Michael Jackson described as 'loopy' after doctor visits, choreographer testifies

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  Michael Jackson delivers a speech to fans during an event called "Fan Appreciation Day" in Tokyo on March 9, 2007.AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye

LOS ANGELES –  Michael Jackson appeared "a little loopy" after visits with his longtime dermatologist and was considering using a teleprompter to help him perform some of his songs during his ill-fated comeback concerts, a choreographer who worked one-on-one with the pop superstar told a jury Tuesday.

Travis Payne said he expressed concerns to the director of the "This Is It" shows that Jackson might be misusing prescription medications and was exhibiting troubling signs of insomnia, weight loss and paranoia in his final days.

Some of the behavior occurred after Jackson's visits with dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein, who Payne believed was performing cosmetic treatments on the singer so he would be comfortable performing onstage again.

"Sometimes in rehearsal, Michael would appear just a little loopy," Payne said, adding that the singer appeared to be "assisted or under the influence of something."

Jackson's condition and missed rehearsals led to talk within the last 10 days of Jackson's life that AEG Live LLC, which was promoting "This Is It," might cancel the concert series.

Payne was working for AEG and said he relayed his concerns about Jackson's possible prescription drug use to tour director Kenny Ortega. Jackson was struggling to get into shape for the shows, and Payne said his voice coach suggested using a voice track for fast-paced songs until the singer's stamina improved.

He said Jackson wanted to use a teleprompter during the shows as "extra security," but it was an aid the performer had not used in his two previous tours.

The choreographer testified for AEG, which is being sued by Jackson's mother. Katherine Jackson claims AEG failed to properly investigate Conrad Murray, the doctor who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for Jackson's death, and that the concert promoter also missed or ignored signs of Jackson's poor health.

AEG denies it hired Murray and claims Jackson was private about medical treatments and hid the depths of his prescription drug addiction. Jackson died from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol, which Murray was giving him as a sleep aid.

The company also did not hire the dermatologist, Klein.

Klein is listed as a potential witness in the case, but it's unknown whether he will testify. His treatment of Jackson, which included Demerol shots, has been scrutinized both during Murray's 2011 criminal trial and the current civil case.

Under cross examination, Payne acknowledged that some of Jackson's behavior, including grogginess, lethargy, insomnia and occasional paranoia, were possible symptoms of prescription drug abuse. He also said that despite testifying earlier that he worked with Jackson one-on-one five days a week, he couldn't recall how many rehearsals the singer actually attended.

Payne's testimony was similar to two plaintiff's witnesses, dancer Alif Sankey and makeup artist Karen Faye, who testified last week that Jackson was in poor health and paranoid in the weeks before his death and they alerted Ortega about it.

"You could sense that something was wrong, you just didn't know what it was?" plaintiff's attorney Brian Panish asked. Yes, Payne replied.

The choreographer had remained composed throughout most of his testimony, occasionally smiling and politely trying to answer questions. But after several hours of testy exchanges with Panish, his voice quivered and he dabbed his eyes with a tissue.

"I don't have a dog in this race," Payne said at one point. "I'm just trying to have a conversation with you and tell the truth."

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Dancer who worked with Michael Jackson says she gave warnings about singer's health

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  March 9, 2007: Michael Jackson delivers his speech to fans during an event "Fan Appreciation Day" in Tokyo.AP

LOS ANGELES –  A dancer who worked with Michael Jackson throughout his career testified on Wednesday that she told the director of Jackson's ill-fated concert tour that she was worried about the singer's health.

Witness Alif Sankey told a jury deciding a lawsuit that the pop star appeared thin and unprepared in 2009 for the rigors of his planned comeback concerts known as "This Is It."

The singer showed up at one rehearsal with shoes that had holes in the soles, missed rehearsals and appeared much thinner than earlier in his career, Sankey testified.

Sankey showed jurors an email she wrote to tour director Kenny Ortega in early June 2009, urging him to try to improve Jackson's health and spirits. She never got a direct reply but testified that Ortega raised the concerns with concert promoter AEG Live.

"Please help me help you to get him back into that Magical Light, please let me help you help him find what was lost, his GRAIL," Sankey wrote to Ortega, who she had worked closely with for a number of years.

Testimony showed Ortega copied Sankey on several email messages that he sent to AEG executives about Jackson's condition and the need for him to receive physical therapy and better nutrition.

"He requires more attention and management," Ortega wrote in one email. "I truly believe he needs nourishment guidance and physical therapy (massage) for his fatigued muscles and injuries. He is not in great physical shape. I believe he's hurting."

Sankey met Jackson while working on his 1987 video for "Smooth Criminal" and was an associate producer and planned to dance onstage during "This Is It."

She was testifying at the trial of a negligent hiring lawsuit filed by Jackson's mother against AEG Live LLC. Katherine Jackson claims AEG failed to properly investigate the doctor who was caring for her son and later administered a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol to the singer in June 2009.

The promoter has denied wrongdoing and its attorneys have said the singer hid his addiction to propofol. Jackson's former physician, Conrad Murray, was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter.

Plaintiff's attorney Brian Panish asked Sankey about one message in which AEG executive Paul Gongaware told Ortega that he planned to talk to Murray.

"We want to remind him that it is AEG, not MJ who is paying his salary," the message said. "We want him to understand what is expected of him."

Sankey said she based some of her impressions of Jackson over the years on how he felt when they hugged.

"When I hugged him, he just felt like marble," Sankey said about Jackson early in his career. "But when I hugged, when I saw him briefly in 2006, he didn't feel like that anymore. He felt thin."

On cross-examination, Sankey acknowledged that her impressions were formed from brief interactions with the singer and she never had a long conversation with him.

She was, however, trusted enough to be around Jackson's children, whose privacy he fiercely protected.

Sankey testified that Paris Jackson once shared a secret, saying she didn't want her father to find out about candy stuffed inside her purse.

There were also several tiny pictures inside her purse -- all of her father.

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Michael Jackson's doctor unqualified in many areas, expert says

Published May 07, 2013

Associated Press

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  Nov. 7, 2011: Dr. Conrad Murray listens as the jury returns with a guilty verdict in his involuntary manslaughter trial in a Los Angeles courtroom .AP

LOS ANGELES –  Michael Jackson's doctor was not qualified to treat the singer for insomnia or drug addiction and botched resuscitation efforts, an expert cardiologist testifying for the singer's mother told a jury on Tuesday.

Dr. Daniel Wohlgelernter said he reached his conclusion after reviewing the credentials of Conrad Murray, who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's 2009 death.

Wohlgelernter testified during a lawsuit filed by Katherine Jackson claiming Murray was negligently hired by concert promoter AEG Live LLC to care for the pop star.

Attorneys for both sides told the panel last week that Michael Jackson suffered from longstanding prescription drug addiction issues.

Wohlgelernter said Murray had no formal training on how to treat such problems, and the former cardiologist was not qualified to administer propofol, the powerful anesthetic that killed Jackson. The singer was using the drug as a sleep aid.

Wohlgelernter, a Santa Monica-based cardiologist, also told the jury that Murray improperly focused on Jackson's heart when the singer stopped breathing after receiving propofol and other drugs on June 25, 2009.

Jackson's mother claims in the lawsuit that AEG failed to properly investigate Murray or his finances. AEG denies wrongdoing and says it was Michael Jackson who wanted Murray to work as his doctor while he prepared for a series of comeback shows.

Murray had been expecting to receive $150,000 a month for his work on Jackson's tour, but the singer died before the contract was finalized.

Under cross-examination by AEG attorney Kathryn Cahan, Wohlgelernter testified that Murray's training and credentials were reputable and he appeared to be a competent internal medicine physician.

Wohlgelernter, however, said Jackson's request for Murray to be his doctor and Murray's desire to leave other patients behind to work with the singer should have caused AEG some concern.

Wohlgelernter said the company should have asked why the two men wanted to work with each other.

Several other doctors testified during Murray's 2011 criminal trial that the doctor repeatedly violated the standard of care in his treatments on Jackson.

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Michael Jackson doctor had huge debts, detective says

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  Nov. 7, 2011: Dr. Conrad Murray listens as the jury returns with a guilty verdict in his involuntary manslaughter trial in a Los Angeles courtroom .AP

LOS ANGELES –  The doctor convicted of involuntarily killing Michael Jackson appeared to be on trial again Wednesday as a lawyer for Jackson's mother tried to show the physician's desperate financial situation drove him to extremes in his treatment of the superstar.

Attorney Brian Panish, questioning a police detective, hammered away at the depths of debt that enveloped Conrad Murray when he agreed to give Jackson what he wanted -- infusions of the powerful anesthetic propofol to make him sleep.

The pop star offered Murray $150,000 a month to travel with him on his ill-fated "This Is It" concert tour. AEG Live LLC, the concert promoter, reluctantly agreed, according to testimony in the doctor's criminal case by AEG executives.

Panish used the testimony of police detective Orlando Martinez to suggest that if AEG had investigated Murray's background, it would have found a man so encumbered by debt that he was not trustworthy.

The testimony came during the trial of the negligence lawsuit filed by Katherine Jackson claiming AEG didn't properly investigate the doctor who gave her son a lethal dose of propofol. The company denies wrongdoing.

Murray is not a party to the high-stakes court contest. He is serving a four-year prison term for involuntary manslaughter.

AEG attorneys said they intend to call him as a witness. He remains in jail and is appealing his conviction.

A coroner ruled that the 50-year-old star died of the overdose of propofol in his bed on June 25, 2009, while under Murray's care. The drug was not intended for home use.

Martinez, who was lead investigator on Jackson's death, said he discovered that Murray faced student loans, home loans, child support obligations and credit card payments that were in arrears in 2009. Panish said the debts totaled nearly $1 million.

Martinez said he found that Murray had eight children by seven different women and was supposed to be supporting all of them.  He said the doctor was about to lose his home and his office in Las Vegas. Without his big payday from Jackson and AEG, he would have been in financial ruin, Martinez said, suggesting this caused him to disregard his medical oath.

Martinez testified he found most of the debts against Murray in public records that would have been readily available to AEG.

AEG denies it hired Murray, and it is likely to blame Jackson for insisting on having Murray as his doctor because of his dependence on propofol.

Millions and possibly billions of dollars are at stake in the trial, which may last 90 court days.

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NBA legend Michael Jordan marries model Yvette Prieto in Florida

Published April 28, 2013

FoxNews.com

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  March 18, 2010: Charlotte Bobcats majority owner Michael Jordan speaks during a news conference in Charlotte, N.C.Reuters

NBA legend Michael Jordan married Cuban-American model Yvette Prieto at a Florida church Saturday – the same one where mogul Donald Trump held his nuptials in 2005.

 Jordan, 50, and Prieto, 35, were reportedly married before approximately 500 guests, including ex-New York Knick Patrick Ewing and one-time teammate Scottie Pippen, at the Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach.

 The Miami Herald reports that a black tuxedo-clad Jordan, who is now majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, shot a thumbs-up upon arrival to the between 20 and 30 starry-eyed fans who gathered for the event.

 Jordan has three children with his ex-wife, Juanita Vanoy, to whom he was married in 1989. The hoops legend and Vanoy filed for divorce in 2002, but reconciled before their final separation in 2006.

Saturday’s ceremony was reportedly followed by a massive reception at Jordan’s palatial, 37,000-square-foot house in Jupiter.  The Herald reports that the gala affair was held under three enormous tents that spanned the length of two football fields.

 “I calculated a total under-roof space of about 600 feet long by 150 feet wide,” an unidentified worker told The Herald. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve been working weddings for a while. It looks like he’s having about 2,000 people over.”

People Magazine reports that Prieto met Jordan at a Miami nightclub in 2008, and the couple have been dating since then.

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'Pain & Gain' review: Michael Bay's movie has much more pain than gain

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How far is too far when embellishing the world of criminals, torture and all-around scumbags? Michael Bay hits the gym with his latest macho actionpalooza “Pain & Gain,” and benches much more pain than gain.  

For his first post-“Transformers” production, Bay goes a little too far at making stupidity and violence appear alluring and sexy. They say truth is stranger than fiction, and this true story is undeniably preposterous.  The story of three body builders, dressed as ninjas, kidnapping and torturing a wealthy Miami businessman is given the “Grand Theft Auto” treatment, where it’s all shallow, violent fun and games… even when someone gets their face run over by a van.

Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) is looking for the easy road to success and finds great abundance in creating a stripper-laden gym in Miami. But being a personal trainer to rich guys isn’t exactly what Lugo had in mind when fantasizing about the American Dream. When obnoxious client Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) brags to him about how much money he has, Lugo’s provincial brain immediately hatches a not-so-foolproof plan to kidnap him. Joined by Adrian (Anthony Mackie) and Paul (Dwayne Johnson), Lugo abducts Kershaw and tortures him to the point that he signs over all his property and financial holdings.

Bay really plays up the farcical aspect of the whole situation by making the characters a bunch of lightweight goofballs, which really softens to blow (or makes it worse, depending on your perspective). They bumble about figuring out how to chainsaw a body into pieces, or blow a man up in a car. These are despicable characters doing horrific things and Bay, with writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, treat them as if they are nothing more than a comedy routine. The characters can be funny, but should the actual act of killing be too?

The Coen brothers have perfected this genre, and even comparing Michael Bay to the Coens’ is a farce.
But “Pain & Gain” could easily have been made by the” Fargo” team, albeit in a drastically different style. “Pain & Gain” has the odd, quirky characters likely found in a Coen brothers morality play, but without the psychological layers, respect and intelligent wit.  

Then there’s the overabundance of machismo. Sure it fits a film about vain, juiced-up body builders and Bay sexes up most scenes with his typical slow motion, high contrast cinematography. Everything about this movie has bling, an egregious luster that is absolutely distracting from the terrible things these characters are actually doing.  

This is also one of the most misogynistic films from Hollywood this century. When the characters aren’t demeaning toward women, the camera, finds a way, often swerving off the primary action to focus on naked or half-naked women.

Fortunately, Ed Harris and Rebel Wilson class the film up. Wilson is delightful as Adrian’s precocious girlfriend and Harris is the seasoned detective hot on the morons’ trail. Despite all of the film’s embellishments and truly despicable characters, the performances are rather good, especially a surprising turn for Dwayne Johnson. His Paul Doyle is a hardened criminal but a gentle giant and born-again Christian who is too naïve and ignorant to know that he is just a rube in Lugo’s scheme. Johnson plays with this contrast very well. Wahlberg marches to the same drum as many of his other roles and Mackie is a ferocious ball of energy that well suits the bombastic tone of the film.

Michael Bay has finally moved past the metallic clang of the “Transformers” franchise, but he just might be benching too much with "Pain & Gain" by presenting this true story of torture, killing and kidnapping as a laughing matter. What if this movie was about last week’s Boston bombings or the hunt of Bin Laden? Would anyone still be laughing?

MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 2 hours and 9 minutes.

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Michael Jordan asked to take DNA test: Most embarrassing celeb paternity claim?

Basketball legend Michael Jordan is dealing with some pesky baby mama drama — but he says he's not the daddy.

On Tuesday, lawyers for an Atlanta woman who says Jordan is the father of her 16-year-old son asked a judge to order the hoops great to take a DNA test, Reuters reports.

SODAHEAD SLIDESHOW: See the most embarrassing celebrity paternity claims.

Pamela Smith, 48, filed a paternity suit against Jordan last month seeking child support. Jordan, who is currently engaged to Cuban-American model Yvette Prieto, filed a counterclaim seeking sanctions against Smith for making false claims, Reuters reports.

But Jordan isn't the only star to face an embarrassing paternity situation. After blonde bombshell Anna Nicole Smith died in 2007, multiple men came out of the woodwork to claim paternity of her young daughter, Dannielynn. A DNA test revealed that her ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead was the dad.

Who would deny being "exclusive" with Liz Hurley? Businessman Steve Bing, that's who. In 2002, Bing denied paternity of Hurley's son, but a test proved that he was indeed the father.

In 2009, a paternity test confirmed that Jude Law had become a dad for the fourth time following a brief relationship with American model Samantha Burke. And Justin Bieber swears he never even met Mariah Yeater, who claimed he was the father of her 15-month-old son.

PHOTOS: See the latest celebrity pictures to hit the Internet.

Who faced the most embarrassing paternity claim?

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Suit over hiring of Michael Jackson's doctor to go to trial

LOS ANGELES –  A judge has dismissed all but one count in a civil lawsuit by Michael Jackson's mother against concert giant AEG Live, which hired a doctor who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the singer's death.

Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos' ruling Thursday means that Katherine Jackson will have a trial on her claim that AEG negligently hired and supervised former cardiologist Conrad Murray. The ruling dismisses claims that AEG could be held liable for Murray's conduct and breached its duty to properly care for the pop superstar.

AEG Live was promoting a series of comeback concerts by Michael Jackson in London titled "This Is It." Jackson died in June 2009 while in final preparations for the shows after Murray administered a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol in the singer's bedroom.

Katherine Jackson's attorney Kevin Boyle was not immediately available for comment but argued at a hearing Monday that AEG controlled Murray's actions and failed to properly investigate him before agreeing to pay him to work as the singer's physician.

He cited Murray's debt problems as a red flag that AEG should have spotted and contends the company created a serious conflict between his responsibility to Jackson and his own financial well-being.

Jackson died at age 50 before a contract that would have paid Murray $150,000 a month was finalized.

AEG attorney Marvin Putnam has said Murray was not employed by the promoter and he expects the company to win at trial. He said Katherine Jackson's lawyers will be unable to prove that AEG should have foreseen that Murray was a danger to the "Thriller" singer.

A trial is scheduled to begin April 2.

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