Prince‘s personal chef of three years, Ray Roberts, said the pop icon was sick in the months leading up to his unexpected death at age 57.
Prince Rogers Nelson was found dead in an elevator at his sprawling Paisley Park residential studio complex on April 21.
Roberts told the Associated Press his boss wasn’t feeling well for “weeks at a time.”
“It felt like he wasn’t himself probably the last month or two,” said Roberts. “I think he was just struggling with being sick a lot,” Roberts told the AP.
A confidential source told Sandrarose.com the “Adore” singer committed suicide because he was tired of being sick all the time.
Roberts, who worked 100 hours a week cooking for the Grammy winning singer, said Prince asked him to prepare food that was easily digested because he suffered from frequent sore throats and upset stomachs.
Roberts said the singer had lost weight and wasn’t himself in his last days, “not even a hint. Not at all.”
Prince, who was a vegetarian, was eating less and drinking less water, which could have caused dehydration.
His symptoms are consistent with oropharyngeal thrush, one of the classic opportunistic infections that doctors require to diagnose HIV patients with AIDS.
Thrush is caused by an overgrowth of yeast (fungus) that normally resides in the stomach and on the skin in tiny amounts.
The symptoms include white patches on the tongue and throat, sore throat, difficulty swallowing, abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss, loss of appetite, weakness and mood changes.
If Prince was diagnosed with oral thrush in the months before he died, his doctor would have told him then that he had full blown AIDS.
Staff at a Walgreens near the singer’s home said he was picking up medications used to treat HIV patients the day before he died.
The singer may have seen his own mortality and realized he was going to die if he didn’t take HIV/AIDS suppressing drugs.
“I wish he was still here,” Roberts said, wiping away a tear. He said the singer’s last meal the day before he died.
Roberts cooked a roasted red pepper bisque with a kale and spring vegetable salad dinner. But Prince never ate it. Roberts told the AP he returned to the compound a few days later to attend Prince’s memorial after he was cremated.
He said he found the plate in the refrigerator — untouched — just as he’d left it.
