Michael Jackson's mother takes stand in wrongful death trial: 'When I lost Michael, I lost everything'
Michael Jackson's mother Katherine broke down in court Friday recalling the day her son died, as she testified against tour promoters AEG Live whom she blames over his 2009 death.
Taking the stand 12 weeks into a civil trial, she also lashed out at critics who described her the star as a "freak," and said AEG Live should have done more to help the late singer, clearly sick in the weeks before he died.
"When I lost Michael, I lost everything," said the 83-year-old, repeatedly wiping away tears as she was questioned by her lawyer Brian Panish in the Los Angeles courtroom where the wrongful death trial started in late April.
"Michael and I were very close. Michael was the the type of son every mother would want," she added, describing him as "very shy."
Jackson accuses AEG Live of pushing her son too hard as he rehearsed in Los Angeles for a series of "This is It" comeback concerts in London, and negligently hiring medic Conrad Murray to look after him.
Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 over the Jackson's death on June 25, 2009, from an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol, administered to help the 50-year-old singer with chronic insomnia.
Jackson's 16-year-old son Prince testified last month that his exhausted father warned that AEG Live were going to "kill" him as he rehearsed for the marathon concert tour.
Katherine Jackson echoed this Friday, saying the tour promoters failed to properly supervise Murray and to respond to clear signs that her son was seriously ill in the weeks and days before his death.
"My son was sick... and they knew he was sick, and nobody said 'call the doctor'," she testified, adding that she didn't know who Murray was until after Jackson's death.
"That doctor was for his children, I didn't know who it was," she said, adding: "My son needed another doctor."
In tense exchanges with AEG's lawyer Marvin Putnam, who also questioned her, she repeatedly lashed out at critics of her son.
"It's hard for me sitting in court and listening to people call my son a freak, saying he was lazy," she said, staring intently at Putnam.
"He was not a freak," she added.
Putnam asked her about testimony by tour director Kenny Ortega earlier in the trial, who used the word "lazy" in the sense that Jackson was reluctant to rehearse.
"He knew what he was doing. He didn't need that much rehearsing," she said, adding that, in June 2009, her son "was sick and couldn't rehearse."