Showbiz
Elizabeth Taylor has appeared on television to hit back at reports that she is dying from Alzheimer's disease.
The actress also expressed her dismay at the trouble faced by her friend Michael Jackson, revealing she had spent time in a bed with children and him.
Speaking on CNN's Larry King Live – her first TV interview for three years – she said she was happy and busy with a new project designing jewellery.
"Oh come on, do I look like I'm dying?" asked the 74-year-old. "Do I look like or sound like I have Alzheimer's?" She explained that she was in a wheelchair to help with a long-term back problem.
In an explanation of the recent reports she said: "I think they're trying to sell magazines and the only way they can do it is by being dirty. They like filth.
"And if they want to hear that I'm dead, sorry, folks, I'm not. And I don't plan on it."
Asked about her reaction to the Jackson allegation, Taylor said: "I've never been so angry in my life." She explained that she herself had spent time in a bed with the singer and his nephews.
"We were all in the bed watching television,” she told King. “There was nothing abnormal about it. There was no touchy-feely going on.
"We laughed like children and we watched a lot of Walt Disney. There was nothing odd about it."
She added: "We both had horrible childhoods. Working at the age of nine was not a childhood for me - and he started at three. That certainly isn't a childhood."
The actress also expressed her dismay at the trouble faced by her friend Michael Jackson, revealing she had spent time in a bed with children and him.
Speaking on CNN's Larry King Live – her first TV interview for three years – she said she was happy and busy with a new project designing jewellery.
"Oh come on, do I look like I'm dying?" asked the 74-year-old. "Do I look like or sound like I have Alzheimer's?" She explained that she was in a wheelchair to help with a long-term back problem.
In an explanation of the recent reports she said: "I think they're trying to sell magazines and the only way they can do it is by being dirty. They like filth.
"And if they want to hear that I'm dead, sorry, folks, I'm not. And I don't plan on it."
Asked about her reaction to the Jackson allegation, Taylor said: "I've never been so angry in my life." She explained that she herself had spent time in a bed with the singer and his nephews.
"We were all in the bed watching television,” she told King. “There was nothing abnormal about it. There was no touchy-feely going on.
"We laughed like children and we watched a lot of Walt Disney. There was nothing odd about it."
She added: "We both had horrible childhoods. Working at the age of nine was not a childhood for me - and he started at three. That certainly isn't a childhood."
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