Michael Jackson's drug use is set to become a talking point again thanks to a revealing new book by the King of Pop's former personal assistant and manager.
Frank Cascio's My Friend Michael: An Ordinary Friendship with an Extraordinary Man details the tragic pop star's use of propofol - the drug that cost him his life in 2009.
In the book, Cascio claims Jackson had been taking the powerful anaesthetic to help him battle insomnia for at least a decade before his death, according to the Associated Press.
Last week (07Nov11), the singer's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a jury unanimously found him guilty of using the drug to treat Jackson.
Cascio, a longtime friend of the late star, reveals Jackson's drug use began in the mid-1980s when he started taking painkiller Demerol. Jermaine Jackson recently confessed his brother had become addicted to Demerol in 2001.
The King of Pop's former manager states Jackson had already turned to harder drugs by then, explaining he witnessed Jackson taking propofol in 1999 after he was injured in a fall.
Cascio confesses he paid off Jackson's doctors and put his own name on prescriptions to hide the singer's medical problems, and when it became a big problem he turned to his friend's brothers for help - but the Thriller singer refused to heed their counsel.
The author reveals Jackson was late for one of his 2001 anniversary shows in New York because he was drugged in his dressing room.