World pays tribute to a troubled icon
Among those leading the tributes was Barack Obama, who said he was a “spectacular performer, and a musical icon”. But the US president broke with the generally adulatory messages to acknowledge the more troubled aspects of Jackson’s life, adding that aspects of his life were sad and tragic.
Close friend Elizabeth Taylor yesterday said her “heart and mind” were broken.
“I loved Michael with all my soul and I can’t imagine life without him,” she said.
“We had so much in common and we had such loving fun together.
“I was packing up my clothes to go to London for his opening when I heard the news. I still can’t believe it. I don’t want to believe it. It can’t be so.”
Madonna – who was born less than a fortnight before Jackson – said the world had “lost one of its greats but his music will live on forever”, while Bee Gee Robin Gibb described the late star as a “wonderful sensitive human being”.
“If even a small portion of the praise that is bestowed on Michael Jackson now in death was given to him last year, in life, he might well still be with us,” Gibb said.
In an emotive entry on her MySpace blog, Jackson’s first wife, Lisa Marie Presley wrote that Jackson feared he would die in a similar fashion to her father, rock icon Elvis Presley.
“Years ago Michael and I were having a deep conversation about life in general.
“He stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty, ‘I am afraid that I am going to end up the way he did’,” she said referring to her father.
She also wrote that Jackson was “an amazing person”.
“I am lucky to have gotten as close to him as I did and to have had the many experiences and years that we had together.
“I desperately hope that he can be relieved from his pain, pressure and turmoil now.
“He deserves to be free from all of that and I hope he is in a better place or will be.”
The king of pop is believed to have suffered a heart attack at his Holmby Hills home in Los Angeles on Thursday and was taken to the UCLA medical centre where he was pronounced dead at 2.26pm.
His brother Jermaine said: “My brother, the legendary king of pop, passed away on Thursday, June 25, at 2.26pm.
“We believe he suffered a cardiac arrest at his home ... the personal physician who was with him at the time attempted to resuscitate him.”
A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman said the robbery and homicide team was investigating Michael Jackson’s death because of its “high profile”.
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