A email I got 4 days before he passed

At the end of the day I think we will come to the conclusion that Michael was a person who worked and lived a life no human body should endure for so many years. Michael said many times he didn't sleep much. He did not eat much. Over time your body weakens. And if you have to take medicine, your body becomes even more weak. It starts to affect the organs. Being 48-50 years old underweight and overworked, doing long hour days with physical training and work will cause the body to wear out fast. I think Michael simply shut down. His heart could not take it anymore and it stopped. Being stressed and pushing your body at any age can sometimes lead to fatality.

This is what I think happened... he just pushed himself too far.

The thing is though, he had a doctor with him practically 24, 7 who should have been looking after him. If he wasn't eating enough they should have made him have supplements... and they shouldn't have given him strong drugs if he was that underweight. I don't see the doctor as a scape goat - he had a responsibility (which he was being paid well for!) and he let Michael down. :(
 
I can't even read through all these responses... just reading the e-mail is heartbreaking enough....
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.....
 
Thank you earth song! I think anyone blaming fans for michael's death is just utter nonesense!

This is the time when we should be leaning on each others shoulder, not blaming each other!

Michael would be so disgusted with fans fighting with each other ...there is so need for it! especially not now

AMEN!! I totally agree with you that he would be sad if his fans were fighting. We all need to ban together, not tear each other apart!!
 
stupid doctor was on $150,000 a month and fans are left feeling guilty. its a disgrace. we can talk about the fact he put his body through too much, and yes i expect he did. but at the end of the day its not left to us to feel guilty for this.. his doctor should not have been admistering powerful drugs that shouldnt be allowd outside a hospital (if thats true) . i read somewhere that giving propofol for insomnea is like trying to kill an ant with a shotgun,.... ie totally ridiculous
 
Hello,

I'm the one who wrote this email. So I'm going to explain myself so no one speculate anymore.
I was in LA last June.
Michael invited me and a friend on the set of the 3D thriller shooting.
My friend had make a jacket for him and I asked him to try it.
He took of his own jacket and was wearing tights clothes. That's how we realized how skinny he was, seeing his bones through his shirts and his small legs.
You are right about saying Michael always has been skinny. I met him a lot of times, even during the trial, giving him hugs and being upset about how skinny he was.
Michael has never been so skinny before. We've met him a lot of times since 1996, giving him plenty of hugs, so I can tell the difference.
Why did I sent this email?
Because it was June 11th, and the shows were starting one month later.
I had met him one month before and thought: he is still so skinny, I hope he's going to gain weight before the shows. But when i saw him again in June, he had lost more weight.

I got scared because we were seeing him rehearse so much. Going to reheasals at noon and leaving at 1am.
Sometimes he didnt want to go to rehearsals.
I remember one day I asked him: how do you feel today?
And he answered with a soft voice: "Oh I'm feeling better than yesterday, thank you.."
So some days he was not feeling well.

I wrote this email on june 21st, to some fans only through facebook, to people who were on my friend list.
Why only to few?
Because first of all, I wanted to talk to the fans who were in LA, or were going to LA sometimes. Because they could keep an eye on him and write him letters and stuff.
Then, if I didnt wanted it to be posted on forums was because I didnt want the press to say: "Even Mj's fan beleive he wont be able to do the shows"
And at last, I didnt want people to bash me, and say: mj is fine, mj knows what he does, he's a grown up, people are all saying he is fine.
People on boards wouldnt have beleived.
That's the reason I sent this only to fans who "saw" how michael had lost weight those last months.
I never said that some fans were better than others or that some fans loved MJ more than others.
It is just that some fans were seing MJ in LA and were able to "do" something.

I never said that his weight killed him in this email, as I wrote this mail few days before he died. So I didnt know it would happen.
As for saying he was a skeleton, that's how I felt. Sorry if it shocks you. Everyone reacts differently. I saw Michael a lot of times those last 15 years, and if I said he looked like a skeleton, it's a way of saying I had never seen him so skinny before.
It is just that this time, he was going to perform for 3 months, dance, and work hard.
He didnt gained weight and we got worried because he was 50 years old. Dancing with 19 years old dancers.
He said himself that he wasnt eating.
And he was stressed by all the pression so it may have caused him a loss of apetite.
You are right that on pictures and videos, he doesnt look that skinny, just normal skinny, but in fact, when you see him in real, near "normal" people, you can see his real size and its worst than pictures. And this time on the set, he was wearing white and tight clothes. That's why we saw more clearly how bad it was..

This said, there's no need to speculate like you did, bashing, me, saying I was seeking attention, as I never posted this PRIVATE email myself. SOmeone did without my permision.
I didn't lie on this email, and had nothing to gain.

It was just a worried mail from a loving fan who wanted to help, or at least try to help in any way possible.
And yes, it was too late and beleive me, we are all devasted and feeling guilty because we didnt open our eyes sooner.
We knew he was too skinny to perform and even if its not wht killed him, he didnt help him to feel better. Its a combination of everything. Stress, drugs, weight loss, hard rehearsals.. Its hard for a body to take all of this..

Marika
thankyou marika for coming on here and explaining your email,i thought he looked dreadfully skinny when he made the announcements at the 02 but if you mentioned it on any of the forums,you would get attacked,i,ve been a fan for a long long time,and yes,michael has always been skinny,but i had never seen him that thin before,it shocked me when i seen him getting off that bus live at the 02,and yet fans were saying how healthy he looked,but i found myself then being in denail like so many other fans,like he wouldn,t have passed a medical ,and he knows what he,s doing,none of us really know the true pressure michael was under with these shows,it just angers me now how all the people around michael had ignored this,he did need help,and everyone around him failed him,this is so heartbreaking,
wish in my heart of hearts we had done something more to get through to him,
 
Thank you for posting, Marika...

I don't even know what to say anymore. I really feel like I'm at a complete loss for words.

I love Michael with all my heart and I would've done anything for him, but reading your email and your response here, I can't help wondering:

WHY did he sign for 50 concerts if he didn't feel he could do it???
WHY didn't he seek professional help if he didn't feel good?
WHY didn't he do what was best for HIM if he knew there were problems???? The man is a father, for Pete's sake, he had to have thought that his health affects his children and that he must stay healthy at least for them, if not for himself!!!

I don't believe that he cared more about money! I don't believe that he cared more about reputation! I don't believe that he cared more about his fans!!!! His no. 1 priority were his beloved children, so why do this????

Yes, I'm angry, I'm angry beyond words, I could barely sleep last night after reading this thread! His passing begins to sound like the worst joke in history! He didn't take proper care of himself, the ones working with him and his friends pretended not to see anything, his doctor didn't even know how to perform CPR or how to phone 911. Jesus, if someone had told me these things 2 years ago, I would've told them they have a pretty screwed up mind!

God, I can't take this anymore....
 
this is a message that a fan asked me to paste here, as she doesnt have an account..
If it is a little harsh, its because it was posted on KOP where people bashed me and said I was lying and made up this email to seek attention...

THE TRUTH

To those of you that wonder why this was kept private, read through this thread again and see the disgusting judgemental name-calling going on here. This is the usual treament that the boards give to "follower fans"...and you wonder why we keep to ourselves, because you're just making accusations against us for lying, seeking-attention, being too involved in his personal life...we can never do right by any of you, so we don't bother to try to please or include you in the conversation. But now that someone has gotten this email via 3rd party (wonder if all the subsequent ones will follow shortly) exactly what we suspect would happen if it was posted on boards has now happened (hence the first line asking it not to be posted on the boards.)

The email is genuine and Marika is a genuine sweet caring fan that Michael was happy to have around for many years. So anyone thinking and saying differently here is plain wrong. And many have been far too mean without even knowing what on earth they are talking about.

I want to defend Marika, as a friend, as I would want someone to do for me, and also as a fan that wants to say the truth.

THE FACT IS THAT MICHAEL WAS TOO SKINNY IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS OF HIS LIFE, especially in the last few weeks. IT IS A FACT. ACCEPT IT OR NOT. I first noticed in October when I spent A LOT OF TIME with Michael, and I mentioned it to him. But I also knew he was beginning to prepare the tour even back then so I expected him to be very conscious of his weight and was not overly worried, although concerned.

I am the girl in the picture with Michael that you all went crazy over with his curls back taken at the end of May. LET ME SAY THE TRUTH, you can not see very well just how truly skinny he is in that picture (taken just little more than 3 weeks before he died) because he is covered, but when I met Michael in the dance studio earlier in the day I was sad and scared for how skinny he was. He was wearing a different top and we hugged twice and I felt there was NOTHING to him. I felt how tiny his waist was, I felt his ribs against me, his shoulder bones poking through his top, I honestly was really taken aback at how skinny he was from even the last time I saw him and was worried I have seen Michael a lot in my life and I know what is acceptable. I do not like to say it, it is sad, but it is the truth that he was scary skinny. I had a difficult time looking at him standing there, knowing in my gut that something was desperately wrong.

It is also true (despite Randy Phillips/AEG denying it the next day) that Michael spoke to us inside the dance studio about what was going on...he was very candid with what he said but also very down and sad, he was feeling the pressure, literally said he was not eating, had gone to sleep at night knowing it was 10 shows, and woke up to 50 shows, said there were not long enough breaks scheduled between shows...he said many things but it is not necessary to repeat everything...the point is we walked out of that dance studio feeling a sense of despair for him. Never in all the 12+ years of "following" Michael have I witnessed him in such a state. Everyone in the media who has been saying Michael was fine, in great shape and great spirits is not telling the ENTIRE truth. Yes, sometimes he was in a good mood, perhaps someone saw him eat something, yes he was dancing, he was rehearsing a lot...but I do not believe for one minute that Michael was completely alright because I saw with my own eyes and heard from his own mouth that he was NOT completely alright.

For all of you refering to the rehearsal pictures and saying he looks fine, I'm sorry but you are just blind or sorely mistaken. He IS skinny in the rehearsal pictures - you can not tell as much as in person admittedly, and the clothes he wears masks it well. But you can STILL PLAINLY SEE he is too skinny. You will also probably say he looks fine in the pictures of him visiting the doctors office...but again the jackets he wore masked it well.
He really was incredibly skinny, and I am not one to dramatize such a thing. I know he has always been thin and his weight fluctuates but in the last weeks of his life he was not a normal/healthy weight. When you add the idea that he was taking any kind of drugs whether for pain or to help him sleep it was a lethal combination I am convinced. No one will ever convince me that his weight did not play a role in his passing. He was not eating (enough), rehearsing many many hours a day, and coupled with taking drugs, I can not be too surprised he has left us...when you are very thin and under-nourished your body can not handle the stress, the pressure, the drugs (as much as it might if were a healthier weight.)

Marika met him again in the studio two weeks later and his weight had fallen even more...this is what triggered her email to us and we finally decided we needed to speak up. For all of those saying why didn't we do anything about it then, WE DID TRY. WE TRIED. God we tried...but it was too little too late. You can not imagine OUR PAIN that we discussed with each other just THE WEEK before his death how to reach him, what to do, how to say it so we don't hurt him, we AGONIZED over what to do. In the last two weeks before he died he was kept from us more than usual by his security, things became very strange in ways that are too much to go into here, but we felt something was wrong. And we were so so so so sadly right. I never wanted to be more wrong in all my life.

We wrote letters to Michael frankly expressing our concerns, blunt but cloaked in love, and they were given to him on arriving to what would be his last rehearsal by Talitha - a fan that Michael loved very much and who spent a lot of time with him over the past decade, and especially the past two years (but many of you have slagged off on the boards without even knowing her.) Michael tried to phone her from the Staples center to talk about the letters, but the call dropped and conversation was never had. Michael's security said they would try again the next morning.

I was told by Michael's personal assistant in LA when I went back for the funeral, that Michael asked for the letters that night at home after rehearsal. He took the letters to Michael in his bedroom. We had literally wrote in those letters begging him to take care of himself, if not for himself, then for his children and family and everyone that loves him so deeply, that we were afraid for his life, that him being around is more important that any one concert could ever be...he died 12 hours later and it is the most DEVASTATING THING to have happened...I can not even really think about it, it is too much to comprehend. It is like a cruel joke that God put upon us. I do not understand how it was allowed to happen. I feel sad that we did not reach him in time, that we could not reach others around him in time, that the people around him did not seem to care enough about him, it's all too much and too complicated...and too devastating. I do have to say in Karen's defense that she did try to help. I don't want to say more for sake of her own privacy, but it's too harsh what some of you are saying here.

So if you could have a little COMPASSION and stop being so hard-hearted about the email and towards Marika it would be appreciated I am sure!
Btw, some of you are misinterpretting the bit where she said she doesnt care if he never eats again...French is her first language, and was lacking some punctuation; she only meant that she doesnt care if people are upset with her for the email because if he never eats again that is all that matters!

I'm sure there will be plenty of people that will now read this and begin to slag me off as well, but I don't care anymore because I just want to say the truth, defend my friend, have a clear conscience, and say what I think Michael would want said anyways.
 
it wasn't the fans place to say anything. That's where michael's family and friends and everyone else shouting from the roof tops about his problems should have help if they really cared. The fans didn't know michael personally and if they did then that woulda have upgraded them to a friend who michael knew on a personal basis and not just fans who he saw alot. But to be honest what fans would have risked the time they got with michael by telling him he looked deathly skinny and need to gain weight. Nobody up in here. Most fans get so caught up in "oh my God it michael" that would we have said anything to offend him. If you say yes you're lying. It woulda been good if some fans did say something but I wouldn't blame them at all.

EDIT after reading post ^

Ok I stand correct you guys did what you could. Its all just too sad how this ended. I see that some of his friends did try to help also. I just wish michael could have pull through this and maybe he would have saw he was critical and gotten the help he need. I don't trust this doctor at all. And I do agree that being underweight and taking power meds are a deadly comb. I wonder why ppl were going on about michael as if EVERYTHING was alright from TII. Did they not know, were they indenial? Idk. Its just all so sad. Michael should be here.
 
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For those who think I'm lying, this a picture of Michael in his trailer after the meeting on the set, wearing the jacket my friend did for him.
I cut the person beside for her privacy.

ok i cant find out how to post a picture...
help?
 
For those who think I'm lying, this a picture of Michael in his trailer after the meeting on the set, wearing the jacket my friend did for him.
I cut the person beside for her privacy.

ok i cant find out how to post a picture...
help?
do you have a photobucket account,if not send it to me and i will post it with my photobucket account for you,pm me if you want and i will do it,
 
Marika, thanx for clarifying and posting the email from the other fan as well.

It is SO SO devastating...

But I still believe if there is ANYTHING you guys know that could help trigger an investigation regarding him being pushed into 50 shows...it HAS to come out!!!
AEG and the people behind it have to be held responsible....!!!
 
I have put it on photobucket but i cant see where to insert image on this board.. maybe i need glasseS?
Or do i just need to post the code?
 
Could people stop with the innuendo's? It's hard to know what's going on with everyone saying things to the effect of 'if you know what I mean, *nugde nude, wink wink*'. Just say what you mean.

I just dunno what to say about all this. I've got so many things going through my head right now. It's all so sad. :(

I did think Michael was thin the past few months, but I feel stupid now. Stupid for buying into these shows and being excited about them. I was blinded by the fact that we were gonna see Michael. I feel ashamed. I guess I believed the twitter posts, and the people who were rehearsing with Michael. Is that such a bad thing? Do people honestly believe they would all lie to get their own experiences and money? I don't know. Maybe the dancers etc were blinded too by the experience of dancing with Michael on tour? Or like us, they just thought if people in charge don't appear worried then I'm not gonna be either? It's all wrong, but I'm just trying to make sense of it all.
I honestly thought all these reports of 'oh he can't do it, he'll never make 50' were part of a bid to bring Michael down, not that they were actually the truth. I feel like utter shit now, to know what was probably happening behind the scenes. I always thought Michael would come out triumphant as he had before. How freaking naive. :(
I wanna know why Michael agreed to the shows at all? How could someone force him? I understand about them forcing him to do more shows than 10 or 30 or whatever but what made him sign to do any in the first place? He must have wanted to right? I know someone might have signed for him or something, but it's a big thing...they would have to check with him first wouldn't they?
Why does his life have to be so freakin complicated? Too many people doing too many different things, much of the time with their own agendas. It makes me feel sick. I just don't know how to deal with it. I do believe that fans are now the ones who have to campaign for truth.
The most heartbreaking part of this is that someone could have helped him. I know it. Thankyou to all the fans who tried, so much. :(
 
I have put it on photobucket but i cant see where to insert image on this board.. maybe i need glasseS?
Or do i just need to post the code?
there are a set of 4 codes underneath your picture on photobucket,i think its the 4th one down,img code,copy it and then paste it here,
 
Here is the pic on the set. June 11th

003.jpg
 
ok this is really bugging me. About his security holding michael hostage so to speak. If the called drop why didn't he just call again and why was it that security WOULD try again tomorrow and not michael that night. And security keeping him away from you guys the last few days. I just don't get why a grown man can't make calls or if he wanted to see someone or do something he had to get security's permission to do so . OOoOooo that's bothers me so bad. All the bad guys could get to him but none of the good.

sorry just venting here!
 
I'm sure that the full extent could have only been noted when one saw him up close or hugged him, etc.
I just still can't believe how devastating it is that you guys actually wrote him letters of concern and you wanted to help him in a way and then he passed :(
It's just so terrible...
 
I'm either the most "in denial fan" on earth or have gone completely blind - but he still looks fine to me.
Then again, that jacket (beautiful, by the way) doesn't show anything either...

I believe you Marika, I do. This is just so painful...
 
exactly michael looks fine in that pic.

stacey I too thought michael was fine and I still believe if michael was healthy then he would have done the shows (even the 50 he got go dupped into). The thing was was he just wasn't healthy. Not even an out of shape 20yr could pull of TII if they are not physical fit and in shape. We were lied to to a certain extent. Also keep in mind that STRESS is a silent and DANGEROUS DEADLY thing to mess around with. Michael waking up to 50 when he only meant for 10, im sure, made his heart HEAVY!

I believed in mike aswell and knew he would rise to the top which is why I didn't like hearing negative about michael either. Maybe the dancer got caught up in it aswell. I'll never stop believing he couldn't do TII. He just simply wasn't ready or healthy enough. I felt Aeg rush the shows and he should have gotten more then 3 month to prepare. I hate this!
 
Why are the dancers and ortega and randy saying michael was fine when he wasn't? Could be that after michael pass the physical that he got worse?
answer is so simple! of course they are going to say he's all fine to the public!
 
Yeah... funny how a picture doesnt reveal the truth..
It revealed but the fans love to be in denial.
Those who think he looked perfectly fine must be blind!

too bad that's how online fans are. either always in denial or just non-observant. I've said this a gazillion times.
 
As I said before, fans were all caught up in the excitement of seing him on stage again...
everyone was in denial..I'm sure even his dancers and some others surrounding him. Fans wanted him to be perfect, wanted him to be superhuman...
And the people involved in TII wanted the breakthrough of their life....
 
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