out what the last drug Jackson took was. We're told the family feels once those results are known, a criminal investigation will take place.

We're also told the family is questioning Dr. Murray's abilities as a doctor. In the 911 call, first published by TMZ, the caller says Dr. Murray was performing CPR on Jackson on a bed; CPR is routinely performed on a hard surface.

As our source put it, "If you're a doctor, how can you not know how to do CPR?"

[no rose colored glasses]

Michael Jackson's Doctor Treated His Kids, Too
Posted Jun 28th 2009 11:17AM by TMZ Staff

Dr. Conrad Murray wasn't just Michael Jackson's personal physician -- he treated Michael's children as well.

Matt Alford, Murray's attorney, tells TMZ Murray met Jackson back in 2006 and treated Jackson for "various illnesses." Alford says Murray cared for Jackson's kids from time to time as well.

As for suggestions Murray did not perform CPR correctly on Jackson, Alford said he doesn't know why Murray did it on the bed instead of the floor.

[Kat_Gram]

Me bad. I went to TMZ to read about htis, they seem to have it all covered,and I actually ventured into their unmoderated comments section. Holey Moley, not on a Sunday, too much for me.
..
It seems that he was surrounded with YES people and if you didn't say YES, then you were fast forwarded to the do not speak to category. Sounds like it would have taken a court order to get him treatment and who would have done that ? His parents ? And then it would have become public fodder and he might have left the country again. There is enough money in the Jackson camp to have had a private treatment plan put into place for him. There was certainly enough money for enabling doctors, why not a doctor who specialized in drug rehab ? A gradual step down so that the body doesn't need as much pain medication to be effective ?
.. It all has to come back to MJ and he wanted to continue doing what he always did.
..
We play our part in this too. TMZ and those other media places hound these celebrities and we read and watch over there and demand to know stuff that really isn't anyone's business. I am just as bad and I am going to think about giving any mouse clicks to these parasitic sites. I enable them to stay in business.   

[no rose colored glasses]

Me bad. I went to TMZ to read about htis, they seem to have it all covered,and I actually ventured into their unmoderated comments section. Holey Moley, not on a Sunday, too much for me.
..
It seems that he was surrounded with YES people and if you didn't say YES, then you were fast forwarded to the do not speak to category. Sounds like it would have taken a court order to get him treatment and who would have done that ? His parents ? And then it would have become public fodder and he might have left the country again. There is enough money in the Jackson camp to have had a private treatment plan put into place for him. There was certainly enough money for enabling doctors, why not a doctor who specialized in drug rehab ? A gradual step down so that the body doesn't need as much pain medication to be effective ?
.. It all has to come back to MJ and he wanted to continue doing what he always did.
..
We play our part in this too. TMZ and those other media places hound these celebrities and we read and watch over there and demand to know stuff that really isn't anyone's business. I am just as bad and I am going to think about giving any mouse clicks to these parasitic sites. I enable them to stay in business.   

I always venture into the comments section  I love these celebrity websites, I can't help myself. I can't figure out how a body can function with years of so much drug abuse, overwhelming to me.

[Kat_Gram]

I hadn't been over there since Anna Nicole Smith passed.
It is pretty toxic. I used to have TMZ , the tv channel. I still might.
Some very trite things " reported ". Oh well, Harvey Levin is making money. I did actully watch it more than once, maybe twice, all very juvenile staffers. The kind that want to know who farts, when and where.
..
A steady diet of that, my IQ would take a nose dive.
 

[Cappuccino]

I hadn't been over there since Anna Nicole Smith passed.
It is pretty toxic. I used to have TMZ , the tv channel. I still might.
Some very trite things " reported ". Oh well, Harvey Levin is making money. I did actully watch it more than once, maybe twice, all very juvenile staffers. The kind that want to know who farts, when and where.
..
A steady diet of that, my IQ would take a nose dive.
 

The commentary there and a few other sites is extremely toxic & crude on a daily basis, doesnt matter the story but large ones take on a very sad life of their own.  As a person that can be very blunt & express angst rather well, you will notice its rare & measured but not mean to be mean or from an overall negative mindset.  What is also noticeable is that people that are just viciously debasing others in fact know very little about the subject matter or individual they have chosen to attack but take a few aspects of a story & focus in on that as a point of attack by design nor does it matter if it is true or not.  They are incapable of debating a subject matter with intelligence & wisdom but rather express themselves with narrow minds & an unrecognized low self-esteem - another perfect example of this is political sites.   Now, don't get me wrong a measured amount of criticism & frustration is understandable with certain stories BUT there is a significant difference between expressing that from a factual & honest origin rather than spiting venom for the sheer joy of getting a rise out of people & inflaming a situation.    Certain people are very cruel and cynical on a regular basis and I can only pity them that they go thru life wasting their hours displaying this type of behavior thinking they are getting appalled when actually they are proving to be fools to those with level minds, it some how gives them a way to get attention they otherwise would not receive & are rather misguided, how sad.

[no rose colored glasses]

There is no doubt that some of the celebrity websites and their comments get down and dirty. There is a lot of nastiness being said not only about Michael but other celebrities as well. 

[Cappuccino]

Programming Note:    The annual BET Awards are this evening, check your local listings for channel - 8PM eastern, 7 Central, 5 Pacific   TPTB have decided to dedicate the entire broadcast to Michael Jackson's accomplishments in the industry and his astonishing contributions to charity around the world.

Speaking of charity, it is estimated that Michael Jackson had donated well over 300 million in charity.

[Puzzler]

http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20287787_20288160,00.html

[Kat_Gram]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196009/Im-better-dead-Im-How-Michael-Jackson-predicted-death-months-ago.html

here is a good article.

[no rose colored glasses]

And this is just the beginning with all these articles and stories from all the people who have known him.

[cookie]

Maybe this has been said before, but I find it rather sad that Michael is getting all of the coverage on tv while Farrah is hardly getting any...maybe a mention at the end of the program..is this because his death was unexpected when we knew that Farrah was so ill? She deserves far more attention than she has gotten in my opinion...

[no rose colored glasses]

Maybe this has been said before, but I find it rather sad that Michael is getting all of the coverage on tv while Farrah is hardly getting any...maybe a mention at the end of the program..is this because his death was unexpected when we knew that Farrah was so ill? She deserves far more attention than she has gotten in my opinion...

Amen 

[Nut44x4]

2nd Autopsy complete >> snipped

Los Angeles Times reports a second autopsy was performed shortly after the pop icon's body was released to his family.

The Times says the pathologist who did the second autopsy can get results from a private lab within a week or two.

Jackson's family reportedly called for the extra examination because of the unanswered questions surrounding his death.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson says they're unsatisfied with the information they've been getting from the coroner's office.

http://www.ny1.com/Content/Top_Stories/101448/report--second-autopsy-performed-on-king-of-pop/Default.aspx