Kara said:

DollyDagger said:

rogifan said:

This is what Hannah Welton wrote in her statement after P's passing: I don think he was sad. Sure those P&M shows were emotional but from the limited video footage I've seen I didn't detect sadness. He looks pretty happy here. [img:$uid]http://i66.tinypic.com/idvrjp.jpg[/img:$uid]

I don't have any way of knowing his emotional state but this picture SCREAMS serious illness and rapid weight loss to me!! If I wasn't looking at this here, I'm not sure I would have recognized him. The first time I saw this picture, it tore my insides up. I wanted to punch whomever was in his inner circle on that day.

I have seen it enough now that I'm not so shocked but, come on, this is emaciated and deathly looking. Maybe it's just my Momma Bear instincts but this just kills me!!! He deserved better. I don't blame anyone really, Judith is so young. I wouldn't have tried to force someone that much older than I to do something when I was her age. Just seeing his face so drawn and his demeanor so subdued (in some pictures) would have set alarms bells ringing if he had been my friend or employer. I know, I know, easy for me to say. Still think I would spoken because I would have been freaked.

Prince does appear "extremely" thin in that photo. He is a small man to begin with, so any weight loss is going to be clearly visible. But then again, he was very thin back in the 90s. When he was younger, he had more muscle, so he was more filled-out. His clothing was very loose too. All we can do is speculate here because we don't know what Prince was thinking or feeling or going through. He was sad over the loss of Denise (Vanity), and he probably had other issues going on (personal and medical), and did not want to share it with the public, or even those who were close to him. Prince had a lot of pride and whatever he was going through, he wasn't going to ask for anyone's pity. That wasn't his style. I know he is in a better place now, and he knows he is loved. He was such a beautiful soul, and we lost him much too soon. Maybe he was terminally ill, maybe he wasn't. We just don't know. And, we have to respect his decision to not tell us, if that was the case. Prince lived his life the way he wanted to. He loved all of us.

cloveringold85 said:

DollyDagger said:

I don't have any way of knowing his emotional state but this picture SCREAMS serious illness and rapid weight loss to me!! If I wasn't looking at this here, I'm not sure I would have recognized him. The first time I saw this picture, it tore my insides up. I wanted to punch whomever was in his inner circle on that day.

I have seen it enough now that I'm not so shocked but, come on, this is emaciated and deathly looking. Maybe it's just my Momma Bear instincts but this just kills me!!! He deserved better. I don't blame anyone really, Judith is so young. I wouldn't have tried to force someone that much older than I to do something when I was her age. Just seeing his face so drawn and his demeanor so subdued (in some pictures) would have set alarms bells ringing if he had been my friend or employer. I know, I know, easy for me to say. Still think I would spoken because I would have been freaked.

Prince does appear "extremely" thin in that photo. He is a small man to begin with, so any weight loss is going to be clearly visible. But then again, he was very thin back in the 90s. When he was younger, he had more muscle, so he was more filled-out. His clothing was very loose too. All we can do is speculate here because we don't know what Prince was thinking or feeling or going through. He was sad over the loss of Denise (Vanity), and he probably had other issues going on (personal and medical), and did not want to share it with the public, or even those who were close to him. Prince had a lot of pride and whatever he was going through, he wasn't going to ask for anyone's pity. That wasn't his style. I know he is in a better place now, and he knows he is loved. He was such a beautiful soul, and we lost him much too soon. Maybe he was terminally ill, maybe he wasn't. We just don't know. And, we have to respect his decision to not tell us, if that was the case. Prince lived his life the way he wanted to. He loved all of us.

sharonbell said:

cloveringold85 said:

Prince does appear "extremely" thin in that photo. He is a small man to begin with, so any weight loss is going to be clearly visible. But then again, he was very thin back in the 90s. When he was younger, he had more muscle, so he was more filled-out. His clothing was very loose too. All we can do is speculate here because we don't know what Prince was thinking or feeling or going through. He was sad over the loss of Denise (Vanity), and he probably had other issues going on (personal and medical), and did not want to share it with the public, or even those who were close to him. Prince had a lot of pride and whatever he was going through, he wasn't going to ask for anyone's pity. That wasn't his style. I know he is in a better place now, and he knows he is loved. He was such a beautiful soul, and we lost him much too soon. Maybe he was terminally ill, maybe he wasn't. We just don't know. And, we have to respect his decision to not tell us, if that was the case. Prince lived his life the way he wanted to. He loved all of us.

Sharon.......you re-posted my post? I don't understand.

Mumio said:

anangellooksdown said:

I know it's hard to know what really went on with Prince a lot of the time, and I keep a lot of thoughts to myself because I REALLY respect him. But there is something that I really wish I understood and I wonder if you could shed some light on it. I have seen people say here that Prince seemed "so sad" the last months of his life. He was getting older, yes, but I see photos of him out smiling and laughing with damaris and having a good time. And he was playing shows and helping Judith Hill and maybe others. Then again I know how private he was. He wouldn't have complained about anything either. Do you think he was really sad those last month months? If so, why?

Yes, I do because time was running out for him (I know others don't agree but I'm not debating this with anyone) and he was well aware of it. ThatGIRLthang said he knew he was terminally ill and had told people close to him. I believe her. As far as photos where he seemed "happy"....from what I understand, opiods can produce euphoric effects so that's something to add into what we are seeing, as well as any other possible unknown drug effects.

[Edited 8/8/16 17:03pm]

Mumio, I'm with you on that.

Yes. I think Prince was sick and he was still sad about Vanity's death. I don't know how anyone who was around him could not see it.

[Edited 8/10/16 14:31pm]

:

rogifan said:

This is what Hannah Welton wrote in her statement after P's passing:

We will make sure baby girl knows just how amazing her Uncle Prince was to us, and countless others, and how excited you were for her precious life. From the bottom of my heart...Thank you. 💜💜 Your legacy lives on...

I don think he was sad. Sure those P&M shows were emotional but from the limited video footage I've seen I didn't detect sadness. He looks pretty happy here. [img:$uid]http://i66.tinypic.com/idvrjp.jpg[/img:$uid]

The nose crinkle. Not many of those.

http://m.gazetteherald.co.uk/news/14670995.Prince_scarecrow_stolen_from_village_festival/

leadline said:

Clearly it seems makes people feel better if Prince "knew" something ahead of time, and then they create a scenerio to back this up, be it pictures in a dark music hall with strange shadows while he is performing sad songs, or thinking he is skinner than normal, when in actuality it is an illusion. If I put a 15 foot round afro on me, then wore loose clothes, I would look skinnier as well. And many many many more things with fans reaching for things that simply don't exist, all in an effort to force this horrible event to make sense in their minds.

The facts:

Sheila E says he was always in pain - people who pop pain pills are not always in pain, if Prince was some addict, Sheila would have never seen him in pain.

Nobody around him, nobody close to him ever saw him take a thing, nor was there ever one complaint of being in pain. His bodyguard never saw anything in his bags that he packed personally. He never appeared high, or, off, to anyone.

Prince hated taking any drug, even an aspirin, his body was his temple and did everything he could not to pollute it. He didn't even have a cell phone because he believed the frequency they emitted was harmful. Which he mentioned on twitter one day.

Prince preached non addiction, and lived by example his entire life. He was disciplined beyond belief. The way he recorded, the way he ate (very little and healthy as shit), the way he held true to all JW beliefs and restrictions, no swearing, no birthdays, celibate lifestyle......all these things, no problem for Prince, he was a determined, strong man. Yet, we are to believe that after a nice relaxing show with him sitting at piano, he is in so much pain, that not only does he pollute his body with drugs, but he pollutes it to the point of overdose?????? Throws a party a few days later, and then does the exact same thing a few days after that??

This is not the actions of the man we knew, common sense is all you need here people. Forget what the media says, use your freakin minds, use what you knew Prince to be about his entire life, his every walking breath, his every lyric, his every action, contradicts what we are seeing here.

With respect to all here, I believe he would honestly be saddened at what his fans are saying and how quickly they came to believe all this nonsense.

[Edited 8/9/16 7:31am]

[Edited 8/9/16 7:32am]

Which still begs the question, I know.

sonshine said:

I'm not sure Prince was "sad" but the human beings that we are tend to feel empathetic to others we perceive as being alone. P was at the age you look back and start to question some of the things you did or decisions you made. But I don't think he was sad. He seemed to have plenty of friends and companions to keep him company if that's what he wanted. I think he was more mature and was slowing down due to his age and due to the very real battle he was waging with his opiate issues. The struggle is real, and it is huge. It ages you. It consumes you. I'm sorry he had to go thru that. I wish he could have hung on a bit longer and gotten the help he needed. He was strong and could have beat it. At the very least he deserved the chance. So no I don't think he was sad, I think he was managing pretty damn well considering. He still had plans for the future and so much more to do. He wasn't planning on leaving any time soon. He was always looking forward it seemed to me.

I feel the same way as you do. I know Prince would have gone on to do many more great things in his life. He never stopped creating, evolving, growing and learning.

rogifan said:

This is what Hannah Welton wrote in her statement after P's passing:

We will make sure baby girl knows just how amazing her Uncle Prince was to us, and countless others, and how excited you were for her precious life. From the bottom of my heart...Thank you.
💜💜 Your legacy lives on...

I don think he was sad. Sure those P&M shows were emotional but from the limited video footage I've seen I didn't detect sadness. He looks pretty happy here.

I can't find a tactful way to add to this discussion without feeling like I'm explaining things in a way that is disrespectful to Prince's privacy. Prince chose to interact and share info with some and not others for a reason.

CalhounSq said:

I think the supposed sadness & sickness people see is all hindsight. Show me where someone was concerned/worried/vocal about his health & wellbeing BEFORE April 21 but that's just me

I told a friend on April 16th or 17th that Prince was thinking about releasing this mortal coil. When the 21st happened, I told my friend I wanted to take back my words. I even blogged that it seemed during the Piano and Mic concert that Prince was feeling the cycle of life. I said that it reminded me of the cycles we all go through as we mature, but we always come back home. I wrote that blog on April 16th.

rogifan said:

DollyDagger said:

I don't have any way of knowing his emotional state but this picture SCREAMS serious illness and rapid weight loss to me!! If I wasn't looking at this here, I'm not sure I would have recognized him. The first time I saw this picture, it tore my insides up. I wanted to punch whomever was in his inner circle on that day.

I have seen it enough now that I'm not so shocked but, come on, this is emaciated and deathly looking. Maybe it's just my Momma Bear instincts but this just kills me!!! He deserved better. I don't blame anyone really, Judith is so young. I wouldn't have tried to force someone that much older than I to do something when I was her age. Just seeing his face so drawn and his demeanor so subdued (in some pictures) would have set alarms bells ringing if he had been my friend or employer. I know, I know, easy for me to say. Still think I would spoken because I would have been freaked.

I don't disagree about the weight loss but come on, he's not deathly looking in this photo. No he doesn't look like the perfect picture of health but he doesn't look like he's on deaths door either. A man on deaths door wouldn't be travelling the world performing concerts.

ALL THIS. I agree with Dolly. I only learned about and joined the org after what happened 2 our man. As I never felt the need 2 join before becuz I knew how much he disliked being talked about despite him coming on here. But, I like most read so much info anything I could (still do) 2 learn more about him. That lead me 2 some old threads where I saw some orgers made comments about how they were worried about him cuz he wasn't looking healthy or well. It was interesting 2 read becuz when some1 would say something it was mainly ignored. I don't think it was ignored 2 be mean or anything like that but I think it was more so ppl didn't want 2 admit 2 themselves or point it out 2 others 4 fear of confirmation that something was not right. I think a lot of ppl noticed what was happening on here but declined 2 say anything 4 worry that P himself might see it and make him upset or sad.

As far as those who think he couldn't have been in that much pain becuz of him being able 2 travel/play full shows still, music was his therapy, his "drug" of choice so 2 speak. He always took 2 music 2 heal himself. I've known some1 that was dying from cancer and went 2 an amusement park which was beyond physically draining 2 them but they did so anyway with a smile on their face, becuz they wanted 2 live life the best way they could before their time was up. I'm sure it was still physically draining and painful but he put on a very strong "armor". Look back at how he acted after losing Ahmir, another child 2 miscarriage, and his marriage on top of it all. The man could put on 1 hell of a happy face 2 go out and be "Prince", he burried himself into his work. I think he was in fact sad becuz of something (what we may never know) was going on. Looking back on his behaviour IE -talking a lot about his Dad in the past few years, talk of turning PP into a museum, songs like "Way Back Home" "The Breakdown" R just some things 2 point something was up. That's my take on it anyway.

If you listen to the last 3 albums there were hints.

Then there is the curious non release of Purple Rain 30.

Prince tweeted to ask Warner Bros because they had the work.

A Purple Rain 35 will sell much better.

muleFunk said:

If you listen to the last 3 albums there were hints.

Then there is the curious non release of Purple Rain 30.

Prince tweeted to ask Warner Bros because they had the work.

A Purple Rain 35 will sell much better.

There are no hints.....it's impossible to hint about something you are unaware of.

I'm not if it's correct to determine if someone is sad based on just pictures. The only people who would really know are those who were around him everyday...

.

I personally didn't think he was really sad at the time...but I think his most recent albums did have some tinge of sadness to them.

leadline said:

muleFunk said:

If you listen to the last 3 albums there were hints.

Then there is the curious non release of Purple Rain 30.

Prince tweeted to ask Warner Bros because they had the work.

A Purple Rain 35 will sell much better.

There are no hints.....it's impossible to hint about something you are unaware of.

OK.

Spanky said:

I feel like whenever I post on a thread it dies. I'm going to call myself "thread killer". No joke, check out 90% of my posts.

Your post was the only one on this thread to make any sense, probably the reason nobody responded to it.

It's amazing how many people here consider themselves to have good instincts? C'mon read the thread title again. Then be circumspect for y'know a while? Good.

Virtually everyone over the age of 40 is overweight, bar possibly hardcore vegans. And by that I mean if you're half a stone over your natural weight- when you were at your fittest, then you're personally 1/2 stone overweight. The vast majority over 30 are overweight. Just because everyone is overweight doesn't make them healthy. It's the new normal, so what?

Prince was about the healthiest weight he could be at 55 when I saw him in 2014. People don't die in their mid 50s from being too thin unless they have an eating disorder or crohn's disease, aids which Prince had none of. Prince didn't die from a food problem even if that was a mitigating factor. See?

I've always thought he had cancer. How did his parents die ? is there a history of illness in his family ? I know a few of his siblings have passed in their 50's.

laurasmpls said:

Admire the courage shown by his family in speaking out now. Answering difficult questionS that will help so many people who are struggling with similar situations. [Edited 8/14/16 16:40pm]

I am not sure what the family are trying to say. At first Chazz said there was no illness and he avoided drugs and alcohol and now he says it was on record they were reaching out to him. Why were they reaching out? What are they trying to say?

Initial comments:

"I can tell you this: What I know is that he was perfectly healthy," said Mr Smith, who formed a band with Prince when they were kids.

Mr Smith said Prince swore off drugs and alcohol as a kid, and the group they played with saw a lot of music greats fall, so "we decided to never get into that stuff, and no one did".

Then recently:

"Being free enough to be able to say, I'm not doing well today. I'm in pain. Can you guys help me? Are you going to make fun of me if I tell you that I am in need, I'm hurting?" he said. "That's really a big lesson, that everybody needs to learn."

Smith and his family reached out, in many ways, "in every kind of way you can think of," he said.

"Weren't trying to hurt him, or nothing like that, it all came from love," he said.

P had plenty of people around him who had been through pain/painkiller/opiate use and he could have talked to without making fun of him. He had helped others with their drug use and had friends who had recent surgeries. People don't hide drug abuse because they think their close friends and relatives will laugh at them. They hide it because they aren't really ready to sort out their problem. And if he didn't tell family, why did they reach out to him? What do they mean by they weren't trying to hurt him? What did they do that could be thought of as hurting him - who would even think that after the plane incident?

Why does everything that is said about all this feel off somehow?

CalhounSq said:

I think the supposed sadness & sickness people see is all hindsight. Show me where someone was concerned/worried/vocal about his health & wellbeing BEFORE April 21 but that's just me

I complained that he looked sickly and that he looked unhappy all the way back in December, but everybody acted like I was crazy and shouted me down.

anangellooksdown said:

I know it's hard to know what really went on with Prince a lot of the time, and I keep a lot of thoughts to myself because I REALLY respect him. But there is something that I really wish I understood and I wonder if you could shed some light on it. I have seen people say here that Prince seemed "so sad" the last months of his life. He was getting older, yes, but I see photos of him out smiling and laughing with damaris and having a good time. And he was playing shows and helping Judith Hill and maybe others. Then again I know how private he was. He wouldn't have complained about anything either. Do you think he was really sad those last month months? If so, why?

I've said before that I've always seen a bit of sadness in his eyes from the beginning of his career. There are some people who just give off a complex aura. Prince seemed one of these people. Like a bit of turmoil was boiling underneath.

endiadj said:

Spanky said:

I feel like whenever I post on a thread it dies. I'm going to call myself "thread killer". No joke, check out 90% of my posts.

Awww, Spanky, I feel the same way at times. So I'm posting to make sure you aren't the "thread killer".