The Los Angeles coroner’s office on Monday dismissed as inaccurate the report that said Michael Jackson was emaciated and almost bald when he died suddenly last week.

As the Jackson family clan gathered in Los Angeles to consider funeral details befitting the worldwide outpouring of affection for the King of Pop, the singer’s mother filed court papers seeking custody of his three children.

Katherine Jackson asked the Los Angeles Superior court to appoint her guardian of Prince Michael, 12, Paris Katherine, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7, saying they have no relationship with their biological mother.

Two inconclusive autopsies have been carried out on Jackson — one by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office and one by a private pathologist. Toxicology tests are expected to take several weeks.

Assistant chief coroner Ed Winter said details reported in the The Sun about Jackson’s condition did not come from either the private or the county autopsy.

“I don’t know where that information came from, or who that information came from. It is not accurate. Some of it is totally false,” Winters told reporters.

The report said that Jackson was bald, bruised and had broken ribs. The singer’s hips, thighs and shoulders were riddled with needle wounds, which are said to be result of injections of narcotic painkillers, given three times a day for years.

The examination showed that the star had plunged to a “severely emaciated” state. Pathologists found that his stomach was empty and only had partially-dissolved pills, which he took before the painkiller injection that stopped his heart. The report also claimed that the pop star was wearing a wig when he died and pathologists said that a little more than “peach fuzz” covered his scalp.

According to the newspaper, Jackson also suffered several broken ribs as rescuers pumped his chest after he collapsed due to cardiac arrest. Four injection wounds were found above or near to Jackson’s heart. All appeared to have resulted from attempts to pump adrenaline directly into the organ in a failed bid to restart it.

The autopsy also found bruises on Jackson’s knees and on the fronts of both shins. The report stated that Jackson’s face bore many plastic surgery scars, while the bridge to his nose had vanished and its right side had partially collapsed.

A source close to the Jackson entourage said: “Michael’s family and fans will be horrified when they realise the appalling state he was in. He was skin and bone, his hair had fallen out and had been eating nothing but pills when he died.”

Jackson’s physician Dr Conrad Murray told investigators that he did not give the 50-year-old singer the powerful painkillers Demerol or OxyContin in the hours before his death on Thursday. Murray is said to be facing serious questions about his resuscitation attempts, which began when he started as Jackson lay unconscious on a bed.