The Final Days of Michael Jackson
On the eve of a heralded comeback tour, a frail King of Pop was addicted to prescription drugs and deeply in debt.
Photo: Kevin Mazur/AEG via Getty Images
It was the comeback that never was. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, was finally ready to reclaim his throne through a series of sold-out concerts. It was to be a performance for the ages, a show that would take the focus off his unusual lifestyle and return it to his music and the creativity that had made him one of the world’s most recognized stars.
Jackson’s Thriller has sold 66 million copies, making it the most popular selling album worldwide. But in 2009, as he prepared for his 50-show comeback tour, This Is It, at London’s newly opened O2 Arena, Jackson was battling an addiction to prescription drugs, riddled with self-doubt and deeply in debt. With his heralded return rapidly approaching, Jackson’s final days were spent rehearsing and preparing for the spotlight as he battled his inner demons.
On June 25, 2009, less than three weeks before the debut performance of This Is It, Jackson died at age 50, having suffered cardiac arrest in his rented Los Angeles home. In early 2010, an official coroner’s report revealed the cause of death as acute propofol intoxication. Propofol, often marketed as Diprivan, can be used for general anesthesia and sedation for medical procedures. Jackson had been administered the drug by his personal physician to reportedly help him sleep at night.
As Jackson prepared for the tour, his behavior became erratic
This Is It was designed to show the public, who had been consuming a diet of media-driven stories about Jackson’s often bizarre private life for decades, that he still had what it takes as an entertainer. And the proceeds would help him get on top of his mounting debt – reportedly about $400 million at the time – due to lavish spending habits and dwindling income.
Jackson had written new songs and was rehearsing multiple hours a day in preparation for This Is It, an arena spectacle that had reportedly incurred $25 million in pre-production costs. But as teams of workers across the globe prepped for the tour, Jackson’s erratic behavior worsened as opening night approached.
Emotionally frail and physically thin, Jackson was described by This Is It makeup and hair artist Karen Faye as paranoid, shivering from chills and repeating himself during his last days. Faye testified as a witness for Jackson’s mother, Katherine, and his children in their wrongful death suit against This Is It concert promoter AEG Live in 2013. He was “very upbeat, but he was on the thin side,” Faye said of an earlier, April 2009 meeting with Jackson. Come June, everything had changed. “He was not the man I knew,” Faye testified. “He was acting like a person I didn’t recognize.”
During a mid-June rehearsal, Jackson appeared “very stoic” but “frightened,” according to Faye. “He kept repeating, ‘why can’t I choose,’ it was one of the things he repeated over and over again,” Faye said, adding that she “had never seen him so emaciated.” At almost six feet tall, Jackson reportedly weighed close to 130 pounds prior to his death.
Faye was part of a working team gathered from Jackson’s past, trusted people from his former glory days including manager Frank DiLeo, show director Kenny Ortega, choreographer Travis Payne, and entertainment lawyer John Branca.
