<p>I suppose it remains to be seen whether he died of cardiovascular disease or if there was anything else that contributed to his heart stopping. Both my father and father-in-law died of massive heart attacks at 52. It was shocking then and it seems more shocking now as I realize how young 52 is these days.</p>
<p>Check these stats. A male having a heart attack in his 50s or even 40s is not all that unheard of:</p>
<p>[Heart</a> Attacks by Age and Gender](<a href=“Graphs: Home – Writefix.com”>Graphs: Home – Writefix.com)</p>
<p>I wonder if he had the heart attack called the “widow maker”. Crushing pain, profuse sweating, kills 90% of people who have it. Treatment within 5 minutes is a necessity.</p>
<p>The report from ABC is he had cardiac arrest, which is worse than a heart attack, in that the heart doesn’t pump at all. I find it even more shocking because he was not overweight, and apparently was a healthy eater. He certainly had enough stress in his life, I wonder if that was contributory.</p>
<p>His Doctor was on CNN and said he was having some issues last night, possibly related to his prescription medications.</p>
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<p>What propaganda are you reading? Let’s just say the common knowledge is that he wasn’t a terribly healthy man in recent years.</p>
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<p>No, of course not, although having a heart attack and dying of one are not the same thing. I think most of us feel pretty shocked when someone we know dies unexpectedly at 50. Besides, he just did not seem 50 to me. I’m 50, and I think I look and dress and act 50. He did not, and I think a lot of people thought of him as being younger than that.</p>
<p>He may have been a healthy eater, but he looked pretty dang skinny and not in the greatest of health. He was also a germophobe - when I saw him many years ago, he was sporting his famous face mask.</p>
<p>I have heard reports that he was not eating much, of late, in an attempt to fight off cancer (seems like an odd idea, but much about MJ was off the beaten path). </p>
<p>Skinny doesn’t always equal healthy.</p>
<p>Just woke up and heard the news. Looks like his heart didn’t “beat it”</p>
<p>This joke is so wrong for so many different reasons but I laughed incredibly hard when I first heard it:</p>
<p>“I read today that because Michael Jackson’s multiple plastic surgeries have left him with no chance of being bio-degradable he should be melted down and turned into leggo so for a change, kids can play with him”</p>
<p>I’ve read that he had long been suffering from lupus, a disease that raises the risk of heart disease.</p>
<p>Saw him on the Victory Tour in Dallas. A true genius.</p>
<p>Cardiac arrest doesn’t necessarily mean he died of a heart attack, or even that he had heart disease. </p>
<p>Whatever killed him, I’m still sorry to see him go. I grew up with him, in a matter of speaking. (Always preferred the Jackson 5 to the Osmonds)</p>
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<p>Right, that was my point back in #35. He was child-like which sorta fooled us into thinking he should be subject perhaps only to childhood illnesses. But in reality he was a middle-aged man who (apparently) died of a middle-aged man’s disease.</p>
<p>Quite a contrast with the praise and reverence being afforded Michael Jackson on this thread to the scorn heaped on Woody Allen recently, even though both had their careers seriously stained by scandals involving youngsters:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/733994-woody-allen-fresh-air.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/733994-woody-allen-fresh-air.html</a></p>
<p>I guess either death erases all sins, or it’s somehow more acceptable to exploit little boys than it is teenage girls.</p>
<p>^^^ I think it’s a case of speaking well of the dead – or at least not dancing on their graves.</p>
<p>I’ll never forget how brutal one poster was when Ted Kennedy first fell ill. Such bitterness is unseemly.</p>
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<p>What an odd post. How did MJ “suck money” from people who wanted to hear his music? They bought his albums, downloaded his songs from iTunes and/or bought concert tickets, just like they do for any entertainer.</p>
<p>Such a shame - what a musical and dancing talent. Go listen to the early Jackson Five, things like “ABC” and “I’ll Be There” – even then you can hear what an amazing voice he had. And then through the Thriller and Bad eras … as a forty-something woman, I can say that MJ was really something, back in the day. May he RIP.</p>
<p>Absolutely, Pizzagirl! And I’ll add - sales of his albums and the money that he spent kept many folks employed. Just like the NYC i-bankers kept many local businesses afloat - indirectly.</p>
<p>Such a talent and such a troubled soul. May he rest in peace…</p>
<p>As brilliant a musician and dancer as he was, he was an odd person in his real life. It was sad that he had such a strange childhood, because in many ways, I think he suspended himself in that child-like world he missed as the front man for the Jackson 5, and later when he struck out on his own. When most of us were riding our bikes and playing in the hose or the neighborhood pool, he was on a worldwide tour raking in the money. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t have allowed ANY of my children anywhere near him, truth be told. I don’t understand what parents were thinking when they allowed those sleepovers. </p>
<p>But then, I know there are many parents who have different standards about what is acceptable.</p>
<p>No, I don’t think we should dance on anyone’s grave. It is sad that he has passed, and even sadder when you realize that his three children are orphans. The birth mothers of his kids severed their parental rights, so those kids are without a parent. I hope that they have a normal life going forward.</p>
<p>One thing that strikes me as another sad point is that when he married Lisa Presley, it seemed like such a publicity stunt. But really, both of them had similar childhoods. Now his kids have the same childhood without a dad that Lisa had - an unbelievably popular singing star, whose life ended too short.</p>
<p>My dad’s 52 and literally grew up with Michael Jackson’s music, and I’m 16 and did as well. I think that says something.</p>
<p>MJ. <3 :[</p>
<p>Northstarmom,</p>
<p>Michael Jackson seemed weird to most of us, including me. The thing is, he was robbed of his childhood. He just wanted to be a kid again. He saw kids as his friends because they were pure and innocent. I don’t believe Michael Jackson ever saw kids in a perverted way. He put himself out there, and the media exploited him. </p>
<p>I feel sorry for him that he had to die with a large portion of America believing he is some deranged child molester, when in fact, he was just a good man who polarized the world through his music.</p>