Paris Jackson Saved Dad Michael After He 'Nearly Died' of a Drug Overdose in 2003, Former Bodyguard Reveals
Paris Jackson saved her father's life after a suspected drug overdose.
June 2 2026, Published 5:00 p.m. ET
Years before Michael Jackson's tragic drug overdose in 2009, the King of Pop's bodyguard revealed he nearly suffered an eerily similar fate, RadarOnline.com can report.
Luckily, Jackson's daughter, Paris, was there to save the legendary singer.
Michael Jackson Was 'Barely Breathing'
Paris Jackson alerted the singer's bodyguards that Michael was not responsive.
Matt Fiddes was Jackson's personal bodyguard from 1999 to 2009, and during that time, he was tasked with tracking down drugs that the Thriller singer became dependent on to sleep.
Appearing on The Art of Dialogue podcast, Fiddes said when a doctor gave Michael a sleep aid, it nearly had a devastating effect.
"Michael nearly died on us in 2003," Fiddes recalled. "A doctor administered this medication to Michael, and Michael was barely breathing."
The bodyguard said he may have been too late to save him, had Paris not intervened.
"Paris, his daughter, brought it to our attention," Fiddes added, explaining the iconic singer's crew covered up the episode. "And they ran to revive him, but he didn't want paramedics to come because it'd be worldwide news."
Michael Jackson's Personal Life Spiraled Out of Control
Bodyguard Matt Fiddes would track down drugs to help Michael Jackson sleep.
Jackson was weeks away from a series of comeback concerts at the O2 Arena in London and was in rehearsals the night he tragically passed away at the age of 50 – shocking millions of fans around the world – on June 25, 2009.
But in the months leading up to his death, Jackson spiraled through child abuse allegations and public criticisms, and suffered from insomnia.
Fiddes was charged with finding sleep aids for Jackson, often in the form of drowsy cough medicine. But the bodyguard said that while a normal dose of the medicine was just a few milligrams, Jackson would routinely go through two full bottles a night.
"I get to his hotel room, and it horrified me cuz he downed them," Fiddes recalled. "He like, downed them. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then he got another one. Downed it."
The Cough Medicine Didn't Work
Michael Jackson would drink two full bottles of cough syrup to try to fall asleep.
Fiddes said the amount of liquid he drank far exceeded the "daily recommended dose."
"I was like, 'Whoa, I think you should just take two, five (milliliter) teaspoons of that, Mike," Fiddes continued, adding, "He said, 'No, I have to have it. I won't sleep. I got this important meeting in the morning. I got people flying in.'
"And it didn't work. He drank two bottles of it. And he was still wide awake two hours later. He stayed up all night."
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Conrad Murray Delivers the Drugs
Conrad Murray gave Michael Jackson a fatal dose of propofol.
When the syrup failed to help, the singer recruited doctor Conrad Murray to supervise his medical care, paying him a salary of $150,000 a month to help him sleep.
Before hiring Murray, Jackson tried to get doctors to give him "more and more potent sleep drugs and pain killer drugs," according to Jackson biographer Steve Knopper, "and they would say no. But doctor Murray would say yes."
Murray ended up supplying Jackson with various intense painkillers, including Propofol, the drug that killed him. Two years later, Murray was charged and convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
At his trial, it was revealed that Murray treated Jackson's insomnia with a nightly propofol drip, an unstable anesthetic that carried fatal side effects.
