(gentle music)
- [Narrator] April 21st, 2016,
a seven-time Grammy Award winner, Prince Rogers Nelson,
more commonly known as Prince,
died in his Minnesota home at age 57.
In this episode, we'll review Prince's death story
and explain how and why he really died.
(upbeat techno music)
Throughout his 40 year career,
Prince produced over 30 solo albums,
and won seven Grammy awards.
Since the late 70s, and until his death,
Prince had been shaping the music industry.
His legacy is often compared to Michael Jackson's.
The two phenomena weren't the best of friends,
but they had very similar careers,
and their deaths were bizarrely similar.
Jackson developed his addiction to painkillers
due to the head burn and spine injury.
A hip pain provoked Prince's addiction.
MJ overdosed on propofol, Prince on fentanyl.
We know exactly how Michael Jackson died.
His physician put him on a propofol drip
and overlooked an overdose.
What happened to Prince? Here's the story.
If you've watched any of Prince's live performances,
you know how active the man was,
especially in the early days.
He was dancing for hours,
jumping off risers while wearing high heels,
doing all kinds of crazy things.
These punishing live performances took their toll on Prince,
Damaged hips and ankles were the price he paid.
The situation got so bad in his late 40s,
that he started using a cane to help keep himself upright.
Why didn't he do surgery?
Hip replacements are quite common these days.
Thousands of ordinary people do this yearly.
Well, Prince was no ordinary man.
As a Jehovah's Witness,
he has allegedly refused blood transfusions,
making a hip or ankle replacement operation impossible.
He had his way of treating his developing mobility issues.
We'll return to this, but right now,
let's fast forward to mid-April of 2016,
Prince's last month on Earth.
That's where we'll introduce you to a few key people
from Prince's ultra-tight inner circle.
Please welcome Kirk Johnson
Prince's close friend and bodyguard,
Judith Hill, Prince's backup vocalist,
and very close friend.
Alright, it's April 15th, and Kirk and Judith
are accompanying Prince on his private jet,
flying from Atlanta to Minneapolis.
They were going home after another fantastic show
on Prince's Piano & Microphone Tour.
Prince and Judith are snacking,
while Kirk is taking a much needed rest
after two exhausting nights in Atlanta.
It's around 1:12 am on the clock, when suddenly.
- [Pilot] Moline airport,
this is Alpha-Bravo-Charlie 3-1-9.
We're requesting an emergency landing.
One of our passengers has lost consciousness.
At this point, we believe it's a life-threatening situation.
We need ambulances on tarmac.
- [Tower] Copy, Alpha-Bravo-Charlie.
Permission granted. Use runway three.
- [Narrator] What's going on here?
Well, out of the blue, Prince's face became pale,
his eyes rolled and he lost consciousness right in his seat.
Shocked, Hill and Johnson alerted the plane crew.
And minutes later, the Dassault Falcon
made an emergency landing in Moline.
Luckily, the paramedics revived Prince on the tarmac,
and an ambulance took him to nearby Trinity Moline Hospital.
For the world, Prince's sudden faint was caused by the flu.
The story sounded plausible,
but was far from what had actually happened.
In reality, the whole scene onboard the plane
was due to Prince's painkiller overdose.
In fact, on the tarmac,
the paramedics revived Prince with a shot of Narcan,
a powerful medication typically used
to treat opioid overdoses.
Aha, remember that story with Prince's hips and ankles?
Now, this is how he was dealing with the pain.
He used prescription drugs,
and eventually developed an addiction.
Sounds familiar?
Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Juice Wrld,
Whitney Houston, and even Marilyn Monroe.
All those death stories
have the same fundamental root cause.
(gentle music)
Anyway, back to Prince.
So after the incident on the plane,
Prince spent the night at the hospital
and flew to Minnesota the next morning.
This was April 16th.
He knew he was in trouble
and agreed to get professional help.
On April 20th, Prince's representatives
contacted Howard Kornfield,
a prominent California doctor
specializing in addiction treatment.
The plan was to get Prince to his clinic,
Recovery Without Walls.
The next morning, on April 21st,
an initial meeting was set at Prince's estate in Minnesota.
But the doctor couldn't be there,
so he sent his son, Andrew.
At the time, Andrew Kornfield
was a pre-med student in his 20s,
helping his father handle special cases.
And this is where the situation exploded.
(graphics bang)
At 9:00 am on April 21st,
Andrew Kornfield enters Prince's home to meet with Prince.
He's accompanied by Kirk Johnson, Prince's bodyguard,
and Meron Bekure, Prince's assistant.
The group is waiting for Prince to show up.
They're waiting and waiting and waiting,
but Prince is nowhere to be found.
So Kirk and Meron start looking for him.
And then Kirk's scream breaks the silence.
- Meron, come over here now!
Andrew, call 9-1-1! Oh shoot.
- [Narrator] Kirk Johnson discovered Prince's lifeless body
in an elevator at his house around 9:42 am.
He had no pulse, and he wasn't breathing.
Some 30 minutes later,
Prince was pronounced deceased by the paramedics.
Here's why this happened.
Sadly, after nearly dying in an airplane just a few days ago
Prince did not stop taking painkillers.
By that time, he was operating on Vicodin and Percocet,
but this is what Prince had never expected.
His Vicodin pills were counterfeits.
Yeah, it's mind blowing.
But the Vicodin pills he was putting in his system
were not real Vicodin pills.
They were laced with fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a hard synthetic opioid,
up to 50 times stronger than heroin.
Prince must have taken the fatal dose in the morning,
shortly before Andrew Kornfield,
Kirk Johnson, and Meron Bekure came to Prince's house
to discuss his addiction problems.
Prince entered his private elevator.
He was on his way to meet with Andrew.
He lost consciousness seconds later, and died shortly after.
There's no evidence about who provided
the counterfeit pills to Prince
or where they came from.
He did not have a prescription.
No one else in his entourage had it either.
While the investigation suspected
that someone from Prince's close circle
found a way to get Vicodin for Prince,
no evidence proved it.
Prince likely had his very own way
of obtaining the stuff he needed.
Police also ruled out any foul play.
Apparently Prince's case was not unique.
Since 2015, fentanyl-related unintentional overdose deaths
have been surging in the US,
primarily due to illicitly-manufactured fentanyl.
Prince was one of many.
This is the story of Prince Rogers Nelson's death.
This is how it was. (gentle music)
(upbeat techno music)
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(bell dinging)