jtfolden 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.

On new girl, he never looked better imo, he seriously looked like he could have still been in his late 30's in 2013.

TurnItUp said:

Mumio said:

thx185 said:

TurnItUp said:

leadline said:

jtfolden 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.

On new girl, he never looked better imo, he seriously looked like he could have still been in his late 30's in 2013.

Yep, that was my thoughts too...

These pics make me sad

geetee71 said:

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:

.

Hi Everyone,

I am a newbi here and I needed to be and express my sadness where other prince fans were, "Hugs" 2 All-

I have been a fan since 1979/I wasn't allowed to listen to prince at my house, so I would go next door to the woman I used to babysit for and play him loud and often..or sneakng the "Prince" album to school (8th) grade, and pulling it out and every girl on campus were circling me like a swam of hungry sharks(smiles)yes, we were all drolling over (PRINCE), you see memories like that makes me smile and tear-up at the same time.

I am 50 now and it seems like a small part of me has died as well, the part that still remembers the age of innocents. Even with the subject matter of which Prince sung about in the early dayz, he still sung about love and comming together and that was the theme through-out his career- He had a genuin innocents about him and it came shining through within his tender eyes-

As a few posters have mentioned, I do agree-his eyes did change by the end of 2014-the times when he wasn't wearing the shades, I noticed it and I was telling my daughter, what is going on with "Prince", his eyes are not so innocent looking anymore there was a hint of harshness, You know the look when your heart is broken by the one whome you loved deeply, he had that look of lost and worry within his eyes/when "Prince" would smile, his eyes didn't smile.

I will always have a special place within my heart for this ultimate over achiver, he was "PRINCE" and there will never be another like him in this world or the next...He didn't just set the bar, he was the bar!

[Edited 5/13/16 21:07pm]

[Edited 5/13/16 21:08pm]

[Edited 5/13/16 21:09pm]

Mumio said:

cardinal said:

gatorgirl said: 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.

That's strange you say that.

[Edited 5/13/16 22:36pm]

thx185 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 will add to this, I noticed it at Essence Fest during Summer 2014. In addition to being extremely thin, the way he dresses from around 2014 on speaks volumes I think. Instead of dressing to the 9s, he dresses for comfort, in light clingy lounge clothes and flat shoes. To me he presented a clear picture of someone hitting health issues and slowing down a bit.

I cosign on your above comments. He was known for having the sexiest eyes on a man and I haven't seen that in the timeframe you mention above and I have noticed the clothes too. He would dress from the neck up and he hadn't show his chest out and he would always do it even well after becoming a JW. I guess we know now.

Figure5 said:

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.

I think things went down when Vanity passed. No proof I think he went to her funeral or the at least the private viewing plus an orger just pointed to me I didn't know she passed away on his mother's 14 anniversary of her death. Plus I think David Bowie shook him up too. He may have not admitted it throughout the years, but I believe David was influence or his music and image.

TurnItUp said:

toshi said:

Can we share all the photos taken from his last show in Atlanta here? Pro, Audience, editorial and otherwise. I'll start with a few.

Some say this was the last photo of him at the last show.

[Edited 5/10/16 0:59am]

How brave he was to have done this show .. he looks thin and ill. This is a hard picture to look at ;(

cardinal said:

TurnItUp said:

I think things went down when Vanity passed. No proof I think he went to her funeral or the at least the private viewing plus an orger just pointed to me I didn't know she passed away on his mother's 14 anniversary of her death. Plus I think David Bowie shook him up too. He may have not admitted it throughout the years, but I believe David was influence or his music and image.

a lof of people have talked about the vanity affect, but i think some of us, including myself, didn't pay enough attention to how devasted he reportedly was when bowie passed. i mean, bowie was a tad older, but basically a contemporary, a peer, a mentor all rolled into one. and word is also that besides bowie and vanity passing, he was reported to be depressed and concerned that his career was stagnating (perish the thought)...so it does seem that there were a number of things bothering him besides whatever physical issues he had to contend with. sigh. [Edited 5/14/16 13:16pm]

Losing your mother, your father, an infant son...2 marriages, the death of a friend/love and soulmate.......yeah that would get to anyone, especially if you are living with chronic pain----that alone is depressing and very difficult to fight through day after day after day...i can't imagine what he was going through the last few months. Sad.

GeniusLuv said:

cardinal said:

emesem said:

JFC...this is an amazing picture.

Strive said:

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

this one eerily hearkens back to that black & white one from the mid-'70s of him sitting at the piano.

[img:$uid]http://api.ning.com/files/13SlHjEdb8NVvXTqeTo2RskNo3N4m4UJwOvIQ2Jthk736M0AQIjd8qVG9NvZKBn7zuwtCBXYRyVhvRW*MjM3RKaY6BlBPMpQ/downloadBanner.jpg[/img:$uid]

[Edited 5/15/16 4:53am]

FlexiTime 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]

Yes because no one who doesn't have a spouse, children or grandchildren when they get to at least their 50s is really complete without at least one of these elements in their life and couldn't possibly cope at all when life gets tough.

Thank you....people act like Prince didn't touch millions of people around the world for the better part of four decades....you know, something that EVERYONE alive on this planet does on a daily basis (sarcasm)

Adore4ever said:

cardinal said:

yup.,its a lot of pain to accumulate...plus, with vanity passing on,not only did he lose an old flame and a dear friend, but it was a reminder of youth gone by...then again, he tended to look forward, not back. still, though, lots of loss to bear. and he seemed to be open to meeting "the one" and never did. very sad indeed.

This is all so sad...There are countless ppl that said they talked to him that week even the night before...why didnt he confide in anyone that he needed some help? Or that he wanted some company. Wasnt Ana with him during that week sometime? It doesnt make sense

I believe he did confide in someone or a small circle, but it still doesn't stop the pain.

Like I said before we're fans and we loved him, but he needed a family. I think being a control freak was in the way of alot of things he could've had in life, but he couldn't help it. It was who he was.

SeventeenDayze said:

FlexiTime said:

TurnItUp said: Yes because no one who doesn't have a spouse, children or grandchildren when they get to at least their 50s is really complete without at least one of these elements in their life and couldn't possibly cope at all when life gets tough.

Thank you....people act like Prince didn't touch millions of people around the world for the better part of four decades....you know, something that EVERYONE alive on this planet does on a daily basis (sarcasm)

We didn't say he didn't touch millions!!, but those are millions of people he didn't know personally.

He needed his loved ones! A FAMILY! Remember you're part of EVERYONE alive on this planet on a daily basis. No sarcasm.

[Edited 5/14/16 21:01pm]

thx185 said:

Summer 2014. In addition to being extremely thin, the way he dresses from around 2014 on speaks volumes I think. Instead of dressing to the 9s, he dresses for comfort, in light clingy lounge clothes and flat shoes. To me he presented a clear picture of someone hitting health issues and slowing down a bit.

Yes I noticed this too - even in Sydney in February - the loose relaxed clothing. But I thought he still looked cool & I just thought it was for the relaxed feel of the tour but I admit it was quite different to the man that I saw here in 2012. But his voice and energy were just as wonderful. (Purple Tears go here)

[Edited 5/15/16 5:14am]

SexFiendNikki said:

Maybe it’s just because we now know this was his last performance, but when I look at the photos he seems a lot more somber. He always had a mysterious and mischievous spark. I don’t see it here. So sad. But the blessing is that whatever it was that was ailing him, is ailing him no more.

My thoughts exactly.

An interesting backstory by Amiee Stubbs, a fan and photographer, who discreetly took the picture above (under the strict no photography policy).

http://www.latimes.com/en...story.html

[Edited 5/15/16 5:35am]

toshi said:

SexFiendNikki said:

Maybe it’s just because we now know this was his last performance, but when I look at the photos he seems a lot more somber. He always had a mysterious and mischievous spark. I don’t see it here. So sad. But the blessing is that whatever it was that was ailing him, is ailing him no more.

My thoughts exactly.

He is somber because he is singing purple rain, a few songs earlier, he was all smiles and running around his piano.

toshi said:

Lovely

TurnItUp said:

SeventeenDayze said:

Thank you....people act like Prince didn't touch millions of people around the world for the better part of four decades....you know, something that EVERYONE alive on this planet does on a daily basis (sarcasm)

We didn't say he didn't touch millions!!, but those are millions of people he didn't know personally.

He needed his loved ones! A FAMILY! Remember you're part of EVERYONE alive on this planet on a daily basis. No sarcasm.

[Edited 5/14/16 21:01pm]

What does it mean to "know" someone though? I have had HORRIBLE experiences at the hands of "family" and if I never see them again I wouldn't be surprised and would actually be relieved.

Please don't assume that everyone has or comes from a loving family. That's just not reality for a lot of people. Don't you see how those leeches are all fighting now about Prince's estate?

All that glitters ain't gold

leadline said:

toshi said:

My thoughts exactly.

He is somber because he is singing purple rain, a few songs earlier, he was all smiles and running around his piano.

.

Thank you mentioning this. It helps paint a better picture of what his concert was like and keeps a balanced perspective which I can appreciate