Michael Jackson needed to eat

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-27 17:57

Kenny Ortega, who was the choreographer for the late Michael Jackson's sold-out 'This Is It' concerts, wanted Michael to eat more during rehearsals.

Michael Jackson's choreographer doesn't believe the singer ate enough.

Kenny Ortega, who choreographed Michael's 50 sold-out London comeback shows, has revealed he tried to make the late pop star eat more during rehearsals.

He said: "I wished he would have eaten more. I was always making sure there was plenty of food around. I would unwrap his plate and slide it over in front of him. But I didn't feed him."

However, Kenny denies Michael - who was taking several different prescription drugs at the time of his death in June, and was ruled to have passed away from acute Propofol intoxication - was too frail to mount a comeback on such a huge scale.

Kenny told a British newspaper: "Look at photographs of Fred Astaire at the height of his career. They're the spitting image."

Kenny - who also choreographed Michael's 'Dangerous' and 'HiStory' tours in the 90s - is adamant he never saw any evidence of Michael taking drugs while he worked with him.

He added: "I'd been to his home. I'd seen him playing with his children, and never saw any evidence ever of anything like that."

'This Is It', the documentary film pieced together from rehearsal footage of Michael and his dancers, is being released worldwide this week.