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Virginia Watson was an extra casting director working for Atmosphere Casting and Cast & Crew Casting on Michael Jackson's fiery Pepsi commercial. Now she gives ET her eyewitness account of the horrific events of that day.
"I saw just like a spark of something that hit the back of him, and then it just looked like it was a special effect," Virginia, who was standing at the foot of the stage at the Shrine Auditorium, tells ET. "But when the red flames started to come up … then he realized he was on fire and started spinning. You could see the smoke coming off him and then everybody was just on him."
In the Us Weekly video from the 1984 commercial shoot, you can see that the crew members grab him. Then his brothers and his friend Miko Brando were there helping to smother the fire.
Back-up dancer Daryl Maze appeared on "Good Morning America" today, and said he was one of the first to reach Michael.
"When this happened, it just changed the whole atmosphere. Everybody was like, 'Oh God,'" Daryl said.
As a result of his hair catching fire, Michael suffered second and third degree burns to his scalp and face.
"He was in shock, but with all the chaos that was going on around him, he was, 'It's okay you guys.' He was trying to talk the people through what he needed to get out of there to get to the hospital," Virginia recalls.
Nine years later, Michael publicly claimed that the accident played a role in his addiction.
He said, "I remain out of the country undergoing treatment for dependency on pain medication. This medication was initially prescribed to cede the excruciating pain that I was experiencing [as a result of] recent reconstructive surgery on my scalp."
Keep checking back for all the latest on the Michael Jackson investigation. And for more of Virginia Watson's interview, tune in to tonight's ET.