Michael Jackson<\/a>\u2019s former lawyer has said the star died desperate for sleep as he rehearsed for concerts he never got to perform,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Michael Jackson\u2019s former lawyer has said the star died desperate for sleep as he rehearsed for concerts he never got to perform<\/p>\n
The singer was in the middle of preparing for a planned concert residency at London\u2019s O2 Arena \u2013 set to run from July 2009 to March 2010 \u2013 when he died of a heart attack aged 50 caused by an overdose of sedatives and propofol on 25 June 2009.<\/p>\n
In his new book Crazy Lucky: Remarkable Stories from Inside the World of Celebrity Icons, Michael\u2019s friend and former lawyer John Mason reveals Michael was in dire financial straits and under immense pressure when he complained he was knackered.<\/p>\n
The singer is said have told the lawyer about his upcoming tour he was working on at the time of his death: \u201cI can\u2019t function if I don\u2019t sleep. They\u2019ll have to cancel it. And I don\u2019t want them to cancel it.\u201d<\/p>\n
John added: \u201cIn 2009, I was living in Reno when I got a call from someone who told me that Michael was in \u2018really bad shape.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\n\u201cHe was trying to tour again, but he had collapsed onstage during rehearsals. Yet, he was back at it the next day. Michael was Michael.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAccording to John, Michael was on the verge of losing his Neverland Ranch when AEG Live\u2019s tour promoter brought in Dr Conrad Murray, at Jackson\u2019s request, to manage his severe insomnia with nightly propofol infusions.<\/p>\n
\nAs rehearsals wore on, Michael reportedly became fixated on the residency. <\/p>\n
\nBy mid-June 2009, those close to the singer noticed alarming changes in his mental state, reporting \u201cdeteriorating\u201d health, including signs of paranoia, anxiety and obsessive behaviour. <\/p>\n
\nOn the morning of his death, Dr. Murray administered a cocktail of sedatives \u2013 10\u202fmg valium, 2\u202fmg lorazepam, 2\u202fmg midazolam, another 2\u202fmg lorazepam and a further 2\u202fmg midazolam between 1.30\u202fam and 7.30\u202fam \u2013 followed at 10.40\u202fam by a fatal 25\u202fmg dose of propofol, resulting in cardiac arrest. <\/p>\n
\nDr. Murray was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison in 2011.<\/p>\n
\nChoreographer Toni Basil, 79, also reflected on Jackson\u2019s physical collapse during a 2021 podcast, saying: \u201cHe had stopped for six years, and all of a sudden, they talked him into doing a tour. <\/p>\n
\n\u201cAnd he’s trying to sing and dance and rehearse in a small amount of time. It was killing him, and it did kill him.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou go home at night, and you can’t even walk because you’re so stiff and sore and hoarse, and you can’t sleep\u2026 what does he do to sleep?\u2026 he started to figure out a way to sleep.\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"24 June 2025 Michael Jackson\u2019s former lawyer has said the star died desperate for sleep as he rehearsed for concerts he never got to perform, Michael Jackson\u2019s former lawyer has said the star died desperate for sleep as he rehearsed for concerts he never got to perform The singer was in the middle of preparing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":176476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[11743,11742,419],"class_list":{"0":"post-176475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-dr-conrad-murray","9":"tag-john-mason","10":"tag-michael-jackson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}