Michael Jackson was quizzed under hypnosis

Michael Jackson's friend Uri Geller hypnotised him to ask him about allegations of child abuse and insists his late friend was innocent.

Uri Geller hypnotised Michael Jackson to quiz him about child abuse allegations.

The celebrity illusionist and self-proclaimed psychic claims he put the late King of Pop under a hypnotic spell in order to determine if he was really innocent of abusing young boys - which was the basis of a much-publicised 2005 trial - and is certain his pal was not guilty.

He said: "Michael was, and is, totally innocent - that was proven in court. Not only that, I know he's innocent because I hypnotised him and asked him those questions."

Uri, 67, admits he is "haunted" by guilt for introducing Michael to journalist Martin Bashir, who produced a compromising TV documentary on the star in which he was seen holding hands with Gavin Arvizo, then 13.

The unflattering interview was one of the incidents that led to the 2005 allegations and subsequent trial and caused a rift between the pals.

Uri said: "It all happened because of that Martin Bashir interview. Looking back, that was a devastating mistake. Martin Bashir showed me a letter Princess Diana had written to him and I thought because Michael loved Diana, Martin was the right person to do the interview.

"The interview would have been amazing if Michael hadn't sat there with a 13-year-old boy holding his hand, telling the world that it's OK to invite them round and give them warm milk. That wasn't right.

"But the fact that I was the instigator of the documentary that began his downfall caused the rift and we never spoke again. That guilty feeling will never leave me."

Uri also opened up about Michael's tragic death in June 2009 - from a lethal dose of Propofol - claiming he often warned the 'Thriller' star over his reliance on prescription medicine.

He told Britain's HELLO! magazine: "I warned Michael many times. I shouted at him, I slept on the floor of the hotel room next to his bed to make sure he woke up in the morning, and to make sure no one came into the room. I warned him not to take anything."

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.