Michael Jackson was bald, barely eating and his stomach contained only partially-dissolved pills when he died, autopsy details reveal. His hips, thighs and shoulders were pock-marked with needle wounds, believed to be the legacy of narcotic painkillers being injected three times a day, a post-mortem examination showed. The once athletic star had dropped to a 'severely emaciated' 8st 1oz, and was eating just one meal a day.
Pathologists reported that the 50-year-old only had 'peach fuzz' covering his scalp and was wearing a wig when he died. The horrifying state of Jackson's body was revealed today in autopsy details leaked to The Sun.
A second autopsy was carried out on the singer's body on Saturday at the request of his family after the coroner concluded there had been 'no foul play'. The cause of death will not be known until toxicology tests are completed, which could take up to six weeks. Results from the private autopsy will be given to the Jackson family within two weeks. The first examination revealed that the star's ribs were broken from CPR and there were four injection sites near his heart where rescuers are believed to have pumped adrenaline into the organ in a bid to restart it.
Jackson also had bruising on his knees and front shins, cuts to his back (possibly from a recent fall) and a disfigured face from years of plastic surgery. The autopsy also showed that, remarkably, Jackson was recovering well from skin cancer. An operation to remove skin cells from his chest to replace the damaged cells had worked.
Looking frail: Even back in 2005, the star appeared unwell as he was aided by bodyguards to face a child molestation trial at Santa Barbara County Superior Court
Sources close to the Jackson camp said fans would be shocked by the autopsy findings.
'He was skin and bone, his hair had fallen out and had been eating nothing but pills when he died,' one source told the newspaper.
'Injection marks all over his body and the disfigurement caused by years of plastic surgery show he’d been in terminal decline for years.'
'His doctors and the hangers-on stood by as he self-destructed. Somebody is going to have to pay.'
Disfigured: Years of cosmetic surgery had taken its toll on Jackson's face. In this photo he appears to be wearing a wig
Cardiologist Dr Conrad Murray has denied injecting Jackson with a powerful painkiller before his death.
'There was no Demerol, no OxyContin,' his lawyer Edward Chernoff told US newspapers.
'He checked for a pulse. There was a weak pulse in his femoral artery. He started administering CPR.'
Mr Chernoff said his client was stunned by Jackson's death.
'He was the one who suggested the autopsy to the family while they were still in the hospital. He didn't understand why Michael Jackson had died,' he said.
Dr Murray has been questioned about his resuscitation attempts, while an unconscious Jackson was lying on a bed.
Experts are shocked that a doctor would perform such a procedure on a soft surface, when he would have been trained to put patients face-up on a hard surface before starting compressions.
