Michael Jackson ill but not in hospital

A video grab shows Michael Jackson shaking hands with fans at Heathrow airport in London, March 14, 2007. [Reuters]

Michael Jackson is recovering from a bad cold or the flu after a trip to Europe but contrary to news reports has not been hospitalized, his spokeswoman said on Thursday.

"He was a little under the weather when he returned from Europe. He probably had a bad cold or the flu. But he was never hospitalized," Jackson's spokeswoman, Raymone Bain, said of the entertainer.

She said Jackson, 48, was in Las Vegas recording music for a new project after attending to "personal business" in Europe.

A columnist for FoxNews.com reported that the onetime King of Pop had been hospitalized in Vegas with pneumonia.

"All of us were (a little under the weather). I don't know the diagnosis. But I talked to Michael a couple hours ago and he's fine. He's having meetings."

Jackson has been largely out of the public eye since winning an acquittal on child molestation charges in 2005.