Posted by Richard Head

Wednesday July 15, 2009

This is how Michael Jackson‘s pill addiction began.

While filming a commercial for Pepsi at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium on Jan. 27, 1984, the King of Pop caught fire.

The video, obtained by Us Weekly, shows one take where the pyrotechnics exploded as planned — after Jackson descended the stairs and began performing with his brothers.

On the sixth take, though, things went horribly wrong: The fireworks erupted too early, igniting Jackson’s head in flames. Jackson is at first unaware he’s on fire, and continues dancing.

He was never the same after the accident.

To relieve the second and third-degree burns on his scalp and body (and later to help him tolerate multiple surgeries on the scorched spot on his head), Jackson was prescribed several medications — which kicked off his addiction to painkillers and obsession with plastic surgery.

Jackson died June 25 after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles. He was 50. It is widely believed that an overdose of painkillers caused Jacko’s untimely demise.

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