A journalist has published a book claiming that brilliant music legend Prince came over his home and swallowed powerful prescription opioid pills like they were “M&Ms.”
In his book, This Thing Called Life, Minneapolis-based writer Neal Karlen, who is a former contributing editor for Rolling Stone and regular contributor to The New York Times, claims he had a decades-long friendship with the Purple Rain singer and songwriter and that they interacted frequently, Page Six reports.
Karlen was in possession of a large stash of Percocet he’d been taking after he broke five bones in his leg in a Rollerblading accident. Prince allegedly was craving opioids and asked Karlen if he could come over to his apartment.
The author said he thought that Prince was coming over for a sympathy visit since Karlen was housebound after the surgery. But when Prince Rogers Nelson arrived at his home, Karlen said the “Little Red Corvette” singer wasted no time getting to the point of his visit.
“I didn’t even have time to offer him a glass of water before he spied the white Walgreens’ bottle of pills in my living room,” Karlen wrote in the book, according to Page Six.
“Prince gobbled a third of the bottle like they were M&Ms, and my heart sank. It was f—ing true. I’d heard rumors for years that he’d been off and on heavy painkillers ever since the Purple Rain tour a dozen years before,” Karlen continued.
Prince died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl on April 20, 2016.
His estate has not commented on Karlen’s book after repeated media inquiries.
