Prince was in the grip of an uncontrollable cocaine habit as far back as 2010, according to an unidentified woman who was on tour with him in Germany, and called police from that country to report her suspicions, records released by police in Minnesota have shown.
Carver County Sheriff’s Office have released call log data from Jan. 1, 2011, to the day of Prince’s death, April 21, 2016, and the records show that police and emergency services received 46 calls for service from Prince’s estate throughout that time.
Although many were to do with minor issues such as parking, dehydrated fans, and attempted trespass, the call in June 2011 was of a different order.
The call log records that the caller was “concerned about Prince’s cocaine habits. He advised her last year in Germany that he cannot control his habit, and she was advised to report it.”
The police however did not act on the information, stating that this was because “info is a year old and she did not specify that Prince is in immediate danger.”
The revelation comes amid increasing speculation that Prince was addicted to drugs.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune has reported that the day after Prince was found dead, he had been “scheduled to meet with a California doctor in an attempt to kick an addiction to painkillers,” citing “an attorney with knowledge of the death investigation” as their source.
The paper said that Dr. Howard Kornfeld, who runs a Californian rehab clinic, Recovery Without Walls, and is “a national authority on opioid addiction treatment,” was called by Prince’s team on the night of April 20 because Prince “was dealing with a grave medical emergency,” quoting William Mauzy, a prominent Minneapolis attorney working with the Kornfeld family.
Kornfeld sent his son, Andrew, to meet with Prince at his home and had planned to fly out the following day. Andrew Kornfeld reportedly arrived at Prince’s home at 9:30 a.m. on April 21, but no one was able to locate the artist. The paper reported that Prince’s body was found in an elevator later and it was Andrew Kornfeld who called 911.
The latest revelations come amid a welter of reports about the circumstances leading up to the singer’s death: Along with persistent allegations that the star was taking Percocet, Prince’s private chef has hinted at a long-term illness, saying he had lost his appetite and was unable to shake several minor conditions, his brother-in-law claimed he had worked “154 hours straight” in the days leading up to his death, and TMZ claimed the star’s private jet was forced to make an emergency landing so he could be given a “save shot” after an opiate overdose.