'He wanted to convince his doctors that he'd had an accident and was in a lot of pain -- a legitimate reason to ask for painkillers. This came up as part of the investigation into Michael's drug-taking. So far there's no evidence to prove or disprove the claims,' a source told Britain's Daily Mirror.

A family source told the newspaper that the late singer was an attention seeker and used to harm himself for that reason.

'Michael self-harmed as an attention-seeking mechanism or to gain sympathy. He enjoyed being cared for. It was a huge cry for help,' said the family member.