Michael Jackson's mother Katherine broke down in court on Friday (19Jul13) as she testified for the first time about the moment she learned her superstar son had died.

The Jackson family matriarch took the stand in a Los Angeles court to give her side of the story in her wrongful death lawsuit against the King of Pop's concert promoters, AEG Live, and she used the opportunity to set the record straight about the singer's character, which had been tainted over the years by claims of child molestation and drug use.

Katherine Jackson admitted it had been hard for her to sit through the last 12 weeks of court proceedings and listen to the allegations against her son.

She told the jury, "My son is not a freak... The most difficult thing is to sit in this court and listen to all the bad things they're saying about my son.

"A lot of those things are just not the truth. I know my son was a very good person. He loved everybody. He was in the Guinness Book of World Records for the entertainer who gave the most to charity."

She went on to discuss Michael's struggle with constant aches and pains and his dependency on prescription drugs, something she learned about from his older siblings.

The 83 year old then fought back tears as she opened up about the fateful day her son died, on 25 June, 2009 and revealed that she had only met Dr. Conrad Murray, the medic who was convicted of administering the drug which killed Michael, at the hospital after his passing.

Recalling the fateful phone call alerting her to the tragic event, she said: "They told me, 'He didn't make it, he didn't make it.' I just started screaming."

Katherine Jackson and the pop star's three minor children are suing AEG Live amid allegations bosses ignored key signs of the superstar's ailing health and were negligent in hiring Murray to care for her son as he prepared for his ill-fated This Is It residency in London.

AEG Live maintains that the Thriller hitmaker hired Murray as his personal doctor. The physician is currently serving four years in prison after he was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of his most famous client.