Prince’s Private Painkiller Addiction That Led To His Death
Icon and Image/Getty ImagesPrince sustained injuries to his hips after years of performing, leading to an opioid prescription that would end in a fatal addiction.
The Artist Formerly Known as Prince was one of the music industry’s most prolific performers, releasing over 30 albums throughout the course of his career and winning seven Grammy Awards. Even shortly before his death, he showed no signs of stopping.
Prince released “Hit ‘n Run Phase Two” in December 2015, not knowing it would be his last album.
Signing with Warner Bros. Records when he was 20 years old, Prince Rogers Nelson’s unique voice, funky instrumentals, and heavily sexual lyrics and moves seduced listeners across the globe. His sixth album, “Purple Rain,” was released in 1984 and spent 24 consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 chart.
But the years of unending performing took their toll on Prince. His former fiancé, Sheila E. told ABC News that the musician had suffered many injuries from performing throughout his life.
The pain from these injuries ultimately led Prince to take painkillers. He became addicted to the drugs, and when he accidentally took counterfeit medication laced with fentanyl on April 21, 2016, they killed him.
The situation was made more complicated when investigators tried to find the source of the counterfeit medication — as Prince didn’t own or use a cellphone.
Instead, he communicated with his assistants through email or telephone and relied on his friend and bodyguard, Kirk Johnson, to manage his affairs. But according to USA Today, despite their close relationship, Johnson had no clue that Prince was addicted to opioids.
“He never told me, but that’s what I’m finding out,” Johnson said. “That’s why I took the initiative and said, ‘Let’s go to my doctor, because you haven’t been to the doctor. Let’s check it all out.'”
Johnson had been texting Doctor Michael Schulenberg saying that Prince was asking for fluids only days before the musician’s death. Security footage from Schulenberg’s office showed Prince only hours before he died, dressed in black and looking extremely gaunt.
Schulenberg did have to pay $30,000 to settle a federal civil claim for knowingly writing a prescription for Prince in someone else’s name in 2018 — he wrote the prescription for Kirk Johnson, violating the Controlled Substances Act.
That said, there is no evidence that Schulenberg supplied Prince with the counterfeit drugs.
“Prince had no idea he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him,” Carver County Attorney Mark Metz said after Prince’s death.
To this day, no one knows who gave Prince the fentanyl-laced drugs that killed him.
