Rishi Sunak jokes about the ‘deep state’ with William Wragg

Footage of Michael Jackson’s final rehearsal, taken just hours before his tragic death in June 2009, has left fans feeling “haunted”. The King of Pop was preparing for his This Is It tour at the time.

The video, shot on June 24th, 2009, shows a tired-looking Jackson struggling to keep pace with his backing dancers and rehearsing vocals.

He was noticeably out of sync with his dancers and couldn’t quite match their energy.

Dressed in a black silk bomber jacket over a loose white shirt and a t-shirt, along with black trousers, Jackson had his curly black hair pulled back into a ponytail.

He was seen brushing his hair from his face and talking to a stage manager before wearily walking across the stage.

Michael Jackson appeared frail (Image: YOUTUBE)

Fans have been reacting to the video on YouTube. One heartbroken fan wrote: “He looks so tired. It hurts to watch this knowing how weak his heart was and how close he was to the end. But he was so driven and such a professional! He was the most amazing, gifted entertainer!”

Another commented: “You can tell his body was not keeping up with the pace anymore. But his heart was still young. RIP.” A third agreed, saying: “You can tell how exhausted he is from everything but he still tried to get everything perfect for his fans.”

On June 25th, Jackson was battling insomnia and was given Valium at 1:30am, followed by the anti-anxiety drug Ativan at around 2am by his live-in doctor, Conrad Murray.

Michael Jackson appeared to be struggling (Image: YOUTUBE)

Michael Jackson’s appearance upset fans (Image: YOUTUBE)

Despite these sedatives, by 3am Jackson was still unable to sleep. He received a second sedative, Versed, more Ativan, and finally at 10:40am, propofol. Dr. Murray left Jackson alone after this last injection and returned to find him not breathing.

In panic, Dr Murray started CPR but didn’t call emergency services immediately, only later alerting one of MJ’s security guards.

The 911 call was made at 12:21pm and by 2:44pm news broke that Jackson had been declared dead at the UCLA medical centre. Paramedics arriving on scene believed they’d been called for a severely ill patient – they couldn’t recognise the singer.

His autopsy report states he was extremely thin, weighing just under ten stones, and pale.

Michael Jackson died in 2009 while rehearsing for his UK tour (Image: GETTY)

The report also disclosed that in his later years, Jackson wore a wig due to “sparse” hair and “frontal balding”. The wig was affixed onto his scarred scalp.

The star is thought to have started wearing a wig in 1984 after his hair was set alight while filming a Pepsi advert, resulting in severe burns.

This happened as he danced down stairs with fireworks going off around him, but they exploded too soon, setting the gel in his hair on fire.

His lips were tattooed pink and his eyebrows black due to his skin pigmentation disorder, vitiligo, which turned the skin on his chest, face, arms and stomach white.

The front of his scalp also had to be tattooed black to match his wig.

This article was crafted with the help of AI tools, which speed up the Daily Express editorial research. A Daily Express editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors here