Michael Jackson's distressing autopsy - strange tattoos, scars and glued-on wig

Michael Jackson was famous for his high-energy performances, contorting his body into never before seen moves and dancing for hours on end. But by the time he died in June 2009, Jackson's body was shrivelled, scarred and withered to just 8st 10lbs after years of surgery, prescription drug abuse and an apparent battle with anorexia.

The star's autopsy report made for distressing reading, revealing Jackson, 50, had nothing but partially dissolved pills in his stomach after reportedly surviving on just one tiny meal a day. His hips, thighs and shoulders were covered in puncture marks from what were believed to be from painkiller injections.

Jackson's lips had been tattooed pink while his eyebrows were black tattoos and the front of his scalp had also bizarrely been tattooed black to blend with his hairline. Meanwhile, the star's knees and shins were mysteriously bruised and he had cuts on his back, suggesting a recent fall.
His body was also mottled with areas of light and dark skin, confirming he did indeed suffer from pigmentation disease vitiligo. But more disturbingly, his wavy, shoulder-length hair was found to be a wig that had been glued onto his head. Beneath it, Jackson was completely bald apart from patches of 'peach fuzz' on his scarred scalp.

“He was skin and bone, his hair had fallen out, and he had been eating nothing but pills when he died,” a source close to the singer told The Sun.

“Injection marks all over his body and the disfigurement caused by years of plastic surgery show he’d been in terminal decline for some years.”

Jackson is believed to have first started wearing a wig after his hair caught fire during filming for a 1984 Pepsi commercial, leaving him with second and third degree burns. The shoot at LA's Shrine Auditorium required him to dance down a short flight of stairs as fireworks were let off around him.

But a technical problem during the sixth take saw the pyrotechnics explode too early, causing sparks to ignite Jackson's heavily gelled hair before it burst into flames. The star ended up being carried out by a stretcher, with a bald, burning patch above his left ear clearly visible.