David Gest, who was recently found dead in a London hotel, was an entertainer, producer and reality television star. He became famous after his marriage to Liza Minelli and had been building a showbusiness career in the UK in recent years with appearances on reality TV.
Gest and Michael Jackson were friends. He met Jackson at Walton School in Panorama City, California, when Michael was 10 and he was 15.
The popularity of the Jackson 5 was spreading and Gest, a music obsessive, was eager to meet young Jackson. He became close friends with Tito and Michael lived with the family for some time as a teenager.
Gest, 62, was spotted looking frail and tired as he sat anxiously on the tube a week before he died. His death is being treated as unexplained but friends claim he spent his last days 'alone and strung out on sleeping pills' as he tried to recover from medical problems, reports Daily Mail.