Michael Jackson's health woes took center stage
Thursday, June 25, 2009 LOS ANGELES -- Over Michael Jackson's chart-topping music career, his health has commanded as much publicity as his hit songs. Plastic surgery, mysterious hospitalizations and reports of pill popping have long plagued the King of Pop. The circumstances surrounding Jackson's death Thursday were sketchy, but the pop icon apparently collapsed from cardiac arrest at his rented Bel-Air home. The reclusive singer was reportedly found unconscious and not breathing. Paramedics performed CPR and rushed him to the hospital - a six-minute drive away - where he was pronounced dead. Jackson's unexpected death at age 50 during a comeback attempt stunned the world despite a history of health problems - some real and others rumored - that have been fodder for tabloids and gossip columns speculating wildly about his woes. ad_icon In the early 1990s, Jackson's dermatologist revealed the singer had a skin disorder known as vitiligo, which leads to white patches on ...