Insiders share truth about Michael Jackson's last performance 48 hours before his death

11 June 2025, 18:08

Close confidants of Michael Jackson have shared their insights into the days leading up to the King of Pop's death.

Michael Jackson's last ever performance was filmed just 48 hours before the star's sudden death at his home in Los Angeles home.

Footage shows the King of Pop rehearsing for his upcoming 50-concert London residency This Is It – the star's 'comeback' show due to kick off in just 20 days at the O2 arena.

Video shows the 50-year-old star taking to the stage at The Staples Centre in LA on June 23, 2009, where he performed an emotional rendition of 'They Don't Care About Us' from the singer's 1995 HIStory album.

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Just two days later Michael Jackson would be found dead, leaving the world with the enduring question of what really happened in the last days of his life.

Since his 2009 death, insiders and staff who became close confidants of the star have come forward to give their own version of events.

From his trusted bodyguard and long-term voice coach to the chef hired to accompany MJ to his London residency, each one provides a clearer picture of the days and hours leading up to the star's untimely death.

Dorian Holley, Jackson's vocal director, told CNN that the footage from the Staples Centre was the first time the team had done a full run-through of the show: "He was sharp, there was no indication there was something wrong."

But Holley, who had been working with Michael Jackson since 1987, added there was something different about him while rehearsing in the days leading up to his death, that the star was somehow more contemplative.

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"It almost sounds crazy to say that the show wasn't about him, but ... he'd put it in perspective all the time, saying, 'This is what we're here for, to spread a message of love and taking care of the planet, that we want people to understand it's very, very dear and not to take it for granted,'" Holley told Time Magazine just three days after the shocking news of the star's death.

"He was just glowing, and you could see it, that he was finally seeing it all come together.

"Up until [the day before his death], it had always been [just a concept], but that last day you could see it in him, that he was seeing the show finally come together for the first time. It was a big moment."

Jackson's bodyguard, Bill Whitfield, was responsible for Jackson’s security during the last years of his life and has spent a long time reflecting on those final days.

June 2009 saw Jackson's team preparing for the This Is It residency, with the star spending endless hours rehearsing - and the schedule was only set to get tougher.

"I could see he was a little more frail than normal, he was doing a lot of rehearsing. I could tell it was weighing on him," Whitman told The Sun.

With his death occurring just three weeks before the start of the residency, Whitman has spent years trying to understand what led up to the tragic outcome.

"Do I think someone made a mistake? Yes," he said matter-of-factly.

"I've tried to work on the thoughts of could this have been intentional. But the thought that [he died] at the hands of someone intentionally, doesn't weigh with me."

"I've often been asked, what do I think killed him? And I've told people, a lot of everything. And includes a lot of us."

Michael Jackson's final performance two days before he died

Jackson's personal physician, Dr Conrad Murray would go on to be convicted of involuntary manslaughter of the star in 2011.

Whitman went on to say the King of Pop was surrounded by people who drained him.

"There were so many people that wanted not only to be near him, but there were so many people who wanted something from him.

"And that can be overwhelming. He was definitely stressed out," he said. "And stress kills."

Whitman added: "I like to [think] he didn't just pass away, he left. He left this place, this world, for a better place because the rest that he needed he would never get in this lifetime."

Talking about the day MJ died, Whitman said he got calls on June 25, and at first he didn't believe it.

"I started getting phone calls from people, and they were saying 'did I hear' - I said did I hear what?

"They said Michael had passed away. And at first, I didn't believe it because there was a time when we were driving in Virginia and on the radio they announced that Michael Jackson had passed away.

"And he was in the back of the car, and I was looking right at him.

"And I said: 'Mr Jackson did you hear that, they said you died'."

And he said 'oh, I get that all the time'. So when the situation was actually real, I didn't believe it at first."

Kai Chase, a chef hired by Jackson to help him maintain a healthy regime in the lead-up to the London residency, was in the home the day Michael died and revealed how the events of the tragic day unfolded.

Speaking to The Guardian, Chase said when she arrived for work each morning, she'd often see Doctor Conrad Murray coming downstairs from Jackon's room carrying oxygen tanks.

But when Dr Murray didn't come downstairs the morning of 25 June, Chase recalled: "I thought maybe Mr Jackson is sleeping late.

"I started preparing the lunch... About 12.05 or 12.10 Dr Murray runs down the steps and screams, 'Go get Prince!' He's screaming very loud," she said.

"I run into the den where the kids are playing. Prince (Jackson's oldest son) runs to meet Dr Murray and from that point on you could feel the energy in the house change.

"I walked into the hall and I saw the children there. The daughter was crying. I saw paramedics running up the stairs."

Chase then said the small group in the house – including herself, Jackson's young children, their nanny and a housekeeper – held hands and prayed.

As paramedics entered the home, Chase said, "We were all praying, 'Help Mr Jackson be OK'. Then everyone was very quiet.

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She went on to add that at about 1.30 pm security guards told her and other staff to leave the property because "Mr Jackson was being taken to the hospital".

Michael Jackson was pronounced dead on Thursday, June 25, 2009, at 2:26 p.m. Pacific Time at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Dr Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, was found guilty of negligence in 2011, after Michael Jackon's official cause of death was found to be an overdose of propofol and other painkillers.

The Doctor served two years in prison and was let out early in 2013 for 'good behaviour'. He still practices medicine and in May 2023 opened the DCM Medical Institute in Trinidad and Tobago.

Michael Jackson's untimely death cut short the star's long-awaited comeback.

Vocal coach Holley said the King of Pop had been 'preparing to take the world back' and during the singer's final night - just hours before his death - he finally knew he was ready.

"You would think that, on the one hand, the world has kind of beaten him up, and you could forgive him for having some trepidation and fear. But he didn't have any of that," recalls the vocal director.

"Words fail to describe what people would have seen with the tour. He was ready to show the world, and I so wish there could have been just one concert so the world would have seen."