TMZ was the first to report the sudden loss of Prince, and now they’re saying that just days before his death, the musical giant OD’d on Percocet, a popular prescription painkiller.
An unnamed source tells them the star took so much of the drug that EMTs had to give him a “save shot” of Naloxone as soon as his plane made its unscheduled emergency landing last Friday at Quad City International Airport in Moline, Illinois, at about 1 a.m.
Naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan, is a life-saving drug that is used as an antidote for opiate overdoses.
It’s been previously reported that Prince was hospitalized after the landing with flu symptoms, then released three hours later. He appeared at a gig the next night and assured fans he was fine, though he canceled two shows earlier in the month in Atlanta, citing the flu.
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The sudden loss caught the world off guard, with early reports being shared with comments like “this has to be a hoax.” Unfortunately, if not unsurprisingly, there appears to be more to the story.
Prince was brought to the hospital and seen by a doctor again on April 20th in the Twin Cities area. Witnesses say he was at a Walgreens picking up a prescription later that night.
Reports say he was taking the opioid painkiller Percocet for a hip problem.
It’s reported that he initially refused a double hip replacement surgery he needed on religious grounds — Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in blood transfusions — though TMZ also reports that he underwent the surgery around 2010.
In 2009, The Guardian reported: “‘He’s in a lot of pain,’ a source told the Hollywood Report’s Showbiz 411 blog this week. ‘[Prince] is popping pain killers and hoping it will all go away.'”
highlander1
what the hell are drug Transfusions? every time we take pain killers orally whether it be just Paracetamol this is a drug Transfusion, Jehovah’s Witnesses do believe in conventional medicine,they don’t accept blood Transfusions and we are well aware of the the many non blood hospitals in the USA and Canada that do operations without blood due to there experience with the witnesses and the high success rate, also there is a rumor circulating that he had AIDS and stopped taking his antiretrovirals as God would cure him, well that’s BS as again the witnesses do accept people from all walks of life including those with HIV and taking conventional medicine to sustain Life which they hold precious.
It’s sad when people speculate with out knowing the Truth first…..
Kangol
@Matt1961: I know. I think the writer means “blood transfusions.” Poor Prince; all that amazing dancing, the splits, etc., alongside his high school track career, probably left his hips in bad shape, and I shudder to think of the pain he was enduring.
When you think of how prevalent opioid misuse and addiction are these days, how deep in physical and psychic pain so many people are, it’s not surprising, though it is very saddening, to learn that Prince was caught in this net. RIP.
Jim
Get your facts correct. He DID cancel two shows in Atlanta but made them up last week in Atlanta. They were his final concert appearances.
Billy Budd
I already knew he had OD’d. It was obvious. It was Just like what happened to Michael Jackson. All the number ones die tragically.
Blackceo
Ugh….so sad. This is the horrible part of when someone so famous dies….the speculating. I’ve read that he had AIDS and stopped taking his medication because he was a Jehovah’s Witness. Now its the percocet story, which seems more plausible. Regardless of how he died, he’s dead and another one of my musical faves is gone.
Moritz
The really sad thing is that the tylenol in percocet is probably what killed him. Over time large doses will destroy your liver. If the doctor had any brains, he would have known that you don’t give a patient percocet for more than a few weeks. Same with vicodin, which usually has even more tylenol than perc.
He should have given him oxy, long or short acting. You’d think that one of his doctors would have caught this. Unless Prince was doctor shopping.
May he rest in peace. He has left quite a legacy.
Curtispsf
@Moritz: You also need to be careful with oxycontin. I have a “friend” who took short acting oxycontin 30 mg 3x/day for back and knee pain. One day he accidentally took one or two extra and ended up in the hospital for delusional “mental status” changes. The OP is correct about the tylenol warning for Percocet/Vicodin. He should have been prescribed Percodan which has aspirin instead of tylenol. Tylenol can do serious liver damage. So sad.
theodisc
He’s probably bought his tickets to the stars. Have fun Prince…
dvlaries
There’s something you never imagine you’re gonna read: “Prince” and “double hip replacement” in the same sentence.
dean089
Vultures! What difference does it make? He’s gone. Get a life and let the man rest in peace.
truckproductions
Love his music. Think he’s a great artist.. I just hate his homophobia. The fact that no one is talking about it is kinda hypocritical. If he were a known republican or someone without the body of work that he has, the LGBT community would NOT stand for it and he would be called out for it.
Captain Obvious
@dean089: Agreed. This obsession with waiting until people die and then feigning some kind of creepy cult like worship is wearing very thin.
joeyty
@truckproductions: That’s for sure. Others on sites like Queerty get ripped to shreds for far less homophobia than Prince displayed. Even if you look up earlier Queerty articles on the homophobic Prince you’ll see that.
ParkerSparks
@Moritz: Percocet has oxycodone.Vicodin has hydrocodone.
Percocet can be prescribed long term. Acetaminophen is safe if you use it as directed.
Prince abused the percocet. He od’ed on Perc on the flight home from Atlanta last week.It is possible that he got it from more than one source.
onthemark
@truckproductions: @joeyty:
Agree – it’s weird that Queerty is not even mentioning Prince’s well-documented self-hating homophobia. Or even his religious bat-sh1t lunacy.
Apparently Prince never at any point used the dreaded term “gay lifestyle” which apparently has become the single “litmus test” by which Queerty determines if someone is an irremediable homophobic bigot who must be permanently condemned to the 9th circle of Gay Hell!
onthemark
@Blackceo: ” I’ve read that he had AIDS and stopped taking his medication because he was a Jehovah’s Witness. Now its the percocet story, which seems more plausible.”
Why is that more “plausible”?
“Flu”… yeah right.
Bob LaBlah
@onthemark: “Agree – it’s weird that Queerty is not even mentioning Prince’s well-documented self-hating homophobia. Or even his religious bat-sh1t lunacy.”
It might be that the editors, like me, are from his generation and decided to let YOU, the reader/commenter, write about such things. I can not believe just how many people are bent out of shape at the overall press (regardless their intended audiences) and the not reporting on this very private entertainers views on social issues.
joeyty
@Bob LaBlah: Hi Bob : It’s just that Queerty has always criticized Prince before for all of his views, if you look at the past articles on him. So it just seems kind of strange to have totally dropped that aspect. (Then again, it might just be sloppiness on Queerty’s part, with them forgetting all about their earlier coverage on him. After all, Queerty is the blog that stated Northern Ireland was Catholic, and believed the silly Rick Jones Delta Utah hate crime hoax).
Bob LaBlah
@joeyty: One of the networks that really floored me was Fox. On the day he died they had no less than three hours of coverage of Prince. And not ONE bit of news was in the negative. I have been watching Fox a lot, especially since they clearly won’t back any of the candidates on either side. It aint the same Fox of last year, thats for sure.
Last nights Saturday Night Live brought me to tears. Prince used to perform in these black high heel boots with black leg warmers just high enough where the majority of his thighs were exposed all the way up to this cute little coat that covered his rear end. I started crying thinking back to those days and the people I knew who are no longer here. We were (at this age of our lives, late 50’s) suppose to have Thanksgiving dinners, birthday parties…you name it, together. But they didn’t make it.
I wept as I watched but am glad I am still around to remember all of them. RIP Prince. You were the greatest.