Pop Star Says He’s Victim of Conspiracy

Michael Jackson, declaring he is “completely innocent,” said Sunday that his trial on child-molestation charges has brought him to the lowest emotional point of his life, and he asked his fans around the world to pray for him.

During an hourlong interview with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, broadcast live over the Internet, the 46-year-old pop star also said he believes he is the victim of a conspiracy, although he declined to elaborate, citing the court-imposed gag order that prevents him from discussing his trial in detail.

Jackson added, however, that he is the latest of several “black luminaries” to be unjustly accused, citing former South African President Nelson Mandela and former heavyweight boxing champions Muhammad Ali and Jack Johnson.

Jackson said he remained in “intense pain” after falling in the shower earlier this month. The pop singer arrived late to court March 10, assisted by aides and wearing blue pajama bottoms and a T-shirt. A spokeswoman said at the time that he had been treated at a hospital for a serious back injury.

“I was coming out of the shower and I fell and all my body weight -- I’m pretty fragile -- all my body weight fell against my rib cage,” Jackson said. “And I bruised my lung very badly.”

Earlier in the interview, when Jesse Jackson noted how thin the pop star was, Jackson replied that he had never been a big eater, which he said has always concerned his mother and actress Elizabeth Taylor, a friend.

“Elizabeth Taylor used to feed me, to hand-feed me, at times,” he said. “Please, I don’t want anybody to think I’m starving. I’m not,” he quickly added. “My health is perfect, actually.”

The pop star also denied recent rumors that he was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Jackson did indicate that there was a battle underway over the music catalog that he owns and that contains the rights to songs by the Beatles, Little Richard and others, but he declined to elaborate. “There’s a big fight going on, right now as we speak, about that,” he said. “I can’t comment on it, but there’s a lot of conspiracy out there.”