Investigation says Prince was isolated, addicted and in pain

After Prince had to be revived from a drug overdose a week before his death, one friend told the musical superstar that he needed to stop taking painkillers. But Prince said he couldn't — his hands hurt so much that if he quit, he'd have to stop performing.

"This piano tour I think was getting to his hands," singer Judith Hill told investigators, according to a transcript of her interview.

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2007 file photo, Prince performs during the halftime show at the Super Bowl XLI football game at Dolphin Stadium in Miami. A Minnesota doctor accused of illegally prescribing an opioid painkiller for Prince a week before the musician died from a fentanyl overdose has agreed to pay $30,000 to settle a federal civil violation, according to documents made public Thursday, April 19, 2018. Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park estate on April 21, 2016. An autopsy found he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

In this image made from surveillance video provided Thursday, April 19, 2018, by the Carver County Sheriff's Office, as part of an investigative file into Prince's death, the superstar, center, enters a clinic of Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg on April 20, 2016, the day before he was found dead of an accidental fentanyl overdose. The doctor is not facing criminal charges and his attorney says he had no role in Prince's death. (Carver County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Those words, found amid hundreds of pages of interviews between investigators and Prince's closest confidants, provide insight into just how much the man known for his energetic performances and larger-than-life personality was suffering. The documents open parts of Prince's life that the intensely-private celebrity tried to keep from even his closest confidants.

"How did he hide this so well?" Prince's closest friend and bodyguard Kirk Johnson said in an interview with detectives. While Johnson said he didn't realize that opioids were a problem until that overdose, he had noticed Prince was unwell before that and took him to a doctor.

In their zeal to protect Prince's privacy, Carver County Attorney Mark Metz said some of the singer's friends might have enabled him.

Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park studio compound in suburban Minneapolis on April 21, 2016. An autopsy found he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin. Authorities say it is likely Prince didn't know he was taking the dangerous drug, which was laced in counterfeit pills made to look like a generic version of the painkiller Vicodin.

The source of those pills is unknown and no one has been charged in Prince's death.

Authorities say Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg admitted that he prescribed another drug, oxycodone, under Johnson's name to protect Prince's privacy. Schulenberg disputes that, but paid $30,000 to settle allegations the drug was prescribed illegally.

Privacy is a theme in interviews with investigators. Joshua Welton, who co-produced some of Prince's work, and Hannah Welton, the drummer in the Prince-created band 3rdEyeGirl, said they were like Prince's family.

Joshua Welton described Prince's inner circle at the time of his death as "very, very, very, very, very tight" — including Johnson, assistant Meron Bekure and the Weltons. He said he had seen little of Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, in recent years. "He's made comments like you guys are more family to me than my blood relatives," Welton said.

This photo provided Thursday, April 19, 2018, by the Carver County Sheriff's Office as part of an investigative file into Prince's death, shows bottles of dietary supplements inside Prince's Paisley Park estate in Chaska, Minn. (Carver County Sheriff's Office via AP)

This photo provided Thursday, April 19, 2018, by the Carver County Sheriff's Office as part of an investigative file into Prince's death shows the entrance to a vault inside Prince's Paisley Park estate in Chaska, Minn. (Carver County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Johnson and Hill were on Prince's plane when he overdosed on the way back from an April 14, 2016, concert in Atlanta. Hill said that Prince told her he was depressed, enjoyed sleeping more than usual and was incredibly bored. He told her after his show that he thought he was going to fall asleep on stage.

The plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, and after Johnson carried Prince from the plane "like you would carry a little kid or a baby," paramedics had to use two doses of a medicine that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. When Prince took a large gasp of air and woke up, he looked at Johnson without saying anything and Johnson told paramedics, "Prince feels fine," according to documents.

At the hospital, Prince refused medical tests. He told Hill that he had just mixed two pills — that he was a good judge of his body and wouldn't do it again. But when she told him "no more pills right?" he wouldn't agree.

"He said something like well then that means I can't perform because my hands are hurting. My hands hurt," according to a transcript of her interview with investigators.

Investigative materials released Thursday include several other interviews, documents, photos and videos. There are pictures of pills that were found in various bottles in several different rooms. Authorities have said many of those pills were not in their proper containers, and many were counterfeit.

The documents include interviews with Schulenberg and Prince's inner circle, including Johnson, who told investigators he had noticed Prince "looking just a little frail," but said he did not realize he had an opioid addiction until the overdose on the plane. After that, Johnson said he and others reached out to an addiction specialist.

But Johnson had initially contacted Schulenberg, his own doctor, to treat Prince in the fall of 2015. Schulenberg told investigators that Johnson texted him on April 7, 2016, saying Prince was complaining of numbness and tingling in one of his legs and in his hands and had vomited the night before. Schulenberg prescribed some medications under Johnson's name and gave Prince an IV, according to documents.

Schulenberg asked Prince if he was taking anything for his hands and Prince said yes, but "did not know what it was," documents show.

Johnson also called Schulenberg on the day of the Atlanta concert before the flight on which Prince overdosed and asked the doctor to give Prince a painkiller. Authorities say Schulenberg did so, under Johnson's name. Johnson contacted Schulenberg again on April 18, and expressed concern that Prince was struggling with opioids.

Schulenberg last treated Prince the night before he died, conducting a urinalysis that tested positive for opioids. Meanwhile, Johnson and others had reached out to addiction specialist Howard Kornfeld, who dispatched his son to Paisley Park to try to convince Prince to seek treatment.

Andrew Kornfeld showed up the following morning. He was among those who found Prince dead.

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.

Four years after Harry and his American wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, decamped to a villa in Southern California, a travel company he controls filed paperwork this week informing British authorities that he has moved and is now “usually resident” in the United States.

The formal acknowledgment underscores the prince’s increasing estrangement from Britain, after he and Meghan walked away from royal duties to pursue lucrative media deals in America. Since then, Harry has repeatedly criticized the royal family, including allegations of unconscious racism that were included in a Netflix series and the prince’s autobiography, “Spare.”

The paperwork was filed by Travalyst Ltd, a company at least 75% owned by Harry and which was founded in 2020 to “to promote global awareness of the importance of sustainable tourism.” The documentation was received Monday by Companies House, the government agency that oversees the incorporation of U.K. companies.

The filing further separates Harry from his role as one of the king’s counselors of state — members of the royal family who can be deputized to carry out the duties of the monarch if he is unwell or out of the country.

While Harry formally remains a counselor of state, the crown informed Parliament in 2022 that “in practice” only working members of the royal family would be called upon to fill in for the monarch.

Although Harry and Meghan, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have put down roots in the wealthy enclave of Montecito, where they are raising their young son and daughter, Harry is also facing scrutiny about his U.S. residency.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has questioned the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to grant Harry a U.S. visa following admissions of drug use that were included in “Spare.”

The foundation, which has asked a judge to force the department to release Harry’s immigration file, argues that the prince either lied on his visa application or was given special treatment because a history of drug use would normally disqualify an applicant from being granted a visa.

FILE - Britain's Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, waves during the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race at Circuit of the Americas, on Oct. 22, 2023, in Austin, Texas. Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed his is now a U.S. resident. Four years after Harry and his American wife, Meghan, decamped to a villa on the Southern California coast, a travel company he controls filed paperwork informing British authorities that he has moved and is now “usually resident” in the United States. (AP Photo/Nick Didlick, File)