Liz Taylor: Do I look like I'm dying?

Elizabeth Taylor has responded to reports that she was gravely ill and suffering from Alzheimer's disease by asking: "Do I look like I'm dying?"

The 74-year-old actress gave her first television interview in three years to scotch rumours that she was gravely ill. Appearing on CNN's Larry King Live she said she used a wheelchair to ease her chronic backpain, but said she was happy and busy with her new venture designing jewellery. Taylor, who campaigns to raise funds and awareness of HIV, said: "Do I look like or sound like I have Alzheimer's?"

When asked by King what had prompted headlines such as "Liz Alzheimer's Tragedy", she said: "I think they're trying to sell magazines and the only way they can do it is by being dirty ... They like filth. And if they want to hear that I'm dead, sorry, folks, I'm not. And I don't plan on it."

During the interview, where she spoke about her work campaigning for Aids charities and her past loves, she told of her anger over hearing that child molestation charges had been brought against singer Michael Jackson. She said that she had been with him when he was in bed with his nephews. "There was nothing abnormal about it," she said. "There was no touchy, feely thing going on."