Jackson battled Lupus, drug addiction: Deepak Chopra

June 27, 10:17 PMSF Health News ExaminerJefferson Adams

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Spiritual advisor and physician Deepak Chopra told PEOPLE that his close
friend Michael Jackson suffered from lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease,
along with an associated skin condition. AP Photo: Eugene Hoshiko

Spiritual advisor and physician Deepak Chopra told PEOPLE that his close friend, pop singer Michael Jackson, suffered from lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease, along with an associated skin condition.

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body. Chopra said Lupus can trigger an associated skin discoloration known as vitiligo. "He had been diagnosed with lupus and he had vitiligo," Chopra says.

He added that Jackson "had a lot of blotches on his skin, huge white patches all over his body. So he would cover up his body and that of course gave food for fodder to the press."

"There's some recent research that suggests that if children have experienced either physical or verbal, mental, emotional or sexual abuse, then 20, 30 years later they can develop these autoimmune diseases including lupus." He adds, "Michael, he was never sexually abused but according to him, he was traumatized verbally and physically in his childhood, and it was a big issue with him."

As a result, Jackson often took pain medication. At various points in his life, he used Oxycontin, Vicodin and Demerol, Chopra said.

Chopra's son, Gotham, who was also close to Jackson, also confirmed that the singer, 50, had lupus, but it was his skin disorder that bothered him.

"It was very disturbing to him that people thought he always wanted to be white and he was bleaching his skin...he identified as being a black person and so it was troubling to him that everyone thought that he was a hater of his own race," Gotham explains. "And the lupus, why he didn't just come out more clearly and say that was the problem, I'm not sure. But I know it was something that bothered him a lot." 

For more info: PEOPLE, MSNBC, LA Times, Huffington Post, TMZ, CBS5, MSNBC Video


**Original article starts here**

Deepak Chopra: Jackson doctors fed Oxy-contin, Demerol addiction

Officials have identified the doctor present when Michael Jackson collapsed as Dr. Conrad Robert Murray, a board-certified Las Vegas cardiologist with over twenty years of medical experience, according to NBC news.
 
Meanwhile, Deepak Chopra, speaking with Keith Olbermann said that Jackson had approached Chopra in the past to ask for Oxy-contin. Chopra described his friend Michael Jackson as deeply resistant to discussion about addiction matters, but also clearly struggling with addiction, and with doctors willing to enable that addiction. Chopra called such doctors 'legalized pushers,' and went on to say that his longtime friend, Michael Jackson, had been victimized by such doctors.

Police have spoken with Dr. Murray briefly, but are reportedly seeking to interview him more fully, as he was attending to Jackson's medical needs, and likely administered any drugs the pop star ingested before his death.

Dr. Murray was reportedly hired by the concert company to attend to Jackson's medical needs up to and through Jackson's 50 show comeback tour in London beginning July 13th, according to the LA Times.

(Read complete article: Deepak Chopra: Jackson doctors fed Oxy-contin, Demerol addiction)