Michael Jordan does not have a secret illness and is in good condition despite fears over his health, a source close to the NBA legend has confirmed to DailyMail.com.
Fans expressed their concerns earlier this week after a worrying photo emerged of Jordan, 61, watching a Champions League soccer match in Monaco on Thursday.
As he watched on from the stands, the six-time NBA champion’s eyes looked worryingly yellow in the picture, with a number of users speculating that he could be suffering from jaundice wrought by alcohol abuse or elevated melanin pigment on the surface of the eye.
However, despite doctors revealing those theories are not unfounded, an insider has confirmed that MJ is not battling an illness or in poor health despite concern over his yellow eyes.
The source told DailyMail.com: ‘Mike is OK. He goes to the doctor, he is just getting older and the recent pics are in no way or should be a reason for concern.
Michael Jordan does not have a secret illness and is in good health, it has been confirmed
‘There is nothing wrong with him. Like everyone, we should get a little more exercise and Mike enjoys the life he has made for himself, but there isn’t any hidden illness that he is dealing with.’
Jordan is said to be ’embarrassed’ by the viral reaction to his appearance in Monaco this week and is vowing to look healthier when he next makes a public outing.
The insider continued: ‘He has heard fans concerns and he appreciates the concern but also is a little embarrassed that people are seeing him in this way.
‘He doesn’t want to be remembered by people as looking sick and down and out, the next time we see him, it will be dramatically different and he will look much better, he will bounce back.’
Jordan, considered by many the greatest basketball player of all time, has been retired for over two decades after calling time on his iconic career.
The Monaco photo is not the first time his eyes have caused concern, nevertheless.
Fans also noticed Jordan’s yellow eyes in the hit docuseries The Last Dance, which chronicled the legendary Chicago Bulls team he inspired to six NBA titles.
Michael Jordan sparked health fears with a worrying photo at Stade Louis-II in Monaco
Fans raised their concern over Jordan’s drinking habits in Bleacher Report’s comment section
Other photos of Jordan showed him drinking a glass of wine while watching the soccer game
The Bulls great was interviewed for the Netflix show and appeared regularly with the yellow tint to his eyes, sparking fans to claim that he was suffering from jaundice – or perhaps even something more serious.
‘Michael Jordan isn’t always out there and on our TV screens, so we haven’t seen him age,’ the source added. ‘Most of the time people see him is when his highlights are shown, or we see his crying face that has become one of the biggest memes of all time.
‘So when we see him like we have just seen him, it is very jarring because we have to reason to ourselves that our hero is getting older, which means we are getting older.
‘Everyone sees Charles Barkley and Shaq all the time, and they have both considerably aged, but since we see them all the time, it is easier to reason the changes that have happened to them.’
Jordan does not regularly comment on his penchant for alcohol and smoking, but did once reveal: ‘A lot of times I’ll dream I’m a bad alcoholic and I can’t stop drinking and embarrassing myself. And I’m going to lose everything. I wake up from that dream in a sweat.’
Jordan is pictured with his wife Yvette at the five-year anniversary of his tequila brand Cincoro
He has also spoken about the drink and drug culture that surrounded him while playing in the NBA.
During The Last Dance, he revealed: ‘I had one event, preseason, I think we were in Peoria. It was in a hotel, so I’m trying to find my teammates. So I start knocking on doors. I get to this one door, and I knock on the door, and I can hear someone says, “shh, someone’s outside.” And then you hear this deep voice, someone says, “who is it?” I said “MJ.”
‘… So they open up the door. I walk in, and practically the whole team was in there. And it was like, things I’ve never seen in my life as a young kid. You got your lines [of cocaine] over here, you got your weed smokers over here, you got your women over here.
‘So the first thing I said, “Look man, I’m out.” Because all I could think about was if they come and raid this place, right about now, I’m just as guilty as everybody else that’s in this room. And from that point on, I was more or less on my own.’