Michael Jackson slipped from a healthy, sharp man, excited about his comeback concerts, to a frail, emaciated shadow of his former self in just three weeks, according to the King of Pop's chef, who served up his final meals.
Kai Chase, who became the singer's cook in March, reveals she parted ways with Jackson for three weeks in May - due to a contract dispute - and couldn't believe what had become of her boss during her absence from his Holmby Hills, Los Angeles home.
Upon her return, a skinny Jackson took the chef to one side and praised her cooking skills, telling Chase, "I need you to keep me healthy."
The tragic star begged her to make sure the beet juice he liked to drink was always ready for him and confessed rehearsals for his doomed This Is It tour were "killing" him.
Chase was with Jackson and his kids on 25 June - the day the singer died.
She reveals she was shocked by his appearance when she returned to work for Jackson in June: "In April, Mr. Jackson would come downstairs... before he went on his rehearsals, looking wonderful, sharp... He'd be chipper, eating and feeling really good about himself.
"When I came back in June I noticed he was a little thinner and I was wondering, 'Had he been eating...?' I figured he wasn't getting the nourishment I had been giving him. It just seemed to me that he was very, like, not with it.
"He said, 'I need you to take care of me... Do you have my beet juice in the refrigerator? ...They're killing me, I'm rehearsing very hard - maybe two rehearsals a day."
But Chase dismisses reports Jackson didn't eat: "He ate very well when I was there... I would actually see the man eat."
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