Part One: Meeting Michael Jackson
Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's former physician, recently released his book This Is It, which tells his side of the story regarding Jackson's tragic death. Now, Murray is telling his full story in an exclusive four-part video interview with uInterview.com.
CONRAD MURRAY ON MICHAEL JACKSON
Back in 2011, two years after Jackson's death, Murray was tried for involuntary manslaughter. It was alleged that Murray bore some of the blame for Jackson's overdose on propofol, a general anesthetic the pop singer had used to help him sleep. Murray was found guilty and was sentenced to four years behind bars, but was released in 2013 after serving just two years. A few years removed from his imprisonment, Murray has gone public with his story – including his intense friendship with Jackson – in This Is It, and in a recent interview with uInterview.
"I met Michael Jackson as a referral. One of my patients was a security guard for his detail and stated that there was a celebrity in the nearby area that had three children who were not doing very well, they were ill," Murray told uInterview. At the time, Jackson was, "very undernourished, gaunt, feeble, generally weak person, and he also had a viral illness that accompanied that of the children."
A few years down the road, when Jackson was preparing for his London tour, he propositioned Murray with the option to become his personal physician, meaning that Murray would have to abandon his medical practices. In the end, Murray agreed.
"Michael was telling me then that he had been looking at me for a long time. Actually, that's the time when he says, 'Conrad I have looked at you for a very long time you know? You are the best. I love you, my children love you. Whenever they're sick you're the first person that comes to mind, 'Daddy, daddy get Dr. Conrad. He's the one,'" Murray said, adding, "I think by that time when he was going to England he had sized down what appeared to be his family, and mentioned there were only four members in his family — his three children and myself and Michael."
Back in 2005, before Murray became intimately involved in Jackson's life, the "Man in the Mirror" singer had faced myriad allegations of child molestation. Murray insists that those allegations were of concern to him and that the safety of his children was his top concern, despite his deep friendship with Jackson.
"Michael and I had been around each other for a long time, and I didn't allow friendship to cloud my vision. It was important to me, let that be clearly defined," Murray said. "This was a man who was asking me to be a member of his last encapsulated family, he wanted my children and his children to live in adjacent residences, we would break bread together, drink wine together, play together and be friends. It would be important for me to make sure that Michael Jackson was not a danger to any child, including my son, who was a newborn."
As Jackson's personal physician, Murray interacted with Jackson every day. "He was always pleasant, always polite," said Murray, who revealed that Jackson would have dinner prepared for him by his chef every night. Murray also revealed that Jackson, known for his dynamic dance moves, had a deep antipathy towards exercise. "Michael would not exercise, no weights, five pounds or anything would have him running to the other side of the room."
Murray's best memories from living side-by-side with Jackson involved hearing the legend sing. "He would sing for me, and I think I took it for granted at the time," Murray admitted to uInterview. "Michael Jackson is singing a song every morning or he's practicing his moves for me and I'm just there as a big listener. The memories are embedded in my mind. I can't forget. He clearly has the voice of a sparrow, voice of an angel. He is absolutely magical when he sings."
Part Two: Michael Jackson's Addictions
Michael Jackson's former physician Conrad Murray delves into the details of Jackson's many addictions – one of which may have killed him – in part 2 of his exclusive video interview with uInterview.com.
CONRAD MURRAY ON MICHAEL JACKSON'S ADDICTIONS
[imgright width=600]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-AEsAF4ln6M/TGIAPmnFL5I/AAAAAAAAAhs/2VJIzm2wBsw/s1600/MurrayMidnightMilk.jpg[/imgright]While Jackson's dependence on pain medications and powerful anesthetics is relatively well known, less known was Jackson's fixation on women who were worryingly thin. As a part of Jackson's inner circle, Murray got a window into the pop legend's peculiar tastes.
"As guys, as we read through certain magazines that he enjoyed looking at, we would sometimes compare the various models and we would take a pic and try to say well, 'I can guess which one you like versus which one he would like.' He also always ended up with the thinnest girl, but eventually we figured out in discussion that he liked very very anorexic women," Murray told uInterview. He added, "If you showed him a woman that looked like a bone, but was a great looking gal, then he would ask for her to be half the size of that bone to be even better. We laughed about that a lot."
On an ordinary day, Jackson struggled with insomnia and would, according to Murray, often treat that with over-the-counter pills. But, when he was preparing for a tour or in the middle of it, his insomnia worsened. To treat it, he sought the help of physicians who were able to prescribe him powerful drugs. When Jackson died, a Propofol overdose was listed as the cause of death. Murray thinks the truth is more complicated.
"Michael Jackson was using Propofol for decades. But, many doctors that worked with him were anesthesiologists and if you look back at the history and look back at other things you will probably find that that is the case," Murray explained. "One of the things that I learned, not just Propofol, because Propofol is not addictive, it's not a dependent agent, it's not a street drug, it has no value, nobody would pay for that."
"The drug that he had was an opioid, similar to what took the life of Prince. I think Prince was using Fentanyl and another substance, but Michael Jackson was injected 51 times in the last 60 days of his life by Dr. Arnold Klein with Demerol," Murray went on.
To put Jackson's dependence on Demerol in perspective, Murray said that a patient with a broken bone who enters the emergency room would be given about 50 mg; Michael Jackson was apparently receiving up to 975 mg a day – in addition to other drugs. Murray claims that he wasn't the one providing the Demerol for Jackson. That was, according to Murray, all Dr. Klein. But Murray admits that he did know that Jackson had a cache of Propofol from a source the singer wouldn't reveal.
"He showed me his stash at home, in his bedroom this white sporting bag; the zippers could not even close with bottles," Murray said. "I asked him, 'Where you get all that stuff?' and then jokingly Michael said, 'If I told you Conrad I would have to kill you.' But, he was well stocked with Propofol."
In the end, Murray believes that Jackson had been suffering from a Demerol withdrawal in the days leading up to his death. In an act of desperation, Murray thinks that Jackson reached for the Propofol and unintentionally administered more of the drug than his body, having lost some of its resistance, could tolerate.
"Once he was cut off the substance was no longer in his body and the metabolizer was also gone. So, Michael Jackson was in acute full blown withdrawal unbeknownst to me. What he needed was Demerol and I think the withdrawal stage made him a desperate man and he may have misjudged the risk that he would have taken in my absence and that is what I believe caused his demise," Murray told uInterview.
Part Three: Michael Jackson's Final Night
Conrad Murray, who had served as Michael Jackson's personal physician in the years leading up to his death, was the one to find him unresponsive in his bedroom at Neverland Ranch. Murray details Jackson's final night in part 3 of his exclusive interview with uInterview.
CONRAD MURRAY'S ON MICHAEL JACKSON'S DEATH
[imgleft width=600]http://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/article_large/public/thumbnails/image/2011/11/07/23/Pg-2-jackson-2-epa.jpg[/imgleft]While preparing for his London tour, Jackson's insomnia was at its most debilitating. Only heavy medication, like anesthetic Propofol, helped him sleep. The King of Pop was also, according to Murray, addicted to Demerol, and was in the throes of withdrawal – unbeknownst to Murray at the time. On Jackson's last night alive, Murray sought to help him sleep by giving him a relatively small dosage of Propofol.
"I gave him 25 mg of Propofol, which is so minuscule I would not expect anyone to have any kind sedation from that," Murray told uInterview. Even still, Murray says he monitored Jackson's breathing for more than a half hour before taking his leave to see to other matters. "When I left his bedside to conduct business, I was comfortable. I thought I had did everything reasonable. There was no way he could get into trouble."
When Murray returned to Jackson's bedroom later in the day, he was stunned to see that he had moved – and that he showed no signs of life.
"Michael was not on the pillow as I had left him, he had moved. I picked up the pace and got to him and realized he was not breathing," said Murray, who proceeded to check his pulse wherever he could. "He was completely lifeless. As a cardiologist, I immediately initiated resuscitative measures." Murray performed CPR, attempted to ventilate him with an Ambu bag and then resorted to mouth-to-mouth. "I always wondered if I could ever had the heart to do this," Murray said of giving mouth-to-mouth, something he'd never done before. "I did not hesitate to do that."
Chaos ensued at Neverland as Jackson remained lifeless, with Murray futilely trying to revive him. Head of security Michael Amir was no where to be found. When he was, it was still some time before anyone appeared. Desperate, Murray left Jackson's side.
"I had to stop, run out of the room, down the back stairs, get to the landing, and call out to the chef, 'Get security! Get Prince! Get help!'" Murray detailed, explaining that he called for the eldest of Jackson's kids because he could lead help to Jackson's bedroom. When security arrived, Murray said, "I did give an order right then to call 911, which he'd done. He took a while after he'd taken the children out, and came back to the room and I said, 'Did you call 911.' He said he hadn't done it, he was gonna do it then. That's when the 911 call was made."
When paramedics finally arrived, they were ready to follow Los Angeles protocol, calling Jackson's death due to the duration of time that he had been down, explained Murray. Murray claims that he convinced them not to call it, and to allow him to assume care of the singer, whom he went with to the hospital.
"Michael Jackson was worked with for over and hour at UCLA, and they didn't do that just because they wanted to perform CPR and heroics for Michael Jackson. They performed resuscitative measures on Michael because he had signs of life," according to Murray. "Not strong enough to generate a pulse, but the heart was contracting. I was very hopeful.... They continued for a while then it was over an hour, and by then they did everything that they could — they pronounced him."
Murray, to this day, though he has speculated about the circumstances that led to Jackson's death, says that he does not know what happened in the critical time that elapsed between when he last saw him alive and when he found him dead.
"I don't know what happened, that's the one thing," Murray told uInterview. "All I can say is that when I came back Mr. Jackson was not in the same position, there was no signs of life."
