Michael Jackson was close to death during his child molestation trial in 2005 after refusing all food and drink, according to a long-term friend of the singer.

As the trial took its toll on his physical and mental well-being, the paranoid pop star became convinced that he was being poisoned, says Dick Gregory.

He recalls: "The last week of the trial, I got a call from (Jackson's father) Joe and a message from his mother saying I needed to come out and take a look at him because they were worried about his demeanour.

"When (we went) to Neverland and he asked me to come upstairs and he grabbed me and started crying and said, 'Please don't leave me, they're trying to kill me'. I said, 'When was the last time you ate?' and he said, 'No, they'll poison me'. Then I said, 'When was the last time you drank water?' and so one thing led to another."

Gregory advised Jackson to seek medical help to determine what was wrong, and tests revealed that he was severely dehydrated.

He explains: "The only thing it pointed out was he was extremely dehydrated, nothing wrong with his heart, nothing wrong with his lungs. So the next day we get out of court and I said, 'I need to take you to a hospital,' and he said, 'No, no, they'll kill me!'"

Gregory finally managed to convince Jackson to check into a hospital and spend the night receiving the treatment he desperately needed.

The pal adds: "So we went to a hospital in San Francisco and they start examining him. At about 6pm, they start intravenously putting liquid in him, and, at about 6am they were still putting liquid in him. The doctor said to me, had he waited 12 more hours he would have been dead."

The investigation into Jackson's death from an apparent cardiac arrest on June 25 continues.

Remembering Michael Jackson