Tabloid Claims Prince Had AIDS, Thought Prayer Would Cure Him
A tabloid newspaper claims that Prince, the popular rock star who died last Thursday at the age of 57, was diagnosed with AIDS about six months ago and believed prayer could have cured him.
Close friends of the "Purple Rain" singer allegedly revealed his tragic struggle to The National Enquirer.
Prince is said to have known he was dying and had been "preparing to die for a little while," according to the tabloid. The Enquirer reportedly interviewed a music industry source who messaged friends on April 19 to say the singer had full-blown AIDS and "he was in bad shape."
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The report alleges that Prince was diagnosed with HIV in the 1990s but the devout Jehovah's Witness believed prayer, not medication, would heal him. And toward the end of 2015 the virus had developed into AIDS.
"Doctors told Prince his blood count was unusually low and his body temperature had dropped dangerously below the normal 98.6 degrees to 94 degrees," the source told the Enquirer. "He was totally iron-deficient, very weak and often disoriented. He rarely ate and when he did, it all came right back up."
Days before he was found dead inside an elevator at his Minneapolis home, Prince had been seen making runs to a local pharmacy to pick up bags of prescriptions, notes the Daily Mail.
An employee at the Walgreens that served him said: "We were all just shocked that he came in last night looking so beat. We said 'We are praying for you.'"
"He said, almost under his breath, 'Maybe if you prayed for me a year ago it'd be different right now.' Then he waved and said thanks anyway."
The sources claim the singer, who was 5' 2" tall, weighed just 80 pounds at the time of his death. They also claimed he developed a recent addiction to Percocet to dull the pain he was experiencing during the last months of his life.
According to CNN, authorities investigating Prince's death found prescription opioid medication on him and in his Minnesota home.
A sources told the network Wednesday that the pills found are commonly used to treat pain, and investigators were brought in from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to help with the case.
Authorities believe a health scare about a week before the singer died that caused an unscheduled landing of his plane in Illinois was likely the result of a reaction to the pain medication. He was subsequently treated for a potential overdose of pain medication.
Prince was discovered unresponsive last Thursday in an elevator at his home and studio in Chanhassen, known as Paisley Park. Paramedics were unable to revive the singer despite performing CPR.
He was last seen alive at 8 p.m. April 20 when he was dropped off at Paisley Park, according to Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson. He told CNN that there were no obvious signs of trauma on the singer's body when he was found.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, said opioid medications are widely used and he was not sure if Prince was addicted to the pain pills.
"There are plenty of people out there who get legitimate pain pills for legitimate pain concerns and they do well," Gupta said. "They come off of them with no problem, but there's a certain percentage of people who do become addicted to these, meaning they have to keep taking them."
