Michael Jackson was on cocktail of drugs and in debt, says fired nanny

Published on Sunday 28 June 2009 21:59

THE nanny of Michael Jackson's three young children has revealed her insight into the dangerous cocktail of drugs the star took in the months leading to his death.

Grace Rwaramba, 42, said she had to regularly pump Jackson's stomach and he was once in such bad condition she would not let his children see him.

Ms Rwaramba spent more than a decade working for Jackson before being dismissed in December last year, but maintained contact with the children.

She said she visited in April and claimed Jackson was so hard up she had to buy "happy birthday" balloons for his daughter Paris on her own credit card.

Jackson is believed to have been taking up to eight different drugs a day, including three narcotic painkillers, one of which was OxyContin, originally intended for relieving pain in terminal cancer patients.

Ms Rwaramba said: "I had to pump his stomach many times. He always mixed so much of it. There was one period that it was so bad that I didn't let the children see him. He always ate too little and mixed too much."

A native of Rwanda, Ms Rwaramba first started as an office assistant before becoming nanny to Michael Jr, known as Prince, aged 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II, seven.

She described Jackson as sometimes penniless, but deluded about his "riches", leading a nomadic life, moving between hotels and from country to country, before allegedly falling under the influence of the Nation of Islam sect.

Referring to the 50 concerts set for the O2 Arena in London, she added: "Fifty performances! I told him... what are you doing? He said 'I signed only for ten'. He didn't know what he was signing. He never did."