Is Michael Jackson On Death's Door?

12/22/08 6:44pm

Michael Jackson needs a lung transplant, but may be too weak for one, his biographer claims.

Canadian journalist Ian Halperin says the singer is suffering from Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic disorder that depletes a protein that protects the liver and lungs. Jackson is allegedly suffering from chronic gastrointestinal bleeding, 95-per cent blindness in his left eye and emphysema, according to an interview with Halperin in U.K. tabloid The Sun.

Jackson, 50, claimed he was too sick to travel to England last month for a trial after he was sued for more than $7 million U.S. ($8.5 million Canadian) by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, one of the king of Bahrain's sons. Jackson eventually made the trip.

A woman calling herself Billie Jean Jackson, who claims she's Jackson's wife and the mother of the reclusive pop star's youngest child, Prince Michael II, has filed a $1 billion lawsuit against him and is demanding joint custody of the kid often called Blanket.

The 60-year-old woman filed a $150-million paternity lawsuit against Jackson in 1987 and was arrested by Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies for trespassing at Jackson's Neverland Ranch in March. Jackson gave up the deed to the estate in November.