WASHINGTON ? United States President Barack Obama has sent a written message of condolence to the grieving family of pop icon Michael Jackson, senior advisor David Axelrod said Sunday.

Axelrod told NBC television Obama believed Jackson had been an "important and magnificent" performer but one who had "led a sad life in many ways."

"The president has written the family and has shared his feelings with the family, and he felt that was the appropriate way to go," Axelrod said.

Jackson, 50, died after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest at his rented mansion in Los Angeles on Thursday.