A former nurse who cared for Michael Jackson says he pleaded with her to give him a powerful sedative in the last months of his life, as new claims emerge the pop star was trying to make himself sick to avoid tour commitments.
Cherilyn Lee, a health practitioner with more than 20 years experience, told CNN Jackson had requested the drug Diprivan.
Lee, who claimed to work for Jackson for three months between January and March, said she refused his request.
She also revealed that a member of Jackson's staff had requested the drug four days before the singer's death last week.
Lee said she had turned down the request after warning the singer of the side effects.
"I told him this medication is not safe," she said.
"He said, 'I just want to get some sleep. You don't understand. I just want to be able to be knocked out and go to sleep'.
"I told him — and it is so painful that I actually felt it in my whole spirit — 'if you take that you might not wake up'."
CNN said it could not independently verify whether Lee had worked for Jackson.
Lee was also unable to explain why she was contacted by Jackson's staff last week, more than three months after she had ceased to work for him.
Several friends and associates of Jackson have said the singer had easy access to powerful prescription drugs and they may have contributed to his death.
Noted showbiz reporter Gerald Posner cites an anonymous source from the Jackson camp who claims the King of Pop was trying to make himself sick to avoid playing all 50 London shows he was signed up for.
He writes in the Daily Beast that Jackson knew he would not be financially penalised for missing performances if he had a medical reason for doing so.
"Like a child who doesn’t want to go to school, Michael thought he could get away from his obligations if he had a 'note from the doctor'," Posner quotes the insider as saying.
The Daily Beast had previously reported Jackson was playing private shows for Russian and Arab oligarchs in London for up to $3m an hour to service his massive debts.
Meanwhile, the Jackson family is reportedly stunned that a second autopsy has confirmed the findings of the first.
The shocking report ruled out foul play and described the celebrity as in a shocking state of decline, barely eating and with only pills in his stomach when he died.
The leaked details, as reported in UK newspaper The Sun, said that Jackson was so emaciated he weighed just 51kg and had needle marks covering his shoulders and thighs.
It also reported that Jackson secretly wore a wig - and had little more than a "peach fuzz" covering his scalp.
The LA country coroner's office has refuted details of The Sun's original report, saying some details were inaccurate.
"I don't know where that information came from, or who that information came from. It is not accurate. Some of it is totally false,'' a spokesman for the coroner's office said.
But the state of his body has reportedly not stopped plans to have a public viewing of the singer's body.
The singer's corpse will be transported to his funeral in a white carriage led by two horses, reports claim.
His body will then be placed on show in a glass coffin at Neverland to allow diehard fans a chance to say goodbye.
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