Michael Jackson's cousin has revealed the singer feared for his life over sex abuse allegations, as the family file an £80m lawsuit against a lurid HBO documentary.
Keith Jackson, 55, said his cousin revealed to him how he was terrified that people were out to kill him as the singer faced a police probe in 2003.
Keith slammed the claims against the King of Pop, saying that he was concerned for Michael's mother Katherine, 87, and his children, Prince, 22, Paris, 20, and Prince 'Blanket' Michael III, 17.
The estate of Michael Jackson is hoping to prevent HBO from airing the upcoming documentary Leaving Neverland by hitting the company with an £80 million lawsuit.
Keith Jackson, 55, lives in Gary, Indiana, he is the son of the brother of Michael's father Joe Jackson
Michael Jackson with Wade Robson (left) and James Safechuck (right), lawyers for the Michael Jackson estate say the men are 'admitted perjurers'
Keith said that Michael told him he worried someone was going to kill him after police investigated the Neverland Ranch in 2003
Keith told the Mirror: 'Michael loved kids, he loved his own kids and he loved kids in general like he did his own. It's a shame that he's gone and the family has to defend him now.
'Michael gave away millions of dollars to try to help people, save kids' lives and help cancer patients.'
Keith claimed that Michael had already been proved innocent by his earlier legal battles and that bringing the allegations after his death was shameful.
The Michael Jackson estate's court filing, which was obtained by DailyMail.com, accuses HBO of breaching a contract that was signed by Michael back in 1992 when his Dangerous World Tour aired on the premium cable channel.
The film does this by suggesting that Jackson molested children while he was on the Dangerous World Tour.
'It is hard to imagine a more direct violation of the non-disparagement clause,' declares the suit.
It also calls the two men at the centre of the documentary, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, 'admitted perjurers,' and mocks current HBO president Richard Pepler, calling him a 'failure.'
Keith - who is the son of the brother of Michael's father Joe Jackson - told the Mirror that Robson and Safechuck would never have come forward had Jackson not died of a prescription drug overdose aged 50 in 2009.
He revealed how Michael's mother Katherine sobbed at his mother Bobby's house as raids were carried out by police at the Neverland Ranch in 2003.
Katherine was distraught after Michael told her that he was scared someone was going to take the law into their own hands and kill him.
The R&B star believed the police were not only destroying his character and his career, but putting him in grave danger.
Leaving Neverland is set to air on HBO March 3 and 4.
But Keith, told the Mirror, that the documentary would vindicate Michael if anything, 'because everyone knows the truth.'
The Jackson family is suing HBO for $100 million in an attempt to stop the release of the documentary Leaving Neverland (Michael Jackson and Wade Robson, aged 5, in 1989)
Victim: The filing also calls the two men at the center of the documentary, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, 'admitted perjurers' (Safechuck and Jackson above circa 1989)
Scene of the 'crime': Jackson's estate is demanding $100 million, claiming that airing the doc would breach a 1992 non-disparagement clause signed by the King of Pop (Neverland above)
The lawsuit filed by the Michael Jackson estate says: 'Michael may not have lived his life according to society's norms, but genius and eccentricity are not crimes.
'Nothing and no one can rewrite the facts which show that Michael Jackson is indeed innocent of the charges being levied at him by HBO in its "documentary" Leaving Neverland.'
The introduction then goes after HBO,
