Scoop: Nurse Says Jackson Lost 5 Pounds a Day

Michael Jackson’s strenuous rehearsal schedule was causing him to lose 5-6 pounds a day, according to his nurse Cherilyn Lee.

“He was concerned about his weight, he was losing so much. When he’s rehearsing he sweats a lot — he would tell me that he have to mop up the stage after songs he sweat so much,” Lee said. “He’d get so dehydrated he’d lose 5-6 pounds a day in water,” said Lee.

Even though water weight can be replaced, dehydration to such an extent is dangerous. Otherwise, Lee said Jackson had no underlying health problems when she first met him in January.

“Before any nutritional treatment I do comprehensive lab work. I did a complete blood panel and there were no red flags,” she said. “Because of his diet his blood sugar was a little low, but not to the point it would cause a problem; his vitamin D level was a little low. Folic acid — and that includes an anemia panel — fine. Every organ system was checked out. There were no indicators of heart disease. The C-reactive protein test? Nothing there (The test is a general marker of inflammation throughout the body, and can rule out things like coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease). His hemoglobin A1c, which would have indicated diabetes, fine. His liver functions, kidney functions, they were all fine. He was healthy.” 

Weekend box office
Unless scores of invisibility cloak-wearing Harry Potter fans come forward, this weekend serves as proof that when all else fails, make a movie with talking animals. Because apparently, no can resist talking animals.

“G-Force,” a trope about talking guinea pigs, made $32.2 million at the box office, just edging out the sixth “Harry Potter” film, which took in $30 million. “The Ugly Truth” came in third.

Does this really mean that the talking rodent genre has greater appeal than wizards, or “Truth” stars Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler?

Probably not. While “Potter” did see a 61% sales drop since its opening weekend, “G-Force” is also 3-D, which means a ticket premium, which means it makes more for the bottom line even if it runs on fewer screens.

Another note: “G-Force” is a Jerry Bruckheimer production, which means its budget is somewhere in line with your average bank bailout. So it’s got a long way to go before you can call it a financial success. But beating out Harry Potter and co. is still pretty impressive.

Courtney Hazlett delivers the Scoop Monday through Friday on msnbc.com. Follow Scoop on Twitter: @ courtneyatmsnbc.

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