All language subtitles for The.Last.24.Hours.Michael.Jackson.English-WWW.MY-SUBS.CO

[crowd cheering]

- This is it, and
see you in July.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[dramatic music]

[quiet, somber music]

- [Narrator] Michael Jackson
is the undisputed king of pop.

A lifetime of innovation
and reinvention

set him apart from the crowd
as one of the greatest artists

and performers who ever lived.

But on June 25th,
2009 at the age of 50

Michael Jackson would be dead.

- [Dispatch] Fire paramedic 33,

what is the address
of your emergency?

- [Caller] Yes sir,
I need an ambulance

as soon as possible, sir.

- [Dispatch] OK sir,
what's your address?

- [Caller] It's 100
North Carolwood Drive,

Los Angeles California, 90077.

- [Dispatch] You said Carolwood?

- [Caller] Carolwood Drive, yes.

- [Narrator] At the
time of his death,

Michael Jackson was
on a toxic combination

or prescription drugs, enough
to send anyone crashing down.

But how did the most
famous man on the world

descend into what that judge
called medicine madness?

- What's fascinating
and tragic about the way

that Michael Jackson
died was the sheer volume

of prescription medication
that Conrad Murray

was administering to
him was beyond belief.

On the day he died, Jackson
had been on propofol,

which is an anesthetic, which
should only be administered

by anesthetists, for
60 consecutive days.

- [Narrator] 3:00
a.m. June 25th, 2009.

Shockingly Michael
Jackson is still awake

even after receiving
dose after dose

of dangerously strong drugs.

10:20 a.m., with Jackson still
awake and in visible agony

Dr. Conrad Murray makes
a final, fatal decision.

- He'd taken quite a severe
battering from the press

and also through the
trial and I just think

it just got to
him, it really did.

It just broke his
heart, it killed him.

- [Narrator] How did it happen?

What went wrong,
and how did a man

gearing up for 50 sold-out
concerts suddenly die?

Join us as we investigate
the last 24 hours

of Michael Jackson.
[dramatic music]

- Whatever you think
of Michael Jackson,

one thing you have to concede

is that he was an
extraordinary performer.

One of the greatest performers
not just of his generation

but of any generation.

[electronic pop music]

- [Narrator] Michael
Jackson has spent

almost his entire
life center stage.

At just five years old, he was
changing the music industry

with his brothers as the lead
singer in the Jackson Five.

Jump-starting a solo career
where he delivered hit

after momentous hit from
Motown to disco to pop,

Michael Jackson was unstoppable.

- Beyond Michael
Jackson's talent

what made him kind of go beyond
the group was his ambition.

You know, he was a
student of the craft

and so when he wasn't performing

he was to the side of
the stage in the Apollo,

in the Regal and he was
watching people like James Brown

and people like Smokey
Robinson and Jackie Wilson

and he was watching and
learning, picking things up.

And so he was such a
student of his craft

that when it was time for
him to branch out on his own

he had a lot of ideas.

- I think deep down
everybody was waiting

for Michael to go solo, but
obviously not saying it.

So when we actually saw
that he was solo by himself

singing this infectious song

that you just
couldn't stop singing

we were just like, you
know, thank goodness.

Finally, he's on his
own, it was like that.

It was a real, you know, to
go straight to number one

with your first solo record
after being in a band

called the Jackson Five
and doing that on your own

that's pretty impressive.

- I think what Michael learned
very early on in his life

was that music and the
stage was the place

where he felt most at home,

and that's where he
would escape into.

And you know, when
he was in the studio

with Berry Gordy and they
were going over a song

over and over and over,
you know, it was hard work,

but he liked it, he
enjoyed the craft.

He enjoyed making
music, he loved music.

He learned very early on
how to perform, you know,

and how to put on that mask.

Even as a child, once you
hit that stage, you perform

and you become a character.

But behind that,
there's no question

that he was struggling
with a lot of things

and struggling to make
sense of who he was

and how to reconcile
his strange life.

- [Narrator] But a
key event in 1984

would impact the course
of Jackson's life forever.

[slow, somber music]

January 27th, 1984, Michael
Jackson was starring

in a Pepsi commercial.

The plan was for Jackson
to descend a staircase

and execute his
iconic dance moves,

but things took a
turn for the worse.

When the cameras began to roll,

Jackson took his
position as rehearsed,

but the pyrotechnics
were ignited too early

and struck Jackson, causing
his hair and face to burn.

The burns caused
by the pyrotechnics

scarred Jackson for life.

The damage to his scalp
and face left Jackson

with no choice but to
pursue plastic surgery.

A treatment he would become
addicted to throughout his life.

- It was a huge
change for everyone.

We couldn't believe his
image had changed that much.

- [Narrator] Michael
Jackson had struggled

his whole life with
his appearance.

As a young child, he was
abused by his father,

bullied by his older brothers,

and lived under
constant media scrutiny.

- The very least you can
say about Michael Jackson,

'cause it's well
documented, he struggled

with his own identity,
his own sexual identity.

He was bullied as a child
by his father, his brothers.

His brothers called
him big nose.

And obviously later in
life he bleached his skin.

He became obsessed
with bleaching his skin

and plastic surgery
and this is a man

whose identity is
fundamentally conflicted.

He doesn't know who he
is, who he wants to be,

who he ought to be, who
he's trying to please

and he's looking for
his place in the world.

And when you stand up
on a stage as grand

as the one that Michael
Jackson spent his entire life

standing on, it's very
difficult to get the advice

and the support that
you actually need.

And there's no question
he struggled with that.

And the way his body was
decimated at the end of his life

both by actions he himself took.

The plastic surgery, the
bleaching of the skin

together with the internal
decimation of his body

through the use of
prescription drugs

and the abuse of those
drugs, there's no doubt

that Michael Jackson's
life was a fractured,

fragmented life and that the
real story of Michael Jackson

is really a struggle
to find out who he was.

And to be more than that,
to at least come close

to accepting who he was,
which clearly he didn't.

And when you are that conflicted

you are in a high degree of
emotional pain or distress.

Call it what you will, but
it doesn't make life easy

and when you put your head
on the pillow at night

it doesn't make
it easy to sleep,

and certainly doesn't make
it easy to sleep restfully.

- Michael Jackson's
past is a difficult one,

is a complex one and you know,

he's the kind of
quintessential child star

who's kind of pushed
into the business,

into show business
at a very early age.

His relationship with
his father was difficult.

His father was abusive, both
emotionally and physically

and that was hard for Michael.

People respond to that
kind of abuse differently

and with some of
the other brothers

I think that it
didn't impact them

the same way psychologically
that it did Michael.

It really hurt him,
and he carried it

throughout the rest
of his life, you know,

that his father drove
him and pushed him

but never treated
him like a son.

In fact, they called him Joseph.

They didn't call him
dad or daddy or father.

His name was Joseph, and
so it kind of represented

that emotional detachment.

- I think what the
public doesn't know

is that he forgave his father

for some of the
hurt that was caused

and at the end of his life

he was very much on good
terms with his father.

So I think that a lot of the
things that, they happened

a long time ago, and you
know, Michael forgave.

[somber piano music]

- When Michael
released Dangerous,

it was like he'd gone
through a new change again

because now his face
had changed way more

and he'd become even
more lighter than before.

And everybody was
starting to question, OK,

what's going on
with the skin color?

Do you know, this is really odd.

I personally believed
that no one quite knew

if he was actually
trying to be white,

but they all assumed he was
trying to make himself white.

And I think it angered
a lot of people

because people felt he was
such a good looking guy

and gorgeous a lot of
us were like, upset

that he was changing his face.

We're like, don't change
your face Michael.

We love you the way you are.

But he'd already
changed it by Dangerous

and it was like, so
that was the controversy

that was going on.

People weren't quite sure

if he was trying to
make himself white or,

we could see his
nose had changed

and things were looking
a little bit different.

So everyone was a little
bit, it was a weird time.

- He definitely had vitiligo.

Which you know, the
interesting thing about that

is that a lot of people
didn't believe him.

Or for a long
period of his career

people didn't even know
that he had vitiligo.

I think the first time that
he mentioned it publicly

was to Oprah Winfrey,
which was 1993.

So when his skin
began lightening

people didn't know
what to make of it.

And then finally he told
people that he had vitiligo

and people didn't believe him.

And you know, it took
really until he died

and the autopsy report
actually indicated

that he had vitiligo.

But again, imagine
being somebody

that grows up in
front of the world

and you have this pretty
unusual skin condition

and people are
saying things like,

you are ashamed of
your race, you know?

And, you don't want to be black.

You're trying to be white.

So there were things
that were his choice.

I mean, the plastic surgeries
were certainly his choice,

but there were things
that weren't his choice

and the skin disorder
was not his choice

and it was something
that he had to deal with

in front of the world.

- Personally I actually felt

confused about why he
would want to be white.

I didn't get that, but I think

the problem with that
episode in his life,

I don't think they were vocal
enough about his vitiligo.

And that's sad, 'cause they
should have been, 'cause then

people wouldn't
have been jumping to
conclusions and stuff,

and I do think that in
a way Michael probably,

I think he probably didn't
want people to know.

- Michael Jackson
from a very young age

had the world's eyes
on him at all times.

And unfortunately when
he was really young

he suffered a lot of
abuse from his father.

His father called him big nose.

When he started to
transition into adolescence

he remembered fans
seeing him with acne

and just being horrified
that he wasn't this child,

you know, this
child star anymore

and that was very
traumatic for Michael.

That, you know,
his whole identity

was wrapped into
being a performer

and having people love
him, his audience.

So when his physical
appearance started to change

it was very difficult
for him to understand

how to deal with that,
and he talks about

how he used to just go
into a closet and cry.

It was very, he didn't even
want to look at himself

in the mirror and he didn't
want to go out into public

other than when he
went onto stage.

And so all of those
experiences when he was young

contributed to
this kind of desire

to change his
physical appearance.

And he was also an artist
and he kind of just began

to treat his face
as a work of art.

And he wanted to, he had
this kind of various ideals

of perfection that he was
trying to achieve physically.

And so he, you know, one
plastic surgery after another

and his physical appearance
just changed over and over again

and people didn't know
what to make of it.

But I think there are a
lot of complex reasons

for why he did them.

[slow dramatic music]

- And so at that time it
was incredibly confusing

for people who'd watched him.

You know, everyone loved him
and knew what he looked like

and it was confusing
for us to see

that he had changed his color.

And it's only later on,
obviously, way down the road.

Well, 15 years later you
find out that he had vitiligo

which is a serious
skin condition

where you completely
lose pigment.

And I feel that
because it was the 80s

stars were all
about mystery then.

And people, you know,
especially in the industry

didn't want artists,
it's not like now,

where you know everything
about an artist.

It was like, you didn't
get married back then.

The artist was supposed
to be an enigma

and I don't feel
that they thought

it was the right thing
to tell the public

what was really
going on with Michael

because they didn't want
it to affect, I think,

his image and everything else.

I really believe that,
because you know,

when you hear what he says
in interviews later on,

you know, he didn't
want people to know

about all the vitiligo.

I just think it was
traumatic in itself

that he was going
through that himself.

I wasn't there, but I just feel

that when you see later
interviews with him with Oprah

and he opens up and
he talks about it

you see that he's
traumatized by the fact

that he wasn't able
to tell people before.

Now he's telling everyone.

Everyone's looking at him like
he's not telling the truth

and that's really a shame,
because now you look back,

you realize this
guy, he wasn't well.

He had some serious illnesses,
you know, the vitiligo.

He had the burns
from the Pepsi ad

and so he had a lot
of plastic surgery

to reform parts of his
head and stuff like that.

I mean, there was a lot
of stuff that was hidden.

- When I first met Michael
he had control in his life.

And I think the control started
slipping away 2003 onwards

when he sank deeper into despair
over the false accusations.

And I think that there
were a lot of doctors

that just barged their
way into his life

and just people, he just had
so many people around him.

And a lot of them, I
didn't really understand

what they were
doing in his life.

And I think that
they influenced him

and it's like they took control.

- [Narrator] But something
much more sinister

began on that day
in January 1984.

Something that would lead to
his early death 24 years later.

[slow, ominous music]

- When he burnt his hair
at the Pepsi commercial

he started using
painkillers then.

He then fell from a
stage and broke his leg.

He also cracked a
vertebrate in his back

and those things have
caused him terrible pain.

[slow instrumental music]

- I never saw Michael
take even an Asprin

when he was with me.

I was absolutely
horrified when I found out

and the circumstances
of his death,

which became clear in the news.

He, when I was with him and
our families were together

he was always bright, alert,

and there was never any question
of him being on anything.

- I think that Michael
made certain choices

to cope with his reality
and some of those choices

led to kind of an insulated
existence by necessity.

You know, when he
creates Neverland

it's a way for him
to cope, right?

To kind of block
out the real world.

Or when he's taking
pain medication

it's a way to kind of
block out all the things

that are difficult,
you know, all the pain

that he's struggling with
and just all the pressures

that he's dealing
with, but unfortunately

there are repercussions to that.

You know, when you
seclude yourself,

when you isolate yourself

or when you make
some of these choices

there's kind of an inevitability

in terms of further isolating
yourself from maybe people

that could help you
or that could at least

that you can have a more healthy
kind of relationship with.

I think prescription drug abuse

is common in celebrity world.

I think it's very
easy to get caught up

in being a celebrity.

And you try and get
your body to work

for what your heart desires
and what your mind wants.

On a small scale I find that,
even I am not a celebrity,

but even trying to live up
to the demand of going to bed

when you've gotta go
to bed and wake up

when you gotta wake up,
look like you've gotta look

and do what you've
gotta do is a toll.

Imagine those who are
in front of the camera,

big celebrities, I think
if I'm fair on them

I think it's sad, but
I think it's a price

that they have to
pay unfortunately

if they want to
go down in history

as people that
were really icons.

And I think the bigger the
celebrity the bigger the price.

- The first time that
it was actually brought

to my attention
was in March 2009

when I was at the
Lanesborough Hotel

and he requested that I
get hold of some medication

through my family contacts,
'cause I've got six members

of my family in
the medical field.

And when I went into
his bathroom then,

that's when I was aware.

[soft, slow piano music]

I saw lots and
lots of pill boxes

and various different
medication in there.

There was Demerol,
there was Paxil, Zoloft,

and that made alarm
bells ring in my head.

I assumed that if it's
his suite and his bathroom

that they'd be his.

I didn't see any name on them,

but I assumed that they were his

and in light of what's happened

I'd safely conclude
that they were his.

I never, ever, ever
saw him take anything

and if I had I would have put
a stop to that straight away,

but I never did.

I was absolutely shocked,
and when I saw these things

in the bathroom I
wasn't thinking, oh,

you know, he's a drug addict
or anything like that.

I was thinking, maybe he's
sick and I wanted to know

and I kept on asking
him, "What's happening?"

And he was like, "No,
everything's routine,

"you know, it's all OK."

And that's when I decided
to take a few samples.

I didn't take the whole lot.

I took a few samples
of the medication

and I took them home
so that I'd have time

to think carefully and find
out what they were and see.

And that's what I
did, and I found out

that they were painkillers
and antidepressants.

- It's sad that we wanted
so much from the man

that we kept saying
more, more, more

rather than saying hey,
no more from you, rest up.

Enjoy your life, enjoy
bringing up your children

and you know, enjoying your
home rather than saying,

what can Michael Jackson do?

What can Michael Jackson?

I think we drove him
to a lot of things.

- [Narrator] At the
time of his death,

Michael was taking an almost
unbelievable daily dose

of prescription drugs including
Demerol, Zoloft, Ritalin,

Prozac, Xanax, Dilaudid,
Vistaril, and Prilosec.

- We'll never know
the real reasons

why Michael Jackson
was taking the volume

of prescription
medication that he was.

I mean, he would have said
to his friends, his family,

his doctors, yeah, I
need this medication.

I want it, I want it,
I need it, I want it

because he was an addict and
that's what an addict does.

They'll do anything to
get their drug of choice.

But as for the doctors,
or on the people

who were close to
Michael Jackson,
allowing that to happen?

Who knows, who knows why
they were prescribing that.

It certainly wasn't for
Michael Jackson's wellbeing.

Michael Jackson needed
to get off those drugs,

not to take more of them.

He needed to take fewer opioids.

He needed to take
fewer benzodiazepines.

He certainly needed
less propofol.

But we'll never know what
was going through the minds

of those people allegedly caring

and treating Michael Jackson.

One can only assume that
like with so many people

that have come before him
and so many people afterwards

that the richer and more
famous and celebrated you are

the more at risk you are
of not getting the advice

and support that you need
'cause people will give you

and tell you what
you want to hear

rather than what
you need to hear.

And that's the tragedy
of Michael Jackson

and many others like him.

- [Narrator] This
cocktail of drugs

was placing an enormous strain

on Jackson's already
exhausted body.

But while the prescription
drugs may have become habit,

mounting pressures outside
of the singer's control

were beginning to
take their toll.

- Please keep an open mind and
let me have my day in court.

I deserve a fair trial like
every other American citizen.

I will be acquitted
and vindicated when
the truth is told.

[soft music]

- [Narrator] Although
Michael Jackson was cleared

of all child sex
abuse allegations,

the years of public humiliation

at the hands of
the hounding press

left his reputation
in complete ruin.

- The 1993 alligations was
extremely traumatic for Michael.

He was on tour at the time.

This is when he developed
an addiction to painkillers.

It was, he, in his
own words described it

as a humiliating experience.

They did a strip search on
him, took photographs of him.

They had like 70 police
officers go through his property

and what made him angry about it

is that they never found
anything that would indicate

that he was in fact guilty.

- Oh, it took a lot out of him.

I mean, yeah, he
didn't eat very well.

I mean, can you
imagine the pressure

he must have been under?

And the pressure was
enormous for him.

I mean, of course we
knew that he was innocent

of all charges, but, you know,

a lot of innocent men
have been found guilty

and evidence can fall
one way or the other

so the stress of three
months of going to court

every single day, he looked
thin, he looked anemic almost.

I mean, it was just,
I think that really

was probably the worst
thing in his life

as far as his health goes
and his mental state.

Yeah, I mean, the trial
took a lot out of him.

I mean, you know, he didn't
eat, sleeping very badly.

And really, that probably
took 10 years off him

I should think.

- How everything started to
go wrong with Michael Jackson

was with the child
abuse allegations.

And I think, when I first
heard it I remember thinking

to myself, well where
did that come from?

I mean, we all know
that he's like a kid.

He's a kid himself,
so what's that about?

So first of all,
there was confusion.

You're thinking, is it
true, isn't it true?

And this was always
the general consensus

from people that you spoke
to was, I'm not sure.

And you'd have some people
go, "I think he did."

It's typical, it
was this witch hunt.

It was a total witch
hunt by the media

already sort of saying
that he was already guilty

before he was even proven
innocent, you know?

And I felt that
that's when things

started to go down
for him in terms of,

the public couldn't work out
what was true and what wasn't.

That's what was bad, and
then when it was settled,

an out of court settlement,
this was what was a big mistake.

[peaceful music]

- Fabrications.

First of all, I say
the allegations.

That was a very fabricated story

that when it went to court,
found innocent on all charges.

You know, not even
an alcohol drink.

Also I'd like to say, you know,

there's so many, to pin one,
I think would be unfair.

- Perhaps there's an ounce
of truth in what's written,

but it's totally embellished
and taken out of context.

And I really think
that people actually

get some kind of kick
out of it, they love it.

They don't want to print
the truth, you know?

And so basically it means that
when people do come forward

and tell the truth,
no one believes them.

He'd taken quite a severe
battering from the press

and also through the trial

and I just think
it just got to him.

It really did, it just broke
his heart, it killed him.

- [Narrator] Once revered

as the pinnacle of
musical achievement,

Jackson sank into a
reclusive lifestyle.

For 12 years he kept a
low profile, hiding away

and drowning in $400
million of debt.

- You know, I think
that certain people

around Michael Jackson
cared about him,

tried at different parts
of his life to help him.

Unfortunately when you
have that much power

you can surround yourself with
the wrong types of people,

the people that will just
say yes to everything

and so some of the people,
including Lisa Marie Presley

who did really try
to help Michael

and kind of had a more
balanced relationship with him

weren't there in
the end, you know,

and didn't have a
place in his life.

And so there weren't
a lot of people.

I know that his family tried
to help him in certain ways

when they could reach
him, but it was hard

in those final years for people

to kind of get into
that inner circle

and really see
what was happening.

- He was very hurt by the
misreportings in the press,

but I think his defense
mechanism was actually,

was not to read them,
don't listen, you know.

They can say, they're gonna say

whatever they're
gonna say anyway

so just don't read, don't
get involved with that.

'Cause I said to
him one day, I said,

"Why don't you just sue them?"

And he said, "Mark, if
I was to sue everyone

"that wrote something
about me that was untrue

"I'd be in court
every single day."

So it just wasn't
worth it for him

so he just decided to let it go.

- To a certain extent,
in terms of naive,

I think because he has
lived a lot of his life

in the public eye
with all the adulation

and all of the fans I
think to a certain extent

perhaps he hadn't experienced
some of the things

that we've experienced
in everyday life.

So for those reasons
perhaps a little bit naive.

And I think that he always
wanted to see the best in people

and I think towards
the end he realized

that there are some very
bad people out there

who don't wish you well at
all and in terms of lonely

I would say Michael was lonely.

It's not that he didn't
have people around him.

He had fairly few people
that really understood him

and understood what
he'd been through,

and the kind of life he had.

In fact, there aren't
very many people

that have been through what
Michael's been through.

And from that point of view I
would say he was very lonely.

[peaceful piano music]

- [Narrator] In what
many consider an attempt

to offset his debt,
Jackson made a deal

with AEG Live to perform
a series of 50 concerts

in a final curtain call
at the London O2 Arena.

[dramatic music]
March 5th, 2009.

Michael Jackson announces
to the world, This Is It.

- This is it, I mean
this is really it.

This is the final, this is
the final curtain call, OK?

And I'll see you in July.

[audience screaming]

I love you.
[audience cheering]

I really do, you
have to know that.

I love you so much, really,
from the bottom of my heart.

This is it, and see you in July.

[audience cheering]

- After Michael
announced the concerts

he stayed in London
and my family came up

and we spent the
weekend with Michael

before he flew
back to the states.

He was in a really
good, positive mood.

I mean, he was in such a
positive frame of mind.

Best I'd seen him
for a long time

and it was so reassuring
and we had big plans

and he was gonna come to London.

And you know, it was
over the school holidays

and the kids were all
gonna get together

and we have loads of free time

and things we were gonna do
and all these plans we had.

He was just so positive.

- I think he's
extremely in control.

Whether if that was Michael's
magic or his madness,

like they say, I think he
was very much in control.

And in one hand it's what
brought out his genius

and in the other
hand it's probably

what brought out sometimes
these traps that he fell into

by not having this management
that he would listen to.

And I think, you know,
that there was times

when Michael was
very much in control.

- Michael didn't sign
up to do 50 concerts.

He said that to me, that he
only thought he was doing 10.

And he wasn't very
happy about the fact

that it was gonna be
50 concerts, and I
don't think he knew

how he was gonna be
able to manage it.

- [Narrator] But the
concert rehearsals

were not going to plan.

Director Kenny Ortega noted

that Jackson often
didn't show up

and when he did he was
late, weak, and fatigued.

- Michael had problems and
he felt a lot of pressure.

At this time his
finances were in disarray

and this was his
last shot, you know.

The This Is It tour,
you know, it really was,

he was feeling an enormous
amount of pressure

and he felt desperate
to be able to sleep.

Just to be able to
get on that stage

and feel like he could do it.

And so there was an
enormous amount of pressure

and there was a lot
of money involved

and you know, and certainly
Michael made choices, you know,

but at the same time
there's this doctor

that had an ethical
responsibility,

even when he's giving him
this propofol to monitor him,

to not leave the room, you
know, to have just basic

kinds of things that
you would expect

and those things weren't there.

Michael didn't want to die.

I mean, he had three
kids and certainly

he made choices, but it's
tragic, it's a tragedy.

- [Narrator] June 22nd, 2009.

As the first of 50 nights
of performing gets closer

Michael Jackson is
battling immense pressure.

His body is
struggling after years

of prescription drug
addiction and medical surgery.

But the world expects to see
Jackson as they remember him.

The king of pop.

In his Beverly Hills mansion,

Jackson is unable
to fall asleep.

At his bedside,
Dr. Conrad Murray.

Dr. Murray knew that the
propofol he was administering

to Jackson was
incredibly dangerous

and had attempted to reduce
his dependency on the drug

by giving him a lower
25 milligram dosage.

After taking the
antianxiety drug Ativan

and the sedative Versed
Jackson finally falls asleep.

June 23rd, Dr. Murray again
administers Ativan and Versed

to help Jackson sleep.

10:00 p.m. June 24th,
at the Staples Center

in downtown Los Angeles,

Jackson arrives three
hours late for rehearsal.

The show was already
running behind schedule,

but that evening
according to eyewitnesses,

Michael Jackson gave an
incredible performance

and it seemed as
though the king of pop

was finally getting
back on form.

- Michael's dancing and
he's totally focused.

He knows exactly what he's
doing and he's doing great.

And you know, I just believe
he was in the wrong hands.

I disagree with
everyone who says

that he wasn't gonna be up
with the shows and up to it.

He's a perfectionist,
he would have been fine,

but he needed to
be taken care of.

He's an artist, they have to
have special care, you know,

and I don't think he had it.

- The movie came about
using the rehearsals

and using the production
and the direction

and the input that Michael had

and they wanted to
show people, look,

this man was
definitely up for it.

Focused energy, he was
up for what was ahead.

He was looking forward to it

and I think the movie
was a very good move

by AEG to say, look, the
man put so much into this.

He would want the world
to see what he was doing,

what he can do, and I think it
was a good move for the fans

and it was a good
move for Michael.

- An extraordinary thing,
especially to those

who don't understand how you
can develop tolerance to drugs

is that on June the 24th,
a day before his death

Michael Jackson
during rehearsal gave,

by all eyewitness accounts,

an absolutely
extraordinary performance.

So despite the
fact that that time

he'd been on Propofol
for 60 consecutive days,

that he had this vast cocktail
of drugs inside his body

he was still able to perform,
and not just to perform well,

but to perform to a level
that many other artists,

most other artists
could only dream of.

Whatever you think
of Michael Jackson,

one thing you have to concede

is that he was an
extraordinary performer,

one of the greatest performers,
not just of his generation,

but of any generation and
his final performance,

the performance on
the eve of his death

bears witness to
that perhaps more

than any other
performance he ever gave.

[somber atmospheric
choral music]

- [Narrator] 1:00
a.m. June 25th, 2009.

At Michael Jackson's
Los Angeles home

Dr. Conrad Murray sat
by the star's bedside

as Jackson lies awake
in bed unable to sleep.

Jackson begs Dr. Murray
for a dose of Propofol

to send him to sleep and at
first the doctor resists.

After 60 consecutive nights
of administering the drug,

Murray tries to
stand his ground,

but Jackson continues to beg,

expressing his agony
and discomfort.

Finally, Dr. Murray surrenders

and administers
Jackson the propofol.

1:30 a.m., despite having
been administered propofol,

Jackson is still awake.

His excessive use of this
highly dangerous drug

has left his body almost
immune to its effects.

Dr. Murray gives Jackson
10 milligrams of Valium

and waits by his bedside.

- What's fascinating and tragic

about the way that
Michael Jackson died
was the sheer volume

of prescription medication
that Conrad Murray

was administering to
him was beyond belief.

On the day he died, Jackson
had been on propofol,

which is an anesthetic, which
should only be administered

by anesthetists, for
60 consecutive days.

Just imagine that for a minute.

60 consecutive days of propofol.

And still he could not sleep.

And that's because,
like with all drugs,

prescription drugs, synthetic
drugs, illegal drugs,

natural drugs, whatever
type of drug you are taking,

the brain develops tolerance.

So the effect you get when
you first take the drug

is not the effect you get
on the 100th or the 200th

or the 500th or
the 1,000th time,

so you need more and
more and more of the drug

and the pleasure
and relief you got

from taking the
drug to begin with

turns into pain and distress.

So you take the drug
no longer for pleasure

but simply to stop feeling pain.

Michael Jackson undoubtedly
was in extraordinary

emotional pain and stress
because of his lifestyle,

his life, and the comeback tour.

And also he was putting enormous
physical stress on his body

so he had physical pain and
emotional pain to contend with

and he just wanted to sleep.

- [Narrator] 3:00
a.m., shockingly,

Michael Jackson is still awake,

even after receiving
dose after dose

of dangerously strong drugs.

Dr. Murray proceeds to
administer two milligrams

of Versed by an IV drip.

7:00 a.m., disturbingly
Jackson is still awake.

Dr. Murray strongly affirms
that he spent the night

by Jackson's bedside monitoring
his pulse and oxygen levels.

Dr. Murray administers a
further dosage of Versed

through Jackson's IV.

- But even that was not enough

to send Michael
Jackson to sleep.

So over the next few
hours, the last few hours

of Michael Jackson's
life he was administered

with benzodiazepines, central
nervous system depressants,

sedatives of one sort
or another intravenously

until he drifted off into
sleep, unconsciousness,

and eventually death.

- [Narrator] 10:20 a.m.,
with Jackson still awake

and in visible agony,
Dr. Conrad Murray

makes a final, fatal decision.

[dramatic music]

He administers a further
25 milligrams of propofol

to Michael Jackson.

The king of pop finally
falls into a deep sleep.

11:30 a.m., the powerful
cocktail of drugs

inside Jackson's body
has now become lethal

and he goes into cardiac arrest.

- [Dr. Peter] So Michael Jackson

might have struggled for breath.

Slowly he might have suffocated,

gradually losing consciousness
until the moment came

when his heart stopped.

- [Narrator] 12:26 p.m.,
an unidentified man

makes the 911 call to the LAPD.

- [Dispatch] Fire Paramedic 33,

what is the address
of your emergency?

- [Caller] Yes, sir,
I need an ambulance

as soon as possible, sir.

- When the 911 call
came our firefighters

at our dispatching
center, which is located

four floors below the city hall

down in the catacombs,
if you will, of the city.

They took a 911 call
that shocked the world.

- [Dispatch] OK sir,
what's your address?

- [Caller] It's 100
North Carolwood Drive,

Los Angeles, California 90077.

- [Dispatch] You said Carolwood?

- [Caller] Carolwood Drive, yes.

- Unfortunately at the
time the dispatcher

answered the phone call and
never once did the caller

ever identify to the Los
Angeles Fire Department

that the person that needed
our help was Michael Jackson.

- [Dispatch] OK, sir,
what's the phone number

you're calling from,
and what's the problem?

Exactly what happened?

- [Caller] Sir,
what happened was,

we have a gentleman
here that needs help

and he's not breathing,
he's not breathing

and we're trying to pump
him, but he's not, he's not--

- [Dispatch] OK,
OK, how old is he?

- [Caller] He's
50 years old, sir.

- [Dispatch] 50, OK.

He's unconscious,
he's not breathing?

- [Caller] Yes, he's
not breathing, sir.

- [Dispatch] OK, and he's not
conscious either, he's not--

- [Caller] No, he's
not conscious, sir.

- [Dispatch] OK.

- Once the dispatcher
got information

about the patient and what
was happening with the patient

the identifier said that
the patient was pulseless

and non-breathing and that
a doctor was on the scene

doing CPR on the bed.

So part of our
instructions as already

our firefighters and
paramedics are responding,

we still have a firefighter
on the phone with the caller

giving directions to give
life saving techniques

to the people that could help.

- [Dispatch] All right, do
you have, is he on the floor?

Where's he at right now?

- [Caller] He's on the
bed, sir, he's on the bed.

- [Dispatch] OK, let's
get him on the floor.

- [Caller] OK.

- [Dispatch] OK, let's
get him down to the floor.

I'm gonna help you
with CPR right now, OK?

- [Caller] We need
someone to get, we need--

- [Dispatch] Yes, we're
already on our way there.

We're on our way.

I'm gonna do as much as I can
to help you over the phone.

We're already on our way.

Did anybody see him?

- [Caller] Yes we
have a personal doctor
here with him, sir.

- [Dispatch] Oh, you
have the doctor there?

- [Caller] But he's not
responding to anything, to no,

he's not responding
to CPR or anything.

- [Dispatch] Oh, OK, well
we're on our way there.

If your guy's doing CPR and
you're instructed by a doctor

he has a higher authority than
me and he's there on scene.

- [Caller] OK.

- [Dispatch] Did anybody
witness what happened?

- [Caller] No, it's
just the doctor, sir.

- [Narrator] Paramedics
arrive at the scene,

but Dr. Murray can no
longer detect a pulse.

- I was told that Michael
Jackson was being transported

to UCLA Hospital on June
25th and the fire department

was on scene at
Michael Jackson's house

three minutes and 17 seconds

from the time the emergency
911 call came on June 25th

to when it came to
the fire station

from the firefighters getting
out of the fire station

to the address where
Michael Jackson was

was three minutes
and 17 seconds.

And we worked on Michael
Jackson for approximately

about 48 minutes and once
the fire department realized

that it was now proper
to transport our patient,

Michael Jackson to the hospital,
they were 2.3 miles away,

but he worked about
45 to 48 minutes.

We worked 45 minutes
because as paramedics

we call it the golden
hour, and the firefighters

and paramedics can
pass medications,

can do life saving techniques
to help our patients.

We're in contact with
our base station,

which is at UCLA giving
us medical direction

on what type of medicines
we could give our patient

to help him survive.

- [Narrator] 2:26
p.m. June 25th, 2009.

The legend of Michael Jackson
comes to a shocking end.

He is pronounced dead

at the Ronald Reagan
UCLA Medical Center.

- Oh, it was devastating.

- It was like the world paused.

- I just can't
actually believe it.

It still feels like
it's a really bad dream.

It hasn't really sunk in.

It doesn't feel real, it
just, it feels all wrong.

- Well I was actually in my room

and I was watching something
on one of the other channels

and I got a phone call
and a friend of mine said,

"Have you seen the news?"

And I said, "What do you mean?"

And he says, "Put the news
on," so I flicked over

and of course it said Michael
was admitted to hospital

and then it just got from
one bad thing to another

and then he was pronounced
dead, and it was, I mean,

I just couldn't believe it.

I thought it was in a dream.

I was gonna wake up,
it was all a big joke.

I just couldn't absorb
it, it was just horrible.

This happened, I think U.K.
time around 2:00 in the morning

and my kids were
upstairs and I thought,

well, do I go up and tell them?

I said, no, no,
no, let them sleep.

They have to get up for
school in the morning.

And well, I went up and
knocked on their door

and I said, "Look,
I've got something

"really awful to tell you."

And I told them, and you
know, they just broke down

in floods of tears,
so it was, really,

that's what hit me then, really.

- Everybody felt a connection.

Whether you liked him or not,
you grew up with something

you remember the
song, you connected.

It could be a dance
with your partner.

Whatever it is,
it was at a place.

You first heard when
Thriller came out.

You was upstairs on the BB,
I don't know, whatever it was

and they felt there was a
certain element of loss.

Something, whether
they like him or not.

- Ever since I was born

Daddy has been the best
father you could ever imagine.

[sobbing]

And I just wanted to
say I love him so much.

- [Narrator] But the question
on everyone's lips is,

why did this happen?

And the second question,
who is to blame?

- He got in a bad
situation, you know?

He got in a bad situation
where he had developed

a dependency on
certain prescriptions
including propofol,

which wasn't supposed to be used

in the way that
it was being used.

And unfortunately
there were doctors

including Dr. Conrad Murray
who weren't directing him

to the kind of help
that he actually needed.

Whether he needed help sleeping

or whether he was having anxiety

or these different
things that he was saying

that he needed help
with, you know,

instead of getting
what he needed,

they were using
these very unusual,

dangerous methods
to address those.

And you know, he's building
up for this big comeback tour

and his doctor's putting
him to sleep every night

with propofol, which is
usually used for surgery.

And it's extremely dangerous
and so Michael Jackson died

because of what happened
throughout his life

which is that the
people around him

viewed him for what
they could get from him.

And you know, in this case,
the doctor was getting

$150,000 a month and was
being extremely reckless.

- It was gross neglect.

And this was not someone that
I would trust as my doctor.

And that's all I really
will say about that.

Someone like Michael Jackson

should have had a proper
doctor, not someone,

you know, in America it's very
much a problem, I believe.

I find that you can
pretty much get your hands

on lots of prescriptive
drugs and things like this.

This is why Hollywood has
so many problems with drugs.

So I would just put it down
to gross negligence, you know?

- What Conrad Murray
should have done,

if he is putting Michael
Jackson into in effect

a drug-induced coma, which
is what he was doing,

he is putting Michael
Jackson to sleep

with a vast quantity of
prescription medication.

Then that needs proper
monitoring and he
was not qualified

to do that, he wasn't
qualified to do it.

So he was gambling, really,
with Michael Jackson's life

and doing what Michael
Jackson wanted him to do

simply because he
was afraid not to.

Perhaps because he had
problems in his own life.

I think there were
well-documented issues

Conrad Murray had with debt

and his own personal
financial situation

so Jackson wasn't a patient
he could afford to lose,

but of course he lost him,

and he lost him in the
worst possible way.

- [Court Official] You're
charged with the offense

of involuntary manslaughter,
a felony, Dr. Murray.

How do you plead?

- Your honor, I am
an innocent man.

I therefore plead not guilty.

- The facts in this
case, in my view,

suggest that virtually
none of the safeguards

for sedation were in place
when propofol was administered

to Michael Jackson.

It's an egregious violation.

No competent physician
would give these drugs

without having emergency
equipment present.

- Well, I think it was
just an awful accident

where medication that was used

shouldn't have been
used unsupervised.

That kind of medication
is only used in hospitals

as far as I know and
he should have been

on some kind of monitor.

But he shouldn't have been
given it in the first place.

Unfortunately if you
pay, what's the saying

he who pays the
piper calls the tune

and if Michael wanted
that, he'd find someone

and pay 'em enough to do it.

And sadly that
took his life away.

- I wished he had
the opportunity

of having a life for himself

and letting the children grow
up and say, you know, Dad.

So he can sit back, and whether
they perform or whatever

I think for him to enjoy
something that he never had,

it felt like from
the day he was born

to the day he died
he entertained.

If that's the way he wanted
it, then good for you,

but if he wanted some privacy,

I don't think he
got enough of it.

I don't think it was fair.

I think we should
respect him and honor him

for what he gave musically.

[sad, slow piano music]

- You know, what's
getting lost here

is that Michael Jackson
is an incredible artist.

And artists aren't
always normal.

In fact some of the greatest
artists are very eccentric

and very unique, very different
and Michael's no different.

Michael was a great artist.

He lived his life in a different
way, in an unusual way,

provoked a lot of questions,
but when we go back

to those songs and we
go back to those videos,

when we go back to those albums

we find just an incredibly
rich, diverse array of art

that deserves attention.

For all the scandals, for
all the eccentricities

Michael was an artist

and he wanted to be
remembered as an artist.

In fact, one of his
last quotes in 2007

was a quote from
Michelangelo, and he says,

"To escape death I bind
my soul to my work."

- On the question everybody
asks in any death,

but especially the death of
one of the 20th century's

most iconic figures,
is who is responsible?

Who can we blame?

And obviously Conrad
Murray was the fall guy

and rightly so.

There's no question that he
played a contributing role

in Michael Jackson's death,

but so did Michael
Jackson's family.

Did Michael Jackson's father
play a role in his death?

Did the many people who
allowed Michael Jackson

to go down the road he went
down play a role in his death?

Of course they did,
but, and here's the but,

ultimately you cannot take a
drug or a drink by accident.

[dramatic music]

Yeah, you have to either
ask someone to administer it

for you or you have to
administer it yourself.

And the only hope that any
addict has is that they see

that they are responsible
for their own actions.

Because the more
we allow an addict

to pass the responsibility
for their addiction

onto someone else, the more
impossible recovery becomes.

So if we were to really say,
who is ultimately to blame?

One has to point the finger
at Michael Jackson himself.

Not in a harsh,
judgemental sense,

but just in the sense that other
people watching that story,

that they need to learn
what they need to do

if they are suffering
through similar problems.

They know what they
need to do to recover,

which is to take responsibility
for their own addictions.

Do not make it
somebody else's fault

otherwise the addiction
will kill you.

- [Narrator] Michael Jackson
was an icon, a legend,

the king of pop, but the real
tragedy of Jackson's death

is a lesson in
the price of fame.

When you can have
everything in the world,

who can stop you if you
can't stop yourself?