LONDON -- Two of Michael Jackson's siblings said Wednesday they knew "something bad was going to happen" in the months before his death but could not get to their brother because of his aggressive staff.
Tito and Rebbie Jackson revealed in an interview with The (Sydney) Daily Telegraph in London that they were barred from entering the singer's property by his security team and were unable to reach Michael by phone before he died in June 2009 from a dose of the anesthetic propofol.
"We had premonitions. I always felt that if nobody stepped in, somebody was going to do something bad," the singer's sister Rebbie, 61, told the newspaper.
"We tried many, many times -- interventions and everything else. We couldn't get to him. He had a fortress around him.
"It's a sad, ugly scene with people like that, when they see you coming they run the other way. People want to continue staying on that payroll. They don't want you to rock the boat."
Michael's elder brother Tito, 58, said he got into physical fights with his brother's security team who blocked him from seeing the star.
Michael's private doctor, Conrad Murray, is currently on trial in Los Angeles for the involuntary manslaughter of the star. He could face up to four years in prison and lose his medical license if he is convicted of being criminally negligent in administering propofol to Jackson, who died in his LA mansion at the age of 50.
Tito said his brother had developed a serious drug addiction following horrific scalp burns he received during a pyro accident shooting a Pepsi commercial in 1984. "The Pepsi commercial started it but it grew from there," he added.
The siblings were in the UK promoting a new film on the star "Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon." Tito said the film, which follows Michael's life from a talented child to his death, was a form of closure for the family.
"The more people know the real deal the better I feel about it," he said.
The film's producer David Gest said the new movie will "set the story straight" about the star.
Gest, the former husband of Liza Minnelli, said he was tired of reading false stories about the singer.
"I woke up one morning and said I'm going to make a movie about Michael's life because I was tired of reading all this crap about him, all these tales that were so fictitious," he said.
"I thought let's set the story straight but let's give the people a movie that says something new," he added. "Not the same rehash, the same moves -- and that's what I did."
The movie was released as a verdict neared in the trial of Jackson's physician Dr. Conrad Murray over the singer's death in 2009. Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. The closing arguments in the Los Angeles trial were due to begin Thursday.
The Post reported Wednesday that Murray was shopping his own blockbuster documentary to major TV networks.
Murray, who announced Tuesday that he will not testify in his defense, sold the rights "to his story" to a production company that has been filming interviews with him daily as the trial progresses, sources said.
