Jackson ‘abused drugs and alcohol’

MICHAEL Jackson has abused drugs and alcohol and given teenage boys wine, which he calls “Jesus juice”, a former business adviser claimed in a magazine yesterday.

The King of Pop was said to have checked into rehab clinics in London and South Korea after aides feared for his life.

The embattled star, who has been charged with child sex abuse, frequently swigged wine from pop cans to hide his drinking, according to Vanity Fair.

One of his stints in rehab came only after the intervention of friend Elizabeth Taylor, the magazine said.

According to the report, the boy at the centre of the latest allegations against Jackson said the pop star gave him wine in Coke cans.

Jackson, 45, has denied plying the teenage cancer sufferer with wine before molesting him at the Neverland Ranch in California.

Jackson’s former business adviser Myung-Ho Lee told the magazine Jackson checked into rehab in London after becoming addicted to morphine.

According to the report, a doctor told a Jackson adviser: “Either the drugs are going to kill him or he’s going to die by flying out of a window because he thinks he can fly. You better get someone here he’ll listen to.”

Staff then called Elizabeth Taylor who convinced him to check into the London clinic. A few years later Jackson went into rehab in Seoul. “We were getting Michael off what he was addicted to, Demerol [a painkiller] and morphine,” Lee said.

Lee recalled a different incident in 1998 where Jackson got a 13-year-old boy drunk during a visit to an amusement park. The incident supposedly destroyed a deal which would have seen Jackson open theme parks and toy stores in Japan because the boy he gave the wine to was the son of one of his new Japanese partners.

“...the boy came back sick. Security informed me that he appeared drunk and his father was very upset,” Lee said. Last year, Lee sued Jackson for $12 million he said the singer owed him. The suit was settled out of court.

Jackson’s spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the article. Jackson’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, said he was unable to comment due to a court gagging order, banning parties from discussing the case in public.

Meanwhile, the father of the boy accusing Jackson of sex abuse has been denied access to his son by a court in California. He previously pleaded no contest to child cruelty.