Randi Kaye is back with that information.
You spoke with an old friend of Michael Jackson, Dick Gregory. What did he say?
KAYE: Right. Dick Gregory is a comedian, a good friend of Michael Jackson's. They met many, many years ago -- decades ago, in fact -- when they were doing "The Wiz" together.
And he was actually with Michael Jackson during the second child molestation trial. And he told me that Jackson's parents called him and said that Michael wasn't well, can he come and help him. And a few days before the trial ended, Dick Gregory told me that he went back to Neverland with Michael Jackson, and that Jackson hugged him and said -- quote -- "Please don't leave me. They're trying to kill me."
Gregory says he asked Jackson when the last time he ate was, because he didn't look well, and that Jackson told him -- quote -- "They're trying to poison me." He asked him when he last drank water, and he said Jackson told him again -- quote -- "They're trying to kill me."
So, he wasn't drinking and he wasn't eating anything.
COOPER: So what did Gregory do?
KAYE: Well, he tried to help him as quickly as he could, as a matter of fact. Gregory says that he insisted Jackson go to the hospital. He says he was very paranoid that someone was after him.
So, he drove him to a small hospital about 10 miles or so away from Neverland without announcing that he was coming. And Gregory told me that Jackson was given fluids to hydrate him from 5:30 in the evening, Anderson, until 5:30 in the morning the next day, so, for 24 hours straight.
And he said that the doctor told him -- quote -- "Twelve more hours, and he would have been dead."
He was that dehydrated.
COOPER: So, this was right after the trial. Did -- did Gregory stay in touch with him over the last couple years?
KAYE: He did.
He said, actually, that the last time he saw him -- he didn't see him for a little while. But then he saw him again at singer James Brown's funeral. That would have been in December of 2006. And we actually have some pictures of them. That's them hugging right there at that funeral.
He told me that hugged him and that -- that Michael Jackson looked well. And I asked Gregory if he ever saw Michael Jackson do drugs. And he said, no. He said that, when they used to spend a lot of time together, years ago, Jackson wouldn't even drink soda. He said he was always particular about what he put in his body.
And he summed up his old friend this way: "To me, he's always been a little 5-year-old child in a grown man's body." That's what he said. He said, he really felt that Michael Jackson need someone to take care of him. And he didn't trust those around him, who he says were pretending to take care of him.
