Michael Jackson might still be alive today if it weren’t for the “selfish” approach of his close friend and “dermatologist to the stars” Dr. Arnold Klein, according to Jeffrey Mark.
The Emmy Award-winning producer, who had a relationship with Klein for several years in the late 1990s, exclusively claimed to Page Six that doctors weren’t doing enough to help the King of Pop, who battled an addiction to opioids and painkillers from the late 1980s until his tragic death in 2009.
Mark alleges that the doctor acted more like an advocate than a responsible medical professional.
“Ernie thought Michael was an addict, but that didn’t stop him from writing prescriptions,” Mark said of Klein, who first introduced him to Michael.
During the final months of Jackson’s life, Klein (who died in 2015) gave Jackson dozens of doses of Demerol and Botox treatments in his Beverly Hills office.
Mark believes Klein “didn’t do enough” to get Jackson off drugs or intervene, despite the harsh stories about him from those who knew him.
Instead, Mark claims Klein was more focused on enriching his own wealth and status than on helping his friend recover.
“Ernie loved the jet-setting Hollywood life so much that he knew and was on the inside about all of this. I think that was Arnie’s drug,” Mark told Page Six.
“That’s why Ernie couldn’t say ‘no’ to Michael, because if he said ‘no’ to Michael, that kind of cooking would be over,” he added.
Mark further claimed that Klein’s self-centered thinking also influenced Jackson’s care.
“His nature was to have economic and social power, to attract attention, to get men who wanted to be with him, to make famous people want and need him, so that he was able to be on the inside of things,” the author argued. “And once he was on the inside, he used what he learned to better himself.”
Even though the morally bankrupt Klein “helped him out for a long time,” Mark still believes Jackson played a decisive role in his death.
“Michael had to pay millions of dollars to other doctors. They would have gladly taken that money and made his treatment possible,” Mark explained. “Unfortunately…the addiction was already there and no one could make a change except Michael himself.”
“Addicts need a moment of clarity to understand that if they don’t change, they die,” Mark added.
Jackson died on June 25, 2009, at the age of 50, from cardiac arrest due to acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication. The lethal dose was administered by Dr. Conrad Murray, a doctor who was trying to treat the “Man in the Mirror” singer’s insomnia.
Murray was convicted of manslaughter and served less than two years in prison before being released in October 2013.
As Mark pointed out, Jackson used an astonishing amount of drugs and narcotics in the last 20 years of his life, including cocaine, daily Demerol jabs while on tour, and the hospital anesthesia Diprivan to help him sleep.
The “Thriller” singer also allegedly regularly used sedatives such as lorazepam, midazolam, and diazepam, as well as powerful drugs such as Xanax, Zoloft, hydrocodone, paroxetine, carisoprodol, and hydromorphone.
Mark further claimed that Jackson became addicted to drugs after sustaining scalp burns during a fireworks accident at a Pepsi commercial shoot in 1984.
“At that time, I realized Michael needed help,” Mark admitted to Page Six.
Despite his concerns, at the time he felt he could not intervene in any way with the singer.
“An ethical doctor or a good psychologist could have helped him,” Mark argued.
“Looking at the big picture of addiction, I’ve tried to help many famous people over the years, and frankly I’ve had more failures than successes. When I realized that nothing I could say or do to Michael or Arnold would help, I walked away.”
