London, Aug 19: In a bid to obtain powerful prescription drugs, Michael Jackson banged his head and hurt himself before his death in June, media reports say.

The pop music icon, who died June 25 after a cardiac arrest, was said to have been so desperate to fuel his addiction that he harmed himself to convince doctors to give him medication that included the strong pain killer Demerol, reports contactmusic.com.

"LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) detectives have interviewed some 30-35 witnesses so far, and it has come to light that Jackson was prone to self-harming. He'd bang his head against the wall, hit his fists and arms against furniture, anything to cause a cut or a bruise.

"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.