Celebrity deaths

“I WAS a bit of a Duracell bunny,” confesses Iron Maiden’s irrepressible Bruce Dickinson. 

“To some extent, I still am — much to the dismay of people around me! They’re like, ‘Don’t you EVER stop?’” 

Dickinson is reflecting on the manic energy he brought to the heavy metal titans after replacing original singer Paul Di’Anno. 

In 1981, he was a 22-year-old member of hard-rocking fellow travellers Samson when Maiden’s manager Rod Smallwood came calling.

Unlike many of his peers, including his predecessor, Dickinson didn’t have to rely on drugs and booze to fuel his high-octane performances. 

He continues: “I discovered that having these amazing, ecstatic, endorphin-filled moments — being in front of people and singing with a group in total sync — was way more uplifting than any drugs on offer.” 

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One of the great spectacles in rock is a sweat-soaked Dickinson running and jumping around on stage with audiences in the palms of his outstretched hands. 

Match his physical presence to a rich operatic tenor and an iconic catchphrase, “Scream for me!”, and you have a powerful combination.  

The songs that stretch his vocal cords aren’t too shabby either — many filled with intriguing historical references.

Run To The Hills deals with European colonisation of Native American territory, The Trooper visits the Crimean War’s Charge Of The Light Brigade and Aces High is a pilot’s eye-view of the Battle Of Britain — not your average metalhead subject matter.  

What about the 14-minute Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem and written by Maiden founder and leader Steve Harris? 

“It’s just epic,” says Dickinson of the closing track on the band’s fifth album Powerslave, released in 1984.  

“It’s one of my favourites to perform.

“I love the storytelling aspect and we’ve got huge screens now to tell the whole story.” 

Let’s also not forget the enduring core band which today comprises bassist and chief lyricist Harris, three virtuoso guitarists in Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Jannick Gers, mighty drummer Nicko McBrain (now retired from touring after a stroke in 2023) — and, of course, Dickinson.

The singer remembers Maiden’s gruelling, breathless climb to metal’s summit in the Eighties, when he was “run ragged but young enough to handle it”. 

Now 67, he accepts that his unfettered antics have taken their toll on his body, but insists: “Damaging it and knackering it by doing things on stage is a relatively easy fix — drugs take away your soul.” 

I’m speaking to Dickinson to mark the arrival in cinemas next Thursday of Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition, a riveting film documenting their 50-year rollercoaster ride with insightful interviews, live footage and unguarded offstage moments. 

Through the prism of band members past and present, and superfans including Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Public Enemy rapper Chuck D and actor Javier Bardem, it is 106 minutes of pedal to the metal. 

The movie is the first milestone in a momentous year for the band formed in Leyton, East London, by Harris in 1975. 

In late May, Maiden continue the Run For Your Lives world tour, including a monster outdoor event, Eddfest (named after their shape-shifting undead mascot Eddie), at Knebworth on July 10 and 11. 

Then, in November, they join Oasis, Phil Collins and Billy Idol, among others, in being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in the US. 

Dickinson says: “We’re about to do the biggest tour of our lives, playing to 2.5million people in six months. 

“People might say, ‘How the hell did that happen?’ to which I answer, ‘Have a look at the film — that is how’. 

“We’ve had lots of tidal waves and earthquakes in our career.”

Crucial to the upward trajectory has been the sense of community around Maiden and their fans, which Dickinson believes is only rivalled by “a very different kind of band, the Grateful Dead and their Deadheads”. 

He says: “We’ve never compromised and have grown on our own terms, creating our own universe. 

“You reach those millions one person at a time,” he adds. “Look them in the eyes — although that is a lot easier in a pub than in a 50,000-seat arena!” 

Though the upcoming tour will send Maiden through Europe, then on to North, Central and South America, Australia and Japan, Dickinson spares a thought for the places they can’t visit “because of the chaos in the world”. 

“There are huge pockets of fans in Iran,” he affirms.

“And in Israel, Ukraine and Russia — all these wonderful people who just want to love everybody else who loves Iron Maiden. It’s tragic.” 

This is cue for him to trawl through the mists of time to the early days again and it’s clear that, above all, it is Steve Harris’s band. 

Referred to as “the boss”, he formed Maiden just before punk upended the music scene. 

Dickinson says: “Steve felt very strongly about punk because many in the media decided it was the ‘acceptable face of heavy metal’ — and that enraged him. 

“Frankly, the first LP wasn’t that well produced so it actually sounded like a crap punk album.

“Steve has always said, ‘My God, I wish I could have remade it with Martin Birch [who produced their next eight records].” 

In the Burning Ambition film, we see the struggles of original singer, the late Paul Di’Anno, who embraced rock and roll excesses to the full, prompting Harris and Smallwood to search for a replacement. 

“Paul was very charismatic with a characterful voice,” says his successor. “He was a bit of a pirate . . . like Adam Ant or a member of band I loved, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.  

“His look was different to the rest of the metal world — and that was cool.” 

With a rueful expression, Dickinson remembers being described as a “human air-raid siren” after his first gig with Maiden. 

He says: “They were obviously big fans of Paul who came to see me at the [now defunct] Rainbow and one of them sent a letter to a music magazine, Melody Maker maybe. 

“It said what a terrible disaster the show was, like ‘hearing my favourite songs being sung from inside a cement mixer by an air-raid siren’. 

“Even though someone was trying to be insulting, Rod Smallwood took the attitude, ‘When life throws lemons, make lemonade’. 

“He nicked the idea and turned the whole thing on its head, which actually made me laugh.” 

ON EDDIE: ‘EASTWOOD OF ZOMBIES’

MENACING mascot Eddie is an Iron Maiden icon.

Illustrated in numerous guises by Derek Riggs, the shape-shifting creature has appeared on every album cover and in every outlandish stage set. 

He inspired the name of the band’s outdoor shindig Eddfest at Knebworth in July and features in new animated sequences for the Burning Ambition movie. 

Bruce Dickinson calls Eddie the “Clint Eastwood of zombies” and says: “He has a Dirty Harry type of morality about him. 

“You think he’s evil but he’s ambivalent, so you don’t know exactly where you stand with him,” he explains. 

“If you’re basically a good person, you’re probably going to be OK – but he’ll blow you away if you’re not!” 

Dickinson believes Eddie has a future beyond Maiden. “One day, inevitably, we’ll stop playing live. 

“The great thing about Eddie is that he’s eternal. He can have a whole career on his own. We could even write albums for him.  

“In fact, there’s so much you could do with him, whether it’s movies, animation, or an Eddie avatar show. All these things are up for grabs.” 

To Dickinson, sharing the stage with Eddie is a rite of passage. 

“He’s an extension of our world but you just can’t pin him down.” 

A fascinating aspect of Maiden has been Dickinson’s relationship with Harris, not always plain sailing but one that created undeniable chemistry. 

And surely Harris accepts that the flamboyant singer helped propel his band to stadium-slaying proportions. 

“When I was in Samson, people were calling Steve ‘the Ayatollah’,” says Dickinson. “He had a reputation for being uncompromising and rigid. 

“But, as we’ve got older, he’s been much more amenable to ideas that might broaden the vision.” 

However, Dickinson had to set one thing straight from the start.  

“When I first did shows with Maiden, I was thinking, ‘Why am I standing on one side of the stage? I’m the singer’. 

“The answer was because Steve would go running down front and centre playing the bass. Suddenly I would have this big old lump of wood thrust in my ear. I nearly lost a couple of teeth because of it!” 

Dickinson insisted that, as lead singer, he was going to “stand at the front, in the middle — and I wasn’t going to back down”. 

Iron Maiden’s third album, The Number Of The Beast (1982), was Dickinson’s first and its songs including the title track, Run To The Hills and Hallowed Be Thy Name took the band to the next level. 

For the new recruit, making the album was the calm before the storm.  

He says: “It was like 1939 when Britain was at war but everybody was still out sunbathing and reading the papers because nothing bad had happened.  

“Then we hit the road and, wow, we had a No1 album, the single was going crazy and we were doing seven, eight, nine shows in a row. Even our day off was travelling.” 

Despite the overwhelming demands, Maiden enjoyed a rocket-fuelled rise to the crest of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), a movement that included Def Leppard, Saxon and Motörhead. 

Dickinson says: “The albums we were producing in the Eighties were phenomenal. We created a style with The Number Of The Beast and it continued with Piece Of Mind and Powerslave. The trajectory was fantastic.” 

As the Burning Ambition movie attests, the band began building a devoted following in all corners of the globe. 

In August 1984, Iron Maiden ventured behind the Iron Curtain to play five shows in Poland, much to delight of fans starved of music from the West. 

In January the following year, the band went nuclear in South America by playing Rock In Rio to a 300,000-plus crowd.  

ON FLYING: ‘I HAD ROAD TO DAMASCUS MOMENT’

ANYONE who follows the life less ordinary of Bruce Dickinson will know there’s a lot more to him than just being the singer in Iron Maiden.

At school, he took up boxing but he “wasn’t very big” and people “would beat the crap out of me”.

So he took up fencing instead, inspired by a metalwork teacher who brought in a “full-on, two-handed sword like Excalibur”.

Not one to do things by halves, he became a champion – so good that he reached the UK top ten, trained with the Olympic squad and is still a member of fencing clubs in London, Paris and LA.

Dickinson harboured other dreams, too. “I was really into aviation and wanted to be an astronaut or a pilot,” he says.

This helps explain how he qualified as an airline pilot and ended up flying Iron Maiden on three world tours, firstly in a Boeing 757 dubbed Ed Force One and then, in 2016 for the Book Of Souls tour, a jumbo jet.

He says: “My love of flying came from my great uncle who was in No. 200 Squadron RAF in the Second World War. When I was five, he’d tell me all these stories.

“But I was rubbish at maths in school and you need to be a rocket scientist to be a pilot so I became a rock star instead.

“Then, in the Nineties, I took a trial flying lesson in Florida for 30 bucks, just to see. It was a road to Damascus moment.”

The next step for Dickinson was training with British Airways, flying a 757. Picking up the story, he says: “From 2000 to 2011, I was a pilot for UK company Astraeus, flying people around the world on holiday. I had to take unpaid leave to go on tour with Iron Maiden.

“You would probably have had no idea I was your captain because no one listens to captain’s announcements!”

During this time, Dickinson hatched the idea to extend his flying exploits to his other job as a member of Iron Maiden.

“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we put all the equipment, the band and the crew on one airplane?’ To my surprise, our manager Rod thought it was a great idea. Normally, I get told to p*** off!

“So we did three world tours. It was brilliant calling it Ed Force One – I think that was an invention by the fans.”

Dickinson remembers his initial horror when American secret servicemen boarded the plane in Chicago. “I went, ‘Oh s**t! What have we done wrong?’ Turned out Obama was coming in the next day on Air Force One and the men just wanted to have a look at Ed Force One.

“I’ve still got Air Force One-branded M&Ms, matches and a bottle opener somewhere.

“So, I’m thinking, ‘What’s going on in the President’s plane?’ They’re cracking open beer bottles, smoking themselves to death and taking all the red Smarties.”

As the Eighties progressed and the Nineties dawned, the pace rarely slackened and, as we witness in unvarnished detail in Burning Ambition, “the wheels eventually fell off”.  

Guitarist Smith quit in 1990 over “creative differences” and an exhausted Dickinson dropped a second bombshell by leaving in 1993 to pursue his solo career, much to the consternation of his bandmates, notably McBrain. 

“It was a sudden burst of artistic integrity of my own invention,” confesses Dickinson. 

“I knew Maiden were great, but they didn’t allow me to do anything a bit out there.  

“I was still in my thirties and the thought of leaving momentarily terrified me. But then I read Henry Miller’s quote, ‘All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience’. 

“It hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought to myself, ‘If you don’t jump, you’ll never find out’.” 

As for the reaction to his departure in the Maiden camp, Dickinson says: “The only person I told was the manager, Rod. I don’t know what got said between him and the guys but Nicko got upset about it. And fair enough.” 

He sees what became a five-year absence as part of “a real story of real people”.  

He adds: “We’re a bunch of bizarre brothers who got stuck together. In the end, we had to make it work.” 

So it was in 1999, after Wolfsbane singer Blaze Bayley had gamely attempted to hold the fort, that guitarist Smith and singer Dickinson returned to the fold — for good. 

“To use a football analogy, Blaze had been passed a ball which was a ticking timebomb,” says Dickinson, before recalling his bizarre meeting with Harris and Smallwood to discuss his return. 

They convened in secret at a yacht club in Brighton, entered by a special code — an occasion Dickinson likens to a scene from a John Le Carré novel. 

“Part of me was thinking, ‘This is ridiculous’. It felt like going through Checkpoint Charlie in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold,” he says. 

“But I looked at Steve and realised he’d been through the ringer with all kinds of things. I decided that if he’s up for it, then we should get on with it. 

“I told him, ‘I am the one guy on the planet you can trust. When I say we’ll make a great new album together, we will’. And we did [Brave New World]. 

“Steve and I are very different individuals — but that’s our strength. 

“I’ve certainly grown to respect him. Has he grown to respect me? I don’t want to put words into his mouth.” 

Dickinson signs off with a heartfelt statement: “The music is the thread that holds us in Maiden together. Whatever we started, we started well — and when eventually we finish, we will finish well.” 

A CLEANER accused of supplying Liam Payne with drugs before his death could be let off with community service and a rehab course after reportedly striking a plea deal.

Ezequiel David Pereyra, who worked at the Argentina hotel where the ex-One Direction star died, might not face trial and his sentence could be cut from a possible 15 years to a suspended term.

Last night sources said Pereyra was “over the moon”.

The sources also claimed waiter Braian Nahuel Paiz, who is also accused of supplying cocaine to the star, has been offered the same deal. However it is understood that Paiz, 25, will not be accepting the deal.

It came as Liam’s girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, posted a heartbreaking video of her last day with the singer, showing them riding horses together.

A source said: “This will be terribly upsetting for Liam’s  loved ones to hear — as there is now the possibility that there will never be a trial and they will never get answers as to what happened that night.

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“No one will be held accountable for his death.”

Pereyra, 22, was awaiting trial for allegedly selling cocaine to Liam, 31, before he fell to his death from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires in October 2024.

He was facing a hefty jail sentence if found guilty.

But his new lawyer, Augusto Maria Cassiau, is said to have struck a deal  with prosecutors to lessen his charge if he admitted his role in the incident.

His new charge will be “facilitation for personal consumption, non-profit” —  admitting he gave the drugs to Liam when he died but he was not a dealer.

Pereyra has been offered a two-year suspended sentence, with time already served in custody awaiting trial being  taken into consideration.

He will have to  perform community service and complete a drug awareness course. 

Pereyra  was released from jail and put under house arrest in December after an appeal court agreed he had  family support, a fixed address and no criminal record.

Last month Paiz, who was also released from prison in December, had his house arrest conditions scrapped.

No new evidence has appeared in the case file and prosecutors have been unable to  secure a trial date.

In October, on the first anniversary of Liam’s death, Pereyra exclusively spoke to The Sun, offering his condolences to Liam’s family.

He also claimed bosses at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel ignored Liam’s drug use.

In a TikTok video posted on Wednesday, the same day prosecutors offered a plea deal, Kate, 27, can be seen riding horses with Liam.

She wrote: “Enjoy each moment life brings you.

“Because I didn’t know this would be the last time I’d ever see my boyfriend again in this lifetime.”

Liam had flown to Argentina with Kate   to see his former 1D bandmate Niall Horan in concert.

Liam extended the trip but Kate returned to the US.

An autopsy confirmed he died from multiple trauma and internal and external bleeding.

PATRICK Muldoon’s tragic cause of death has been confirmed after the soap star’s sudden collapse at the age of 57.

The Days Of Our Lives and Melrose Place actor died from a heart attack, according to official records, with several underlying health conditions also revealed.

New details show Muldoon suffered a myocardial infarction – more commonly known as a heart attack – on April 19, as confirmed by his death certificate.

The document, released by the County of Los Angeles’ Department of Public Health, also listed contributing factors to his death.

These included a hereditary coagulopathy disorder, which affects blood clotting, and a pulmonary embolism – a dangerous blood clot that travels to the lungs and blocks blood flow.

The actor was cremated on Tuesday, with his occupation listed as both actor and producer.

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His sister, Shana Muldoon-Zappa, had earlier shared that he died of a heart attack, posting a touching tribute alongside a final video sent to family just hours before his death.

In the clip, Muldoon is seen joking while showing a painting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

“As always, he jokes… and yet profoundly brings all things into one moment,” she wrote.

“The joke-ster, the artist, the football player, and the intensely spiritually connected, Jesuit educated, incredible being that is Patrick Muldoon. My best friend. The best brother/son/uncle/anyone could ever possibly ask for.”

“I will have so much more to share as I know he loves this earthly realm and all he created within it,” she continued, “including all of the love and light his spirit is now receiving through all of you…. Surrounding you in light.”

Tributes also poured in from friends and co-stars, including actress Barbara Eden.

“Patrick was a sweet man who was very personable,” she said.

“I enjoyed the time we spent between takes and just enjoying each other’s company in general during the production of the film. He made the experience even more fun.”

“While the passing of a loved one is never easy,” she added, “it is especially difficult when it’s unexpected and sudden as I understand Patrick’s was. My thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends.”

Born in San Pedro, California, Patrick Muldoon shot to fame in the 1990s after launching his career while studying in the University of Southern California, where he also played football.

He first appeared on Who’s the Boss? before landing a role on Saved By the Bell after graduating in 1991.

His big break came as Austin Reed on Days of Our Lives, a role he originated between 1992 and 1995 before returning years later.

Muldoon later played villain Richard Hart on Melrose Place and starred in a string of TV movies.

On the big screen, he was known for playing Zander Barcalow in the 1997 sci-fi hit Starship Troopers.

His final film, Dirty Hands, is due for release later this year.

Away from the spotlight, Muldoon worked behind the scenes as an executive producer on a number of films and was also passionate about music, performing as lead singer of The Sleeping Masses.

Known as “Bobo” to loved ones, Muldoon is survived by his partner Miriam Rothbart, his parents, his sister and extended family.

ALEX Reid has revealed his mum Carol has died as he shared a heartbreaking tribute to her on social media.

The Celebrity Big Brother star, 50, took to Instagram to share a series of pictures with his beloved mother as he revealed the devastating news.

He penned: “Today I celebrate the life of the best woman in my life, my mum, who went to join my darling dad in heaven!

“I’m absolutely heartbroken, but have a sense of ease knowing you are in peace now, not in pain.

“I unfortunately missed my mum’s passing by 2 minutes, although I still managed to hold her in my arms, kiss and caress her face, telling her how much I love her.

“Long live Carol Reid!,” Alex concluded.

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His followers rushed to support him with messages of condolences as one wrote: “So sorry Alex. Sending you love xxx.”

Another social media user commented: “I’m so sorry Alex for your loss. You’re so lovely with your mum. Anyone can see the love between you both. May she RIP.”

Someone else said: “I’m so sorry for your loss. Prayers and thoughts are going out to you and the family.”

Yet another penned: “I’m so sorry for your loss! May she rest in peace and I truly believe that she will always be with you in spirit cheering you on. God bless you and your family.”

While a fifth added: “Bless you Alex you’ve been by her side all these years, she knew in those two minutes she will always be in your heart. Love to you all x.”

Alex revealed back in 2020 that his mum was battling Alzheimer’s and was feeling guilty for moving her into a care home.

At the time, he shared a number of headlines surrounding Dame Barbara Windsor, who also had the disease prior to her death in 2020.

He wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “I know how it feels moving mum into a home with dementia it’s worse than bereavement as they’re still here & so lost.

“You feel an immense sense of guilt to want to do more I see how scared mum sometimes is, wanting to come home, but I see she how she is adapting & her quality of life improves.”

In March last year, he shared a video of him going to the care home to visit Carol as he gave her a bunch of flowers and a card.

He told his followers on Instagram: “Visiting my mum with dementia in her care home today on Mother’s Day, I was so grateful and lucky that she actually said I love you my darling!

“I’ve only had two or three words out of her over the last year! So so grateful! Happy Mother’s Day everyone!”

Alex and his fiancée Nikki welcomed their twin boys Phoenix Bobby and Hunter George back in 2023.

Nikki told Mail Online at the time: “To just have them in my arms. I am complete now. I have my family and I never need to revisit that dark place again.”

Their births came after the pair welcomed daughter Anastasia in 2021 after a seven year IVF battle.

A FORMER bodyguard and close pal of Michael Jackson has claimed the new biopic about the star whitewashes his life by not delving further into the sex abuse claims made against him.

In an exclusive interview, Matt Fiddes claimed Jackson would have wanted any movie to include the allegations and their impact on his life.

Fiddes also revealed he received a “delirious” call from Jackson two days before he died with the star allegedly pumped full of ephedrine and desperately reaching out for his dad.

Speaking ahead of the release of a new biopic on Friday, Fiddes said the star also claimed on the call that bosses were “making him rehearse too much” and that he “never agreed to 50 shows.”

Giving a unique insight into the moments leading up to Jackson’s death, Matt claimed Jackson was forgetting his lyrics and acting erratically – but it was still a complete shock to everyone who knew him as they were convinced he would just pull out of the tour.

The new movie based on the life of the “King of Pop’ is set to hit the big screen later this month with Jackson’s own nephew Jaafar in the title role.

An earlier trailer became the most watched of all time – amassing 150million views when it was released.

Jackson was first accused of abuse in 1993 by 13-year-old Jordan Chandler and his father Evan, who reached a $23million civil settlement with the star a year later.

He was never ultimately charged in connection with these allegeations after a 18-month criminal investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and Santa Barbara Sherriff’s Department found they could not prove the case without Jordan’s testimony.

The movie was forced to undergo expensive reshoots last year after lawyers found an overlooked clause in the settlement with Jordan that barred him from being depicted or mentioned in any movie, according to Variety.

The movie was reportedly supposed to originally open with Jackson in 1993 surrounded by cop cars and its entire third act was dedicated to the allegations before the rewrite.

But Fiddes, 46, claimed the impact of the sex abuse claims played a direct role in Jackson’s death and accused filmmakers of whitewashing the allegations.

Fiddes, who was one of Jacko’s closest confidants for many years, claimed although all the allegations made against him were “proven untrue,” to cut them out of the movie wouldn’t do justice to the impact they had on him.

Jackson was still plagued by further allegations from 1993 on.

He underwent a high-profile criminal trial in 2005 after being hit with felony charges of abuse against 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo – but was found not guilty on all counts.

After his death the FBI confirmed they had found no evidence of criminal conduct to warrant federal charges against Jackson by releasing 300 pages of their decade-long investigation.

And over a decade after his death, Jackson’s estate is still facing lawsuits about his alleged behavior.

Accusers Wade Robson and James Safechuck are seeking $400million in a civil lawsuit that will go to a jury trial in November.

Fiddes said the release of the Michael Jackson movie would be “extremely controversial” and although he hasn’t yet seen it, he’s been told what will be in and out of it.

He added: “I’ve heard accounts from people who’ve seen the film. And from my understanding, it doesn’t cover the child abuse allegations and a lot of the struggles that Michael had behind the scenes, which are well publicised and what eventually led to his death.

“I know the fans are disappointed in this. They been contacting me. They want to see the real Michael. They want to see behind the scenes Michael, how he created his genius and how he suffered, how lonely
the man was.

“But I understand how business works. I’m a businessman, and if you’re running the Michael Jackson estate, you are going to want to have it all about the music, which is what Michael would have wanted.

“But Michael, as I knew him, would have wanted his fans and the public to see what it was like to be Michael Jackson. It was not all glitz and glamour. It was anything but.

“We could not go out. He couldn’t do anything. We had to go through the kitchen entrance to go into the hotels. He was manipulated by people he couldn’t trust. Many people. He was paranoid. He struggled to eat sometimes due to being nervous and anxious.”

Matt also said he believes allegations that Jackson was a child abuser were untrue but should still be referenced in the biopic.

He added: “It fascinates me to see still now in 2026 that there’s TV shows and documentaries being made about my friend Michael Jackson, that he’s a child molester, that he’s into young boys.

“Because having known the man personally, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“He wanted to keep his life a mystery and would always remind me wanted his life to be the greatest show on earth.

“I said to him, I think you should show how you talk about girls from the back of the car. He had a nickname for a girl he fancied or always attracted to. He’d call them fish.

“He always said, that’s a nice fish there. Well, Matt, try and get that fish to my room.

“I told him ‘Michael, you should show this side to the public. But he always refused and said one thing Motown taught him when he was a young boy, in the Jackson Five, is that he mustn’t ever show that he was straight, that he was gay, or that he was married in a relationship. As this was going to cut off his fan base and it’ll be the end of the Jacksons.

“So all the fans feel that they got a chance to marry him, whether they’re gay, straight or whatsoever.

“I understand there are contracts signed from his girlfriends that can’t be talked about. But from what I’m hearing, there’s going to be a Michael movie part two of this franchise.

“What I will say is that everything Michael Jackson touches turns to gold. And I predict that Michael the movie will be the biggest movie ever of all time, not only the biggest biopic. I think it will be the biggest movie of all time. And we’ll go past a billion dollars turnover in no time whatsoever.”

Fiddes, who now runs the largest martial arts and dance chain in the world, worked with Jackson for a decade and recalls meeting him through a friend.

He added: “He called me up in the middle of the night and said, you have to come to my house now. If you don’t, you’ll regret it. It took me a good three hours to get there, but he would not tell me who I was going to meet.

“I walked in the living room and this man walks up to me. He bows to me due to the fact that we’re both martial artists. And he said, nice to meet you, Matt. For this. My name is Michael Jackson. I’m thinking, I know who you are.”

Fiddes said they quickly became friends and hang out and do normal stuff together.

He added: “He was a very shrewd character. I always say you got two sides to Michael. You got the very shy, quiet, humble person of his mother, Mrs. Jackson. Katherine, who’s a lovely lady. And then you’ve got the toughness, brutal, ruthless businessman of his father, Joe Jackson.

“And Michael had both sides of them. But aside from that being around him, he was the the most gentle soul and would do anything for anybody. And he was just extremely clever. He loved being Michael Jackson, but he was the nicest guy in the world, most misunderstood man in the world.”

Fiddes also gave a unique insight into the state of mind of the star when he died and revealed he had desperately tried to reach out to his dad Joseph Jackson to help, but could only reach his voicemail.

Fiddes, who believes the movie would become the most watched of all time, said: “You can’t talk about Michael Jackson without talking about the bad times and the negative times and none of us were expecting that he was going to die.

“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, that he was underweight.

“He was not remembering his lyrics. I spoke to him two nights before he passed away, and I remember that conversation vividly.

“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.

“Do you know where he is? 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.’”

Fiddes, who runs a martial arts business and lives in England, said Jackson sounded erratic and he asked if he had taken anything.

He added: “He said ‘I’ve just taken something called ephedrine, which is like a, an upper, like next level up from caffeine.’

“It’s a drug that a lot of dancers and performers and bodybuilders use. And he said he got given to him by a doctor, which kind of reassured me, but he was begging for me to come to Los Angeles.

“Then he asked for his best friend’s number, Mark Lester, who he called straight away. He played the original Oliver Twist from Oliver the movie and had a similar conversation with him.

“It turns out he did call Joe Jackson asking for help, but he got Joe’s answerphone and Joe went on a TV show.

“Not long after Michael passed away, he 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.”

THE oldest member of a much-loved 70s pop group has passed away, his family has announced.

Alan Osmond, the founding brother and guitarist of The Osmonds, died on Monday aged 76.

The family said in a statement that his wife Suzanne and their eight sons were beside Osmond at his bedside when he passed away, but did not reveal an official cause of death.

Alan Osmond had battled multiple sclerosis for 40 years after being first diagnosed in 1987.

He was the third-born child of parents George Virl Osmond Sr. and Olive Osmond, and in 1958 performed alongside his younger brothers Wayne, Merrill and Jay on a TV show at the age of 12.

The group first found fame as a barbershop quartet on The Andy Williams Show.

This early success set the stage for their siblings to join the lineup; once younger brother Donny arrived, the group transitioned into pop music as “The Osmonds,” quickly achieving superstar status as teen heart-throbs.

They had hits such as One Bad Apple, Yo-Yo, Down by the Lazy River and Love Me for a Reason.

Alan left the group in 2007, and his brothers went on with solo careers.

Alan and his brother Merrill founded the Stadium of Fire in Provo, Utah, a massive Fourth of July celebration, and he also co-founded and ran the OneHeart Foundation.

He then published his memoir, “One Way Ticket,” in 2024.

Osmond is survived by his wife, their eight sons, 30 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.