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Prince 'wasn't walking around drugged up', says singer's lawyer after overdose claims

His longtime lawyer has expressed shock at the singer's death and disputed claims he died of an overdose

Maya Oppenheim
Wednesday 27 April 2016 11:49 BST
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McMillan spoke to Prince on the Sunday before he died and revealed the singer seemed well
McMillan spoke to Prince on the Sunday before he died and revealed the singer seemed well

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Prince’s longtime lawyer has dismissed reports the singer died of an overdose or had a drug addiction, insisting the iconic singer led a clean and healthy lifestyle.

The musical icon died in his Paisley Park estate at the age of 57 last Thursday. A post-mortem examination has been carried out on Prince’s body but a cause of death may not be revealed for weeks to come.

“Everybody who knows Prince knows he wasn't walking around drugged up,” his lawyer, L. Londell McMillan, told The Associated Press.

“That's foolish. No one ever saw Prince and said, 'He looks high.' It wasn't what he was about.”

McMillan, who knew Prince for 25 years and once worked as his manager, disputed the recent TMZ reports he overdosed on the powerful painkiller Percocet days before his death. The report, which cited unidentified sources, said his plane made an emergency landing in Illinois on April 15 and the singer was briefly hospitalised.

When asked about the TMZ report, McMillan said that while Prince might have been in pain and occasionally taken medication, he was “not on any drugs that would be cause for concern”.

“People use medication. The question is, are you on meds in a dangerous way?” he added.

McMillan spoke to Prince on the Sunday before he died and revealed the singer seemed well. “He said he was doing perfect. He said, 'OK, I'll call you soon.”'

"I'm shocked and overwhelmed," McMillan also said of Prince's abrupt death.

Prince was cremated at an intimate memorial service for friends, family and fellow musicians at Paisley Park in Minnesota on Saturday and Mcmillan was one of those who attended.

Although it will be weeks before the public learns the real cause of Prince's death, it is already known there was no indication of suicide.

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