There is one line from a 2003 Michael Jackson interview that sounds especially haunting today.
Speaking to Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes after surrendering to authorities in Santa Barbara, Michael claimed officers had treated him roughly during the booking process.
He said his handcuffs had been placed painfully behind his back and claimed his shoulder had been injured.
Then Michael said:
“It keeps me from sleeping at night. I can’t sleep at night.”
Michael also showed a photograph of swelling around his wrist and claimed officers had deliberately tightened the handcuffs. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department denied mistreating him.
Michael Jackson’s 2003 60 Minutes Interview
CBS later uploaded footage from Michael’s interview with Ed Bradley.
What makes the sleeping comment difficult to hear now is what happened six years later.
By June 2009, Michael was rehearsing for his This Is It comeback concerts while reportedly suffering from severe difficulty sleeping.
His physician Dr. Conrad Murray later told investigators that Michael returned from rehearsal in the early hours of June 25 and remained awake despite receiving several sedatives.
According to Murray’s account, Michael repeatedly complained that he needed sleep so he could perform at rehearsal. Eventually, Murray administered propofol, a powerful surgical anesthetic Michael had been receiving as a sleep aid.
Michael never woke up.
The Los Angeles County coroner ruled his death a homicide caused by acute propofol intoxication, with benzodiazepines contributing.
That does not mean the 2003 police incident caused the insomnia that eventually surrounded Michael’s death. His later sleep problems had a complicated history, and six years separated the two events.
But hearing him say “I can’t sleep at night” in that older interview is still chilling in hindsight.
In 2003, Michael Jackson was telling the world that pain was keeping him awake. Six years later, the desperate attempt to finally make him sleep became part of the circumstances that ended his life.