Former bodyguard and close friend of Michael Jackson, Matt Fiddes, has unveiled the harrowing details of his final phone call with the late Thriller singer before his untimely death. Speaking around the release of the new biopic about the King of Pop, Matt claimed the 50-year-old was trying to call his father, Joseph Jackson, hours before he died, but could only reach his voicemail.

Matt, who worked for Michael for a decade, recalled how the Grammy Award-winner was acting erratically and forgetting his lyrics while rehearsing for the This Is It Tour in London, which never made opening night. He told The Tab: “I didn’t think he was going to do the 50 show concerts. We were getting reports all the time that he was not well and was underweight. He was not remembering his lyrics. I spoke to him two nights before he passed away, and I remember that conversation vividly.”

Reflecting on Michael’s heartbreaking plea ahead of his passing in June, 2009, Matt said: “My ex-wife answered the phone and handed me the phone and said, ‘It’s Michael, you need to speak to him urgently’. He was unhappy. He said, ‘Matt, I need to speak to Joe’, meaning his father, Joseph Jackson.”

Matt said Michael had asked him: “Do you know where he is?” Matt added: “I thought, if he’s asking for his dad, then there must be something wrong.

“He said, ‘I need him to come and sort this situation out here. Only Joseph can do it’. He said, ‘I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing. They’re making me rehearse too much. And I never agreed to 50 shows.’”

The bodyguard claimed Michael begged him to come to Los Angeles and that the pop megastar also contacted his pal Mark Lester, who played the original Oliver Twist in the film Oliver, and had a similar conversation with him.

Reflecting on Joseph’s phone going to voicemail, Matt shared: “Not long after Michael passed away, [Joseph] said sadly, ‘I got a message from Michael, but it was too late.’

"Michael had already passed away. So Michael’s death was a shock to all of us. We thought he was going to call the concerts off and not do them. Or maybe do one or two, but not die on us. We didn’t think that was going to happen. That is something that will stick with me forever.”

Michael's death was officially ruled a homicide caused by acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication, and his doctor, Conrad Murray, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to four years in prison.