Since January I was saying to myself that he was finally starting to look older but that's all I thought it was. I had not really seen any pics from the last month or so because I did not look on his instagram regularly like many fans did.

Strive said:

PurpleMusic07 said:

Strive said:

With his chef saying that sometimes he'd only have a single bite of cake and Prince himself talking about not eating/drinking for days at a time, it almost makes me think that he had some type of eating disorder.

So not at all to downplay the possibility of an eating disorder cause thats a really serious thing, but lets keep this in context. The chef was talking about how Prince had a sweet tooth, but was concious of overindulging - so thats where the 1 bite of cake thing came from. Re: having to be reminded to eat and drink, I notice thats a very common occurence in creative fields. I work in film and video and it routinely happens to me that i'll be editing something or doing some other brain power heavy task and i will go for hours without getting up for anything. I workk a normal 8ish hour work day. I could only imagine how I'd be in my own space, working on my own projects in a home studio. DIsordered eating/not eating is very different than anything thats come out about Prince recemtly. and like I said. thats not to diminish the possibilty bcuz ultimately it is what it is. But imo thats really not something that you'd want to put out there on somebody w/o good reason.

I thought the chef said he was barely eating or drinking because it would come straight back up?

destinyc1 said:

http://www.hollywoodrepor...ght-889161 Isn't this his chef?And the hollywood reporter is a good magazine.

destinyc1 said:

derrick31 said:

gatorgirl said:

JFC...this is an amazing picture.

Strive said:

[img:$uid]http://i.imgur.com/B53Zulh.jpg[/img:$uid]

The second show was the first P&M show where he showed photo backdrops throughout his career, instead of the psychedelic pics he had been showing previously. What pics weere those?

Phishanga said:

To me, he doesn't seem to be any thinner than he's been for the past year or so. Of course, I'm not downplaying the seriousness of what we're learning was a longstanding addiction problem, but maybe we're trying too hard to find clues and answers - to find anything at all, really - that'll help us make sense of everything as we grieve. It's not necessarily wrong, but it doesn't do us any good, either.

cardinal said:

gatorgirl said:

Exactly. I think there is more to it than just hip pain or medication abuse. The only thing I can see from photos is he has lost a lot of weight and it seemed rather recent. Can anyone pinpoint about how many months he looked much thinner? The fact his throat kept hurting and he was having stomach issues says to me he was sick, too. I do not think it was from withdrawals, either. I think he was truly physically ill.

Jesus, the pic of him walking behind damaris (there were a bunch on google) showed how thin he was. she is a model for cripe sake, and her tallness over him aside, he still looked emaciated next to her. as to the timeline, i noticed the thinness in 2015. the photo of him in orange (grammy, early 2015), he looked very thin. he was presenting an award to (i forget, brain is mush), and when he hugged him, his fingers looked like skin on bones. so at least as of last year. and it seems to have only gotten worse. poor dear man. this sucks sucks sucks. and i wish prince were here so i could put a 20 in his cuss jar, cuz this f&cking sucks. . "do i have a friend tonight?" --prince at his last concert in atlanta [Edited 5/11/16 7:46am] [Edited 5/11/16 7:56am]

Yes, this was the same timeframe I noticed that something wasn't right, was "different", but didn't feel like it was different in a good way. Not aging, the overall body thinness, but also his eyes. Pictures over the last 1 1/2 to 2 years, his eyes had changed and not in a good way. I remarked to my husband back when watching the 2015 Grammy show that he looked unwell and his eyes looked haunted...as another poster said, the spark was missing...and that I hoped he was okay. Even other pictures in the last couple of years show that something was amiss, his eyes gave it away.

Mumio said:

I don't see anything unusual about his weight. Prince has always been extremely thin and sometimes, particularly around the mid-90s, he would almost look emaciated in some shots. That was just him.

I actually thought he'd looked younger the last couple years than he did several years before that. I have seen a few shots where he looks somber or exhausted but even that is hard to tell in a single shot.

headtripparade said:

It could very well be the lighting, but we do need to face facts here--mere hours after these photos were taken the man was unconscious and making an emergency landing. Less than a week later he was dead. While I don't think he looked like the green crypt keeper skeleton a lot of people are seeing in their hindsight grief, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect him to at least look somewhat exhausted. Obviously he was suffering some kind of problem, whether it was illness, extreme pain, or pill addiction. There's zero reason for him to look 100% cool and as lovely and flawless as he's looked for the whole of his career--things were nosediving quickly by the time this show rolled around.

Agree with you.

DreamRose311 said:

SexFiendNikki said:

He always had a mysterious and mischievous spark. I don’t see it here.

"mischievous spark" was definitely on hand... after 'I Would Die 4 U', when he started 'Baby I'm a Star' but cut it short and said 'Y'all aren't ready for that', he got up and kinda ran back and forth the front of the stage... I'd almost say he looked giddy at how much he had all of us in the palm of his hand.

Nice to hear this!

derrick31 said:

http://ww3.hdnux.com/phot...20x920.jpg Sorry I don't know how to post pictures here, but this pic from the Golden State game at Oracle arena clearly shows how emaciated Prince looked. Prince was ill. Just look at recent photos and compare them to a year ago or two years ago. Someone in good health would not age this fast. Percocet is not just used for pain due to injury or surgery, it's also used to treat people with chronic pain from terminal illnesses. [Edited 5/10/16 8:25am]

Can we take a short commercial break on his health and focus on those gloves for second? Am I the only one who notices them? Forget the vault, I want the damn gloves!

Grog said:

derrick31 said:

http://ww3.hdnux.com/phot...20x920.jpg Sorry I don't know how to post pictures here, but this pic from the Golden State game at Oracle arena clearly shows how emaciated Prince looked. Prince was ill. Just look at recent photos and compare them to a year ago or two years ago. Someone in good health would not age this fast. Percocet is not just used for pain due to injury or surgery, it's also used to treat people with chronic pain from terminal illnesses. [Edited 5/10/16 8:25am]

Can we take a short commercial break on his health and focus on those gloves for second? Am I the only one who notices them? Forget the vault, I want the damn gloves!

Grog said:

Can we take a short commercial break on his health and focus on those gloves for second? Am I the only one who notices them? Forget the vault, I want the damn gloves!

.

as posted by Tamron Hall on her Twitter page:

.

keykutney said:

cardinal said:

Mumio said:

Yes, this was the same timeframe I noticed that something wasn't right, was "different", but didn't feel like it was different in a good way. Not aging, the overall body thinness, but also his eyes. Pictures over the last 1 1/2 to 2 years, his eyes had changed and not in a good way. I remarked to my husband back when watching the 2015 Grammy show that he looked unwell and his eyes looked haunted...as another poster said, the spark was missing...and that I hoped he was okay. Even other pictures in the last couple of years show that something was amiss, his eyes gave it away.

i agree. whatever was going on weight wise,there was something different in his eyes. they looked tired and sad. something..,illness, pain, something...was slowly sucking the life force from him.

Yes!

So are there any more pics other than the ones in the OP? (Apparently the larger pic is not, in fact, from April 14.)

cardinal said:

beacheemom said:

So so sad to me. He looks really sick to me. Not just because of how thin he appears, it's something else that I can't put my finger on. He looks as if he is someone who has been slowly dying for quiet some time. Breaks my heart to say that too.

yes i see it too. also in some photos even from late last year. i see tired eyes, something that make up can't cover up. the spark was gone. it could hsve been due to fatigue/withdrawal from pain meds or even the pain itself, but something looks very different even beyond the horrifying thinness. "do i have a friend tonight?" --prince at his last concert in atlanta

I wasn't gonna reply on this tread, but I just wanted to say that I agree with the above comments, but I also had to say this: Prince was the ultimate live showman and he had many fans that showed him love at these shows including this one. (I listened to it and folks in the audience said I love you repeatedly),but at the end of the day your fans are not your family. It may have not mattered 5-10 years ago, but fast foward to last year and now he was 56 and 57. There comes a time when you need family in your life. He might've regreted not presently having a wife, having children or grandchildren to lift him up. Plus with everything in the media with this "no will" business he was still divided from his siblings. I only knew Tyka and Sharon. The others I've never seen before.

When you leave that stage and the audience roars and applaudes and you go home and everything is quiet and you're all then what? I think he started getting more and more lonely. Regardless if it was his choice.

I also wanted to add about his health. I sures hope it wasn't what I think it was. The big C. Listen to The Breakdown, Way Back Home, and U Know from Art Official Age. U Know is the first time I've ever heard him mention the C word in his songs. I was wondering why now? It was something I didn't want to hear for personal reasons.

[Edited 5/11/16 20:43pm]

cardinal said:

Bohemian67 said:

The second show was the first P&M show where he showed photo backdrops throughout his career, instead of the psychedelic pics he had been showing previously. What pics weere those?

most of the photos i recall were tweeted by him in the past year. some1 else would have to match up which photo went with which song, but the photos included:

the cloud heart photo associated with baltimore on soundcloud

the photo of natalya 'levitating'

the 'belong together' painting tweeted on march 31

a photo of a snowy street scene (i do remember that was for s.i.s.i.a)

a photo of redford and streisand from the film 'the way we were'

2 raised fists bound on the wrists (for when will we b paid)

and several others, thats all i recall at the moment

[Edited 5/11/16 22:17pm]

TurnItUp said:

Was this pic taken in Atlanta?

.

Bohemian67 mentioned that the second ATL show was the first P&M show where he showed photo backdrops throughout his career - the redfoxbandit pictures - which this has.

.

He definitely looks rather frail and sick to me here, and I don't think it's retro-projecting.

.

.

FULL SIZE IMAGE: http://i.imgur.com/Xh4qrSg.jpg

.

cardinal said:

TurnItUp said:

I wasn't gonna reply on this tread, but I just wanted to say that I agree with the above comments, but I also had to say this: Prince was the ultimate live showman and he had many fans that showed him love at these shows including this one. (I listened to it and folks in the audience said I love you repeatedly),but at the end of the day your fans are not your family. It may have not mattered 5-10 years ago, but fast foward to last year and now he was 56 and 57. There comes a time when you need family in your life. He might've regreted not presently having a wife, having children or grandchildren to lift him up. Plus with everything in the media with this "no will" business he was still divided from his siblings. I only knew Tyka and Sharon. The others I've never seen before.

When you leave that stage and the audience roars and applaudes and you go home and everything is quiet and you're all then what? I think he started getting more and more lonely. Regardless if it was his choice.

I also wanted to add about his health. I sures hope it wasn't what I think it was. The big C. Listen to The Breakdown, Way Back Home, and U Know from Art Official Age. U Know is the first time I've ever heard him mention the C word in his songs. I was wondering why now? It was something I didn't want to hear for personal reasons.

[Edited 5/11/16 20:43pm]

excellent points. i have heard people say he used to call them sometimes late at night, and want to talk for hours. male, female, it didn't matter (it wasn't just tamarin hall who claimed this. one of his male friends did also). now we know he used to like talking bible with people but reaching out like that, well, it sounds to me like someone who is lonely. his staff and many of his friends had their own homes, families, lives. i read in an interview (rs maybe) where he said he was open to getting married again. it was "up to God". another intervew mentioned finding the "right person" to share everything with, so whatever his past difficulties with women, he seemed to be holding out hope for the right one. however, ten years is a long time to wait and hope, and maybe vanity"s passing reminded him of how old he was getting, alone. i have been wondering why i was less of a wreck when mj died. and i think one of the reasons, is that whatever suffering he endured, he had those kids. and by all accounts, he was am excellent father. he loved those kids and lived for them. prince was, well, all alone. i do think he was different than most because he had his music. but at that age, maybe it wasn't enough anymore. i can't even think about cancer, but it has crossed my mind a number of times. and yes, the lyrics,....i won't be shocked if it is true.

Agreed Cardinal. I'm with you I don't want to think about cancer, but I brought it up because so may people are diagnosed everyday with this horrible disease regardless if you have been living a healthy life. It doesn't discriminate. Plus I thought about David Bowie too. It was the song U Know. It could've just been a line in the song. It used to be he used to shy away from things like this. It wasn't usually him.