Taylor denies Alzheimer's

Showbiz

13:30 31 May 2006

Elizabeth Taylor has denied claims she has Alzheimer's disease.

The 74-year-old screen idol insists reports she is "gravely ill" are completely false.

During an interview with CNN talk show host Larry King, she said: "Do I look like I'm dying? Do I look like, or sound like, I have Alzheimer's?

"They're just trying to sell magazines. Some audiences out there like scandal!"

She angrily added: "They like filth. And if they want to hear that I'm dead, sorry folks. I'm not. And I don't plan on dying soon."

Taylor - who shot to fame in the 1944 movie 'National Velvet' - also told King how she has never believed close friend Michael Jackson abused children.

She said: "I've been there, when his nephews were there, and we were all in the bed watching television.

"There was nothing abnormal about it. There was no touchy, feely thing going on. We laughed like children and we watched a lot of Disney films. There was nothing odd about it."

(C) BANG Media International