The late King of Pop – who died in June 2009 at the age of 50 from acute Propofol intoxication – was often seen out in public wearing face masks, with many assuming he wore them due to his eccentric personality and unique fashion sense.

But his former guard Matt Fiddes – who worked for the ‘Man in the Mirror’ hitmaker for a decade – says his former employer wore the protective masks to avoid inhaling germs from people because as he believed that one day people would get seriously sick from a virus like the one the world is seeing now, with COVID-19 so far infecting over 436,000 people and killing more than 18,000 across the globe.

Speaking to The Sun, the British tough guy said: “He knew that a natural disaster was always there. He was very aware and would always predict that we could be wiped out at any time. That a germ that could spread.

“So he would go through four countries in one day sometimes and he was on aeroplanes with people all the time.

“I would joke, ‘Michael please don’t wear that – you’re embarrassing me. I’m getting pap’d with you.’ He would say, ‘Matt I can’t get ill. I can’t let my fans down. I’ve got concerts coming up. I’m on this Earth for a reason. I mustn’t damage my voice, I’ve got to stay healthy. I don’t know who I’m going to encounter today, I don’t know what I might pass on.’ ”

Fiddes insists Jackson was not a germaphobe but simply cautious about protecting himself from potential diseases and illness because he didn’t want anything to damage his voice.

He added: “He could meet 400 people a day and has to interact with people. It’s not like he could do the elbow thing that they’ve got now – they don’t want to just shake his hand, they want to hug him.

“People didn’t take him seriously, they used to call him ‘Wacko Jacko’ and all this stuff. But you don’t get to be the biggest superstar in the world and not be intelligent. That guy was super damn intelligent.”