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'Scandalous' Biographer Sparks Michael Jackson Rumors

Ian Halperin, the author of an unauthorized biography on Michael Jackson, has claimed that the King of Pop is suffering from Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency (A1AD), a genetic disorder that harms the liver and lungs. "He needs a lung transplant," Halperin told The Sun, "But he may be too weak to go through with it." The tabloid report added that Jackson is 95-percent blind in his left eye and battling both emphysema and gastrointestinal bleeding.

While all of this could turn out to be true (aside from being seen in a wheelchair earlier this year, Jackson's brother, Jermaine, told the paper that "[Michael's] not doing so well right now"), Rolling Stone has uncovered some red flags in Halperin's track record. For one thing, the writer says he is "a former winner of the Rolling Stone magazine award for Investigative Journalism." Turns out he actually shared this award with the student newspaper at Concordia University, which won RS' College Journalism Award in 1985. Beyond that, Halperin has written other rumor-mongering tomes on Celine Dion (Behind the Fairytale - A Very, Very Unauthorized Biography) and James Taylor (Fire and Rain: The James Taylor Story).

So far, Halperin and Jackson's reps haven't responded to requests for a comment on the author's claims.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
12.22.08