Due to Michael Jackson's persistent
insomnia
over the last few months, he became desperate for powerful sedatives - despite warnings that it could be detrimental to his health.
Cherilyn Lee, a nurse who provided the pop star with nutritional counseling, says that she regularly denied his demands for the drug Diprival.
On June 21st, she received a frantic call from Jackson's staff that made Lee suspect that he obtained the drug elsewhere.
"He called and was very frantic and said, `Michael needs to see you right away.' I said, 'What's wrong?' And I could hear Michael in the background …, 'One side of my body is hot, it's hot, and one side of my body is cold. It's very cold,'" Lee says. "I said, `Tell him he needs to go the hospital. I don't know what's going on, but he needs to go to the hospital … right away," the nurse continued. "At that point, I knew that somebody had given him something that hit the central nervous system," she said, adding, "He was in trouble Sunday and he was crying out."
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Jackson never went to the hospital and passed away four days later.
Despite the rumors about Jackson's pill-popping, Lee claims he was tortured by sleep deprivation and expressed opposition to recreational drug use.
"He wasn't looking to get high or feel good and sedated from drugs. This was a person who was not on drugs. This was a person who was seeking help, desperately, to get some sleep, to get some rest," Lee insists. "I don't know what happened there. The only thing I can say is he was adamant about this drug."
Diprivan, also known as Propofol, is an intravenous anesthetic drug used in operating rooms to induce unconsciousness. The drug can be very lethal as it doesn't take a dose much larger than the medically recommended amount to stop a person's breathing.
"I had an IV and when it hit my vein, I was sleeping. That's what I want," Lee said Jackson told her. "He said, `I don't like drugs. I don't want any drugs. My doctor said it's safe. It works quick and it's safe as long as somebody's here to monitor me and wake me up. It's going be OK."
Jackson would not give the doctor's name.
"I think it's so wrong for people to say these things about him," says Lee, who had only kind words for Michael. "He was a wonderful, loving father who wanted the best for his children."
Sad.