Incredible Hulk blames MJ's debts

Reuters

UNCANNY: Incredible Hulk star Lou Ferrigno was Michael Jackson's personal trainer.

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Michael Jackson died because of the pressure of his US$400 million debts, according to his personal trainer, Lou Ferrigno.

Ferrigno claims Jackson was forced into agreeing to his 50-night This Is It comeback concerts because of his massive financial problems, and the Incredible Hulk star believes the pressure of the mammoth run ultimately led to the singer's death last month.

Ferrigno, 57, said: "He was under tremendous stress, so much I think it killed him. He was $400 million in debt. In the past, he had backed out of doing live shows but this time he was under the gun. The debts put a huge strain on him."

Bodybuilder Ferrigno - who rose to fame playing green anti-hero The Hulk in the popular 70s TV series - felt 50-year-old Jackson was in great shape only months before his death, when they trained together for his comeback shows, and that he saw no signs of drug abuse. 

He said: "Michael had undergone a five-hour medical in February and had passed with flying colours, but he wanted to be fitter.

"So I would go to his house with an inflatable exercise ball and 3lb dumbbells. He did not like the dumbbells. He said he didn't want big shoulders and big muscles like me.

"I laughed and said, 'Michael, there's no way you will get big shoulders from 3lb dumbbells.'"

Ferrigno also revealed Jackson - who reportedly only had prescription medication in his stomach when he died from a suspected cardiac arrest, according to an autopsy - had bizarre eating habits and a strange attitude to dressing.

He added in an interview with Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper: "He ate only one meal a day, always in the evening. He'd wake up and not have anything for the whole day, and when he did eat it was always vegetarian.

"He also wore whatever he put on first thing. So if he put pyjamas on he would wear pyjamas for the rest of the day. But it was always with a suit jacket - that was the Michael Jackson signature."