Michael Jackson's last words were a plea for more propofol, "because that was the only thing" that would put him to sleep, Dr. Conrad Murray said in an interview aired on NBC's "Today" show Thursday.
Days after Murray declined to testify in his own defense at his involuntary manslaughter trial, he granted an interview with NBC, the same broadcast company that bought a documentary about Murray and Jackson.
NBC has not revealed any financial terms of its deal to secure the exclusive interview with Jackson's doctor, which it said was recorded in the "waning days of the case," despite a judge's order to Murray that he not speak to reporters.
Murray told NBC that he had no regrets about meeting Jackson two years before his death.I only wish that maybe in our dealings with each other he was more forthcoming and honest to tell me things about himself," he said.
Jackson, who hired Murray to be his personal physician as he prepared for his comeback tour, lied to him, Murray said.
"Well, certainly he was deceptive by not sharing with me his whole medical history, doctors he was seeing, treatment that he might have been receiving," he said.
He denied knowing that Jackson had an addiction problem, which his defense lawyers said contributed to the pop star's death. "Absolutely not," he said. "I did not have a clue."
The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Jackson's June 25, 2009, death was caused by an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol combined with two sedatives.
A jury concluded that Murray was criminally responsible for the death, which prosecutors argued was caused by the doctor's reckless use of propofol in his home to treat the singer's insomnia.
In hindsight, Murray said, he knows that he should have refused the job when he realized Jackson was demanding propofol infusions every night. "But if I had walked away, I would have abandoned a friend," he said.
He repeated what he told detectives two days after Jackson's death: He was trying to wean him off propofol in his final days.
"Three days towards his death, he was weaned off and I was extremely happy because I had finally achieved the state I wanted," Murray said. "The state was Michael away from propofol."
His last morning, he said, Jackson was "a desperate man, desperate."
The NBC interview asked about the last thing Murray heard Jackson say.
"It was probably when he was pleading and begging me to please, please let him have some 'milk,' because that was the only thing that would work," he said. Jackson's nickname for propofol was "milk," according to trial testimony.
Murray explained a mystery that arose during his trial: the audio recording of Jackson using slurred speech that investigators found on the doctor's iPhone.
"It was incidentally recorded," Murray said. "It was an accident." He insisted he did not realize the recording existed until he heard it in the prosecutor's opening presentation at the trial.
Jackson was under the influence of propofol at the time, he said.
More segments of the NBC interview will be broadcast Friday morning, including Murray's explanation for why he delayed calling 911 and why he did not tell paramedics and emergency room doctors that he had given Jackson propofol the day he died, the network said.
