Michael Jackson: How much of the wacko part was on purpose? Some, certainly. [Plus Pepsi Commercial Inicident]

Aides covered his blazing hair with a blanket and ice, and prepared to hustle him out of the back door to an ambulance. But for once Jackson insisted on using the front door, in full view of fans and photographers. He sensed an opportunity.

That night, footage was shown across the world of the stricken star, bandaged and in agony, being rushed to hospital - but managing to raise a sequin-gloved hand in a weak salute. In publicity terms, its value was beyond measure.

SHOOT: Not sure if I agree with this assessment. Seems a trifle too convenient and insensitive to Michael's situation. I doubt whether Michael was considering the publicity potential while he was suffering burn wounds. Probably he wanted to get to the hospital as soon as possible, and all other possibilities were secondary.

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk 'He became a loner,' said his mother Katherine. 'I was worried about him, but I hoped he would grow out of it.' He never did. As an adult, he once said in a weary voice: 'People don't know what it's like for me. No one should judge me, not unless they've been in my shoes every horrible day and every sleepless night.' But for all his apparent paranoia about protecting his privacy, Jackson was as much of a show-off as he was a recluse. As for the whole Wacko Jacko image, that was less an invention of the media than of his own - until it spiralled beyond a joke and beyond his control. To begin with, though, it was carefully nurtured to boost his career. He understood that to sell records he needed to stay in the public eye. He was an instinctive showman when it came to self-promotion. When filming a commercial for Pepsi-Cola surrounded by smoke and pyrotechnics, a magnesium flash bomb exploded close to his head.