Michael Jackson Nanny Says Star Had Stomach Pumped 'many Times'

The nanny who looked after Michael Jackson's three children said today the star had his stomach pumped "many times" after taking a dangerous cocktail of prescription drugs.

Grace Rwaramba, 42, told the Sunday Times: "I had to pump his stomach many times. He always mixed so much of it. There was one period that it was so bad that I didn't let the children see him ... He always ate too little and mixed too much."

Los Angeles police yesterday confirmed news reports that Jackson had become "heavily addicted" to the powerful painkiller OxyContin and had received an injection of Demerol, another opiate, an hour before his death. Detectives are expected to interview Rwaramba about whether she helped administer the drugs.

The nanny said she once called in Jackson's mother, Katherine, and sister, Janet, to attempt an "intervention" to persuade the singer to recognise his addiction to painkillers.

But she said Jackson accused her of betraying him: "He didn't want to listen; that was one of the times he let me go."

Rwaramba, who is from Rwanda, worked for Jackson for more than a decade, first as an office assistant and then as the nanny to his children, Michael Jr, known as Prince, aged 12; Paris, 11; and Prince Michael II, seven, nicknamed Blanket.

Rwaramba, who flew from London to Los Angeles yesterday in the hope of being reunited with the children, gave the Sunday Times a grim account of the singer's final months.

She said the singer's lavish spending was out of control, and that he led an increasingly nomadic lifestyle, moving from country to country and hotel to hotel.

She was dismissed for a final time last December but still visited the children. When she saw them in April she claims Jackson was so broke she had to buy "happy birthday" balloons for Paris on her own credit card.

On an earlier occasion the singer had sent her to Florence to buy antiques for $1m. "We didn't even have a home to live in. So we had to put the antiques in storage," she said.

One theory behind Jackson's massive drug regimen is that he was taking them to combat the stress of his forthcoming 50 shows at the O2 arena in London. The nanny said: "Fifty performances! I told him ... what are you doing? He said, 'I signed only for 10.' He didn't know what he was signing. He never did."

Rwaramba also claims the Nation of Islam gained a growing influence over the singer's financial and personal affairs. She says the sect told the singer it cost $100,000 (£60,000) a month to rent the mansion he was living in until his death, but she believes similar properties were on the market for no more than $25,000 a month.

The sect supplied bodyguards to the singer and allegedly intimidated auction houses that were selling Jackson memorabilia.

"Michael had no idea about money," Rwaramba said. "He got a proposal to make an appearance in Japan for $1m ... By the time everyone took their share, he ended up with $200,000."

Whatever money Jackson had he would hide in black rubbish bags and under the carpets at the Los Angeles house, according to Rwaramba. She said Katherine Jackson rang her in London at 7am on Friday to ask where the money was, possibly to stop it being stolen.

The children will stay with their grandmother and grandfather Joe at the family home in Encino, California, sources close to the Jacksons yesterday told the TMZ entertainment website, which broke the news of his death,.

They said: "We're told the family is 100% behind this, feeling that Katherine and Joe Jackson are the only people who can help the children understand who their father was, help them grieve, and teach them to deal with life in the spotlight."

But US legal experts speculate that the mother of the two eldest children would stand the best chance of winning any custody battle. Iris Finsilver, the lawyer for Jackson's former wife, Debbie Rowe, stated that her client would seek to look after the children.