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Prince Was Not ‘Drugged Up,’ Insists Musician’s Attorney

By Georgia Makitalo
Published on: 00:25 PST, Apr 27, 2016

In the midst of the discussion regarding the inquiry into Prince’s death and his use of painkillers, Prince’s attorney, L. Londell McMillan, was interviewed by the Associated Press and denies that Prince had any sort of substance abuse issue.

“Everybody who knows Prince knows he wasn’t walking around drugged up.”

As Prince’s lawyer for the past 25 years and the genius behind the renaming of Prince to simply a symbol and monicker, “The Artist” (formerly known as Prince), he was in continuous contact with the musician. He does not agree with the viral reports circulating that Prince had a painkiller problem, although he was aware that Prince occasionally took pain medication when necessary.

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

Minnesota attorney Michael Paddon, the former lawyer who once represented both Prince’s now-deceased brother and sister, Duane Nelson and Lorna Nelson, has been making the rounds insisting that Prince had a serious drug problem.

“He was addicted to cocaine and Percocet. They told me separately, not together, that he had addiction problems with those two drugs.”

While claiming to know a lot about this situation, Paddon does not appear to have ever even met Prince, nor did he mention every having seen Prince take any drugs except for what his brother and sister separately told him.

“By the time I came into the picture, Prince was not a part of their lives. I was a sounding board more than anything, and we had an attorney-client relationship.”

Paddon represented Duane Nelson, Prince’s half-brother, after Prince fired him. He represented Lorna Nelson, Prince’s half-sister, after their father died. Prince’s relationship with these siblings was contentious at best. Duane passed away three years ago, and Lorna close to a decade ago. Any information that Paddon shares would likely be old information assuming that it is even true.

On the other hand, Prince’s own attorney was in recent contact with the performer. The last time McMillan spoke with Prince was the Sunday before the musician’s death, immediately after the incident where Prince’s plane made an emergency landing because the artist needed emergency medical attention. Prince reassured the attorney that he was feeling fine.

“He said he was doing perfect. He said, ‘OK, I’ll call you soon.'”

McMillan had no reason to believe that less than one week later, he would be one of a select group of family and friends attending Prince’s funeral.

“I think he would have been proud of how we celebrated his life.”

In separate interviews, Sheila E. insists that she never even saw Prince “take an aspirin.” When she spoke to Extra, Sheila E. insisted that Prince did not have a serious undisclosed illness that could have been the cause of his death.

“All I know is he had a cold and he hated being sick.”

When asked about the possibility that Prince had a drug problem, the percussionist insisted that this was untrue.

“Those have been squashed because the Sheriff came out and said there was no foul play.”

When Access Hollywood spoke to Sheila E., she was adamant that Prince did not take drugs.

“Oh, no, no. Not at all.”

Also at the memorial, Prince’s former fiancé said it was a very somber occasion.

“We tried to tell some stories to each other, in little pockets of conversation, but it was hard to think of anything fun — it was very sad.”

Although his lawyer worked extensively with Prince to emancipate the musician from his contract with Warner Bros., McMillan did not mention any knowledge of a will. He was only focused on Prince’s lifestyle. His instance was that Prince was not “all drugged up” and instead embraced life.

“Prince had an amazing life. He enjoyed life. He had a lot of fun.”

[Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images]

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