Elton John has recalled the first time he met Michael Jackson and admitted that he was a ‘disturbing person to be around’.

The 76-year-old singer shared further details in his memoir, Me, and recalled many interactions with the Billie Jean hitmaker, who died in 2009 at the age of 50.

Describing the King of Pop as ‘mentally ill’ and a ‘disturbing person to be around,’ the British pop icon said he’d first met Jackson when he was a child.

“I’d known Michael since he was 13 or 14. He was just the most adorable kid you could imagine,” he wrote.

“He was just the most adorable kid you could imagine. “But at some point in the intervening years, he started sequestering himself away from the world and away from reality, the way Elvis Presley did.”

The singer also believed that Jackson’s reliance on prescription drugs resulted in his character change.

“God knows what was going on in his head, and God knows what prescription drugs he was being pumped full of, but every time I saw him in his later years I came away thinking that the poor guy had totally lost his marbles,” he continued.

“I don’t mean that in the lighthearted way. He was genuinely mentally ill, a disturbing person around,” Elton said.

He also mentioned the fact that Jackson seemed to prefer the company of children.

“For whatever reason, he couldn’t seem to cope with adult company at all,” he added.

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