THAL, Austria – For a day at least, Arnold Schwarzenegger could forget about his messy divorce and bask in the adulation of a sympathetic crowd.
As an oom-pah band played, the action star-turned-politician inaugurated a museum dedicated to him in his native Austria, setting off cheers Friday as he pulled a string to unveil a bronze statue of a young Arnie flexing in the skintight trunks of his Mr. Universe days.
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It’s a far cry from the kind of reception he’s getting in the United States.
Schwarzenegger is under fire back home since acknowledging this year that he fathered a child with a woman who worked as his family’s housekeeper. The revelation led Maria Shriver, his wife of 25 years, to file for divorce.
There was little criticism Friday, however, as he returned to the village of Thal, near the southern city of Graz, to formally open the Schwarzenegger museum in the more than two-century-old house of his birth.
The museum also avoids reference to Schwarzenegger’s out-of-wedlock child and his pending divorce, with displays that end at his terms as California governor.
Doctor: Insomniac Jackson had ‘dependency’ on anesthetic
LOS ANGELES – In his own words, Dr. Conrad Murray described how he spent months trying to shepherd Michael Jackson through a raging case of insomnia, giving him nightly infusions of an anesthetic until realizing that the singer was becoming addicted.
Murray’s account, in an interview with police that was played during his manslaughter trial Friday, was so detailed and graphic that Jackson’s sister, Rebbie, arose and rushed from the courtroom during the description of the singer’s death scene.
Given two days after the King of Pop died, Murray is heard describing his relationship with the star, the medications he gave him and the efforts to save his life.
Murray sounded calm, speaking in a lightly accented voice. As he neared the end of his story, emotion crept in.
“I loved Mr. Jackson,” he told the detectives. “He was my friend. He opened up to me in different ways. I wanted to help him … I cared for him. I had no intention of hurting him. I did not want him to fail.”
But he added, “I realized Michael Jackson had a dependency and I was trying to wean him off it.”
The June 27, 2009, interview gave police their first hint that Jackson’s death was not from natural causes and that he had been given the powerful anesthetic propofol in an effort to cure his extreme insomnia.
“He’s not able to sleep naturally,” Murray told the detectives early in the interview.
Defense attorneys say Jackson gave himself the lethal dose after Murray left the room. Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
Murray’s account disclosed a long history of Jackson’s reliance on propofol.
The interview made clear that detectives knew nothing about the drug before Murray mentioned Jackson’s dependence on it. When Murray said that Jackson had demanded “his milk,” his nickname for the drug, Detective Scott Smith asked, “Hot milk?”
No, the doctor said. Murray then described the anesthetic.
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