Michael Jackson sick, needs lung transplant

[Villavic]

MELVILLE, N.Y. — Michael Jackson is ailing from a rare lung condition and needs to undergo a transplant, according to the author of a new biography on the King of Pop.

Author Ian Halperin said Jackson, 50, suffers from Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, a condition that can be fatal.

"He’s had it for years, but it’s gotten worse," Halperin said in an interview with In Touch magazine. "He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it. He also has emphysema and chronic gastrointestinal bleeding, which his doctors have had a lot of trouble stopping. It’s the bleeding that is the most problematic part. It could kill him."

Halperin also said Jackson "can barely speak" and is having trouble seeing: "The vision in his left eye is 95 percent gone."

Jackson’s spokesman was unavailable for comment.

[Villavic]

Though I don't like that guy anymore (I was a Thriller fan), it makes me sad if that was true. However...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A spokesman for Michael Jackson released a statement on Monday denying as a "total fabrication" a report claiming that the former King of Pop needs a lung transplant due to a rare respiratory disease.

The statement, attributed to Jackson's "official and sole spokesperson, Dr. Tohme Tohme" and issued by Los Angeles firm Scoop Marketing, cites an interview with writer Ian Halperin in British newspaper the Sunday Express in which Halperin said Jackson was suffering from Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency.

"Concerning this author's allegations, we would hope in the future that legitimate media will not continue to be exploited by such an obvious attempt to promote this unauthorized 'biography,'" said the statement attributed to Tohme.