Though it may be weeks before toxicology results are available, indications that Michael Jackson, who died June 25 at the age of 50 of sudden cardiac arrest, was dependent on drugs and alcohol are coming to light. A source tells People that family members attempted an intervention in Las Vegas in 2006, when they believed he was addicted to prescription drugs: "Michael got p—ed off. He said he wasn't on drugs. But they didn't believe him," the source says. A second source alleges Jackson was known to consume alcohol, straight morphine, Demerol, Oxycontin, Valium, and Xanax.
Meanwhile, the AP reports that in 2007 Jackson settled a lawsuit with a Beverly Hills pharmacy that claimed he owed than $100,000 for prescription drugs ordered over a two-year period. Police are now said to be searching for a doctor they hope will have information about Jackson's medications.
Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman wasted no time in bringing Jackson's alleged addictions to the attention of the media. Speaking to CBS News' Harry Smith the night of Jackson's death, Oxman stressed that, like everyone, he would have to wait for the autopsy and toxicology results, but said, "I have warned that one day Michael Jackson would wake up dead, and that I would not be silent if that was the case, because of the misuse of medications. I have made that statement to family members and I told them I would not be still."
Liza Minnelli, who phoned The Early Show Friday morning from Paris to remember her friend as a curious soul who delighted in dinners with Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, and Gene Kelly, and knew every word to every song in her father Vincent Minnelli's films, is also bracing for the results: "I'm sure when the autopsy comes, all hell's going to break loose," she told Smith. "So, thank God we're celebrating him now."
