Michael Jackson: The man, the myth, the death shrouded in mystery

Mystery shrouds the sudden death of Michael Jackson. Photo / AP

Showbiz diva

Liza Minnelli

has hit the nail on the head.

Mourning the death of tortured genius and close pal

Michael Jackson

, she cryptically predicts that while the eulogising is in full swing, it's only a matter of time before the truth about Jackson and his eccentric, nomadic existence is revealed in all its tabloid-baiting glory.

Speaking on U.S. TV over the weekend, Minnelli said she is convinced that Jackson's autopsy results will cause havoc and all hell is about to break loose.

The

Thriller

star

died on Thursday afternoon

(local time) in his rented LA home, after reportedly suffering a cardiac arrest.

"All of us who knew him well really know what he was like," she said. "

And I'm sure that now the accolades are going, and I'm sure when the autopsy comes, all hell's going to break loose. So, thank God we're celebrating him now

."

More questions than answers

Jackson's autopsy was completed on Friday. But rather than give a definitive answer, the results produced yet more questions. The Los Angeles County coroner concluded that further tests will be conducted on the singer's body to determine the cause of death.

What we do know is that the results showed no signs of trauma or evidence of foul play. But armed with the knowledge that Jackson was reportedly taking a cocktail of unspecified prescription medications, toxicology tests have been ordered - and it could be a six week wait before the results are in.

Which means it's open season for fevered gum-flapping, off the wall conspiracy theories and oodles of time to solve the mother of all riddles: What really killed Michael Jackson?

Ravaged by drugs

Speculation is already rife about a cocktail of drugs Jackson may have been taking on a daily basis.

Several news reports claim Jackson was believed to have been taking as many as eight prescription drugs a day. They included painkillers, Dilaudid and Vicodin, which are dangerous in large quantities, according to the Associated Press.

Brian Oxman

, the Jackson family's lawyer who was present at the hospital when he died, said last week that the star had taken the drugs throughout his career, and most recently as he endured gruelling rehearsals ahead of his comeback concerts.

He also alleged Jackson's "enablers" had aided the star's dependency on medication to heal injuries he sustained while onstage.

"This is not something that has been unexpected... because of the medications which Michael was under," he told CNN.

"I do not know the extent of the medications that he was taking but the reports we had been receiving in the family is that they were extensive.

"When you warn people that this is what's going to happen and then it happens... where there's smoke, there's fire."

Fuelling the conspiracy theories further is the claim that Jackson may have been given an injection of a powerful painkiller named Demerol hours before his death, and was feared to have overdosed.

Add to the mix the sudden disappearance of

Dr. Conrad Murray

last week, Jackson's resident cardiologist who was with the singer when he suffered a possible cardiac arrest. A transcript of the frantic 911 call made by one of Jackson's staff reveals that Murray unsuccessfully administered CPR, and reportedly left shortly after.

The Texas cardiologist has since been quizzed by police and "helped identify the circumstances around the death of the pop icon and clarified some inconsistencies. Investigators say the doctor is in no way a suspect and remains a witness to this tragedy," according to his spokesperson.

But Jackson's family want answers. Speaking to Britain's

Daily Mail

, family friend

Reverend Jesse Jackson

said: "Something happened to the doctor. He left. The police impounded his car. His absence raises questions of substance that will not go away until they are answered.

"Any other doctor would say, 'Here's what happened in the last hours of your child's life.' But he can't answer the police questions - he left the scene and left his car. Who picked him up? Why did the police investigators impound his car?

"He owes it to the family and the public to say, 'Here are the last hours of Michael's life.'"

Second autopsy

The Jacksons, overwhelmed with grief, also demanded a second autopsy on the singer because they still have questions about the star's death.

A private pathologist has now been hired by the Jackson family.

An immediate benefit of getting a second autopsy is the fact that family members will get some answers before the first (official) autopsy results are revealed.

A pulse

Dr. Conrad Murray's lawyer has also revealed that Jackson had a faint pulse and his body was still warm when he discovered him in bed and not breathing.

"He just happened to find him in his bed, and he wasn't breathing. Mr. Jackson was still warm and had a pulse," Edward Chernoff told the AP.

He also denied Murray had "furnished or prescribed" Jackson with Demerol, and denied suggestions the cardiologist gave the singer drugs that contributed to his death.

"Dr. Murray has never prescribed nor administered Demerol to Michael Jackson," Chernoff said. "Not ever. Not that day. ... Not Oxycontin (either) for that matter."

He saw it coming

The reclusive singer's first wife

Lisa Marie Presley

has revealed that Jackson often thought about his own mortality and knew he would die like her father,

Elvis Presley

.

"He Knew," she wrote on her MySpace blog, "Years ago Michael and I were having a deep conversation about life in general.

"I can't recall the exact subject matter but he may have been questioning me about the circumstances of my father's death.

"At some point he paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty, 'I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did.'

"I promptly tried to deter him from the idea, at which point he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost matter of fact as if to let me know, he knew what he knew and that was kind of that."

Presley, who married the star in 1993 and divorced less than two years later, also spoke of her battle to save him from his "self-destructive behaviour".

"I became very ill and emotionally/spiritually exhausted in my quest to save him from certain self-destructive behaviour and from the awful vampires and leeches he would always manage to magnetise around him," she wrote.

Speaking of their short-lived marriage which was universally panned and labelled a sham by the media, she said: "Our relationship was not 'a sham' as is being reported in the press. It was an unusual relationship yes, where two unusual people who did not live or know a 'Normal life' found a connection, perhaps with some suspect timing on his part. Nonetheless, I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much."

Read Presley's full blog entry

here

New material

Although pop's Peter Pan had seemingly been less than productive musically over the past decade, reports suggest that the legend had been quietly recording new tunes.

The singer's close friend

Deepak Chopra

reveals that during a recent meeting Jackson spoke of new material he had written.

"He was talking about this new song that he had done. He had shared that with me. I think I'm the only person who has the music right now... We were talking about all these things (like) how the earth is our body. He was thinking really big," he said.

Shrouded in mystery

Chopra adds: "He arranged a very elaborate way of getting these tapes to me, these CDs, with three bodyguards and a limousine with shaded windows. You would think he was transferring the secrets of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) to me.

"It took me a long time to open the package because it was covered in layer after layer after layer of plastic and cloth. He was very insecure about people knowing what he was up to in his music or his life because he had been hurt by the world."

What about the kids?

While Jackson's tragic demise tugs at the heartstrings, pundits speculate that a custody battle over the singer's three children,

Prince Michael

, 12,

Paris

, 11, and

Prince Michael II

, 7, is in the pipeline.

The children are believed to be currently under the care of their grandmother, the singer's mother,

Katherine Jackson

, 79. But Jackson's former wife,

Debbie Rowe

- biological mother to the eldest two - has also declared that she wants the children.

Rowe, 50, a former nurse, reportedly signed away custody of the children for an undisclosed financial sum when she and Jackson divorced ten years ago.

A law professor tells Britain's

Telegraph

newspaper that Rowe "is definitely first in line to get the kids. She would have the legal right to have custody of the children unless it was found that she was an unfit mother."

Grief-stricken

The singer's three children have been cocooned away from the media spotlight following their father's death last week. However, TMZ.com reports that the kids are in "good spirits".

And a snitch also says that the "family feel that [grandparents] Katherine and Joe Jackson are the only people who can help the children understand who their father was, help them grieve, and teach them to deal with life in the spotlight.

"We're also told the kids are healthy but, as expected, they miss their Daddy. They have no relationship with Debbie Rowe."

What the nanny saw

More speculation about Jackson's ill-heath and lifestyle has been aroused after his former nanny

Grace Rwaramba

spoke to

The Sunday Times

In an explosive interview, Rwaramba, nanny to Jackson's three children until she was sacked by the singer six months ago, claims she routinely pumped out the star's stomach after he'd taken a dangerous combination of drugs.

"I had to pump his stomach many times. He always mixed so much of it," she said.

"There was one period that it was so bad that I didn't let the children see him," she reportedly said. "He always ate too little and mixed too much."

Intervention

Rwaramba also claims Jackson was furious with her after she contacted the singer's family, namely his mother and sister

Janet

, in a bid to stage an intervention to help the star.

"We tried to do an intervention. It was me, Janet, his mother. I coordinated it. He was so angry with me.

"He screamed at me, ‘You betrayed my trust. You called them behind my back.' I told him, ‘Michael I didn't betray your trust. I try to help you.' But he didn't want to listen. That was one of the times he let me go."

She also reportedly claims that Katherine, Jackson's mother, called her late last week, asking for the whereabouts of some money at her son's rented Beverly Hills home.

"Katherine just called me. 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 recalled.

"I told her to look at the garbage bags and under the carpets. But, Daphne [Times interviewer], can you believe this? This woman just lost her son a few hours ago and she is calling me to know where the money is!

"I asked to speak to the children. She said they were sleeping. But she just said they were crying. She never let me speak to them. She said, ‘Grace, where are you? Come. I will pick you up from the airport.' She sounded so strong!"

And now for this...

Remember those rubber-legged Filipino jailbirds who shot to global fame courtesy of their genius

Thriller

YouTube video? Well, they're back.

In a fitting tribute to their lost idol, the 1,500 behing-the-bars posse stomped their shackles off at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center.

"I felt sad because we lost our idol," said the inmate who  plays Jackson's girlfriend in the video.

Story developing. Stay tuned for updates...

Blogger Bites Back

Pictured: Michael Jackson. Photos / AP

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