Reflections on the troubled man in the mirror

LONDON - The mystery of the later life and sudden death of Michael Jackson threatens to go on and on revolving indefinitely, like some fairground carousel driven by perpetual motion. Enough material has surfaced about his death to keep conspiracy theorists, lawyers, fans, crystal-users, moon-worshippers and ley-line-mappers going for generations.

But at last something that looks like authenticity is beginning to emerge from the dry ice of confusion that has always swirled about this talented but troubled man.

What it seems to be saying is:

THE STATE HE WAS IN

Was he, by the time of his death, a bald, emaciated figure reduced to shambling into rooms like a carpet-slippered nursing home resident, or was he a wiry, slender man, who danced with the fluidity and verve of a 20-year-old? The Sun newspaper reported that the post-mortem conducted in Los Angeles found the 1.78m singer weighed just 50.8kg, had lost most of his hair, had only traces of pills but no food in his stomach, and was "a virtual skeleton". The LA coroner's office said: "It is not accurate. Some of it is totally false."

AEG Live, the promoters of Jackson's planned series of concerts at London's O2 arena, then lodged two pieces of evidence that supported the "weird but fit" thesis. First was that Jackson had, for insurance purposes, passed a stringent five-hour medical that involved nearly 50 separate tests. Second was the release of a clip of a song-and-dance routine that Jackson had performed two days before his death. Although some thought he seemed a little breathless, he looked sharp and back to some sort of stage-worthy peak. The impression left was that, while Jackson may have been pale, thin and, thanks to facial surgery, somewhat incomplete, he was not the zombie some had claimed he was.

His food intake, however, does seem to have been a worry. A vegan, he is widely reported to have weighed himself obsessively, and to have eaten only one meal a day. The Daily Mirror reported that, in his last weeks, he ate only "meagre portions of his favourite dishes - vegetarian lasagne, steamed broccoli, nut loaf, or tofu with chilli sauce". Edward Chernoff, the lawyer for the heart specialist who tried to resuscitate Jackson, said: "He barely ate, he barely drank. But nothing which would lead the doctor to believe that he had any possible problems that would cause sudden death." Rumours surfaced on the web last week that just two days before he died, the singer underwent a minor operation to remove a potentially cancerous lesion on his nose.

THE DRUGS

The Irish Sun claimed that 10 painkillers and anaesthetics were recovered from the singer's rented home. They included Demerol, a painkiller; Diprivan, a powerful sedative also known as Propofol, commonly injected in the hand; Soma, a muscle relaxant; Zoloft, an antidepressant; plus Fentanyl and Oxycontin, two pain relievers. Many were allegedly obtained using false names such as Jack London and Omar Adams. Some reports said he spent about £30,000 ($76,000) a month on such medicines. A toxicology report on the singer's body will reveal in two weeks exactly what substances Jackson ingested, but police confirmed that Diprivan had been found in the home.

Pain and insomnia were the pretexts for taking such large amounts of medicines. Cherilyn Lee, a nurse who treated Jackson, said that four days before he died the singer pleaded with her to give him Diprivan. Two of Jackson's former associates, Uri Geller and ex-bodyguard Matt Fiddes, told how they tried to keep the singer from abusing painkillers and other prescription drugs, and confiscated his needles. They said the star was sometimes so "out of it" that they could not rouse him to keep engagements.

But unnamed members of his entourage and a constantly shifting number of doctors kept the supplies flowing. Los Angeles police, the Drug Enforcement Agency and California's Attorney General's office are all investigating the role of prescription drugs in Jackson's death.

HIS DEATH

Some consensus about the events leading to Jackson's death is emerging. The singer finished a three-hour rehearsal, went home, and asked for a tranquilliser injection to help him to sleep. Later Dr Conrad Murray, the cardiologist hired by AEG Live, found Jackson unconscious in bed. He was not breathing, but had a faint pulse. Murray began CPR, holding one arm behind the singer's back to support his frail frame. There was no landline or mobile in the room, so Murray sought assistance, found Jackson's chef, who got one of Jackson's security guards, who came with Murray to the star's room and was told by the doctor to call 911. More than 20 minutes had passed. Paramedics arrived within three minutes and spent a further 42 minutes working on Jackson before he was taken to UCLA Medical Centre, where he was pronounced dead.

Anonymous sources have claimed Jackson collapsed only after Murray gave him an injection of Demerol, but the doctor denies ever having given the singer the drug. Attention is shifting to why police did not seal off the house and treat it as a potential crime scene, and also to removal vans that were seen there, and what was taken.

Although there is a possibility of prosecutions arising out of the supply, or procurement, of drugs for Jackson, his father Joe's contention that there may have been "foul play" seems mightily far-fetched. After all, what we have here is a man addicted to strong prescription medicines, who didn't eat, drink or sleep properly, who had suffered countless surgical procedures, was recovering from skin cancer, and who had been undergoing more rigorous physical and mental stress than he had for years.

THE CHILDREN

Jackson's will stipulated that care of the children - Prince Michael I, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7, - should be with his mother, Katherine, who was granted interim custody by a judge last week. She is 79. The back-up named was Diana Ross, who is 65. No mention was made of the woman who bore two of them, Jackson's ex-wife, Debbie Rowe. Rowe says she might claim custody, even though her contact with them has been slight in recent years. The third child, known as Blanket, who as a baby was dangled by Jackson over the balcony of a German hotel, was born to a surrogate, whose identity remains a secret. Various reports came in of the eccentricities that the children experienced, apart from the masks they often wore in public: how their toys were allegedly replaced each night, lest nocturnal germs contaminate them, and how they were discouraged from looking in mirrors. But by all accounts the children are polite, well behaved, and had a good and close relationship with their father.

HIS ASSETS

His five-page will, deposited in a Los Angeles court, leaves everything to the Michael Jackson Family Trust, the beneficiaries being his children, his mother and charities. When it was drawn up, in July 2002, it valued his estate at US$500 million ($774 million), but is now about US$180 million. The main assets are his part-ownership of a catalogue of music rights. His debts and the claims against him will take years to resolve and probably provide employment for lawyers and accountants as yet unborn.

JACKSON IN LOVE

Jackson always denied he was gay, and no serious indication of adult gay relationships has ever surfaced. Yet neither was he ever convincing when cast in the role of red-blooded conqueror of women. His first wife, Lisa Marie Presley, according to testimony from his long-term friend and biographer, J Randy Taraborrelli, said that Jackson was "hot stuff in bed". Rowe, if she found otherwise, has not said. She was the dermatology nurse whose relationship with Jackson grew when she treated him after he had bleached his scrotum. Late last week an ex-bodyguard said there was a non-celebrity girlfriend. Her existence remains to be confirmed.

HIS NOSE

A feature surgically altered to the point of destruction, this was the most conspicuous element of Jackson's self-harm. Long-term friend and biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli claimed last week that the repeated operations inflicted on it were part of Jackson's determination to look as different from his bullying father as possible.

JACKSON AND BOYS

The noisiest silence this past week has been the seeming lack of any statement from Jordan Chandler and Gavin Arvizo, the pair of youngsters who were, according to whom you believe, Jackson's friends or his abuse victims. The mystery of his enthusiasm for the company of young boys is one the singer will take to the grave. He appointed an 8-year-old boy as best man at his wedding to Rowe and always expressed horror that people could not appreciate the innocence of his sleepovers with other people's children. But his behaviour considerably exceeded the pleasure that a well-adjusted adult would find in the company of children, and, despite the not guilty verdict in his trial for child abuse, justifiable suspicion lingers. On the most benign reading, his emotional, and possibly sexual, development was no more advanced than Lewis Carroll's.

- INDEPENDENT