In a new interview with the Star Tribune, Tyka Nelson shared details about her last conversations before her brother Prince’s passing.
She revealed some insight into the late musician’s mindset during his struggles with illness. Tyka also admitted to having realized some signals right before his death:
“He kept avoiding questions. I kept getting mad. I felt like ‘Talk to me for two seconds.’ He’d change the subject, make a joke and then we’d both laugh.”
She added:
“He asked me could I find more information about our family. Prince wanted me to find Sharon’s number. I didn’t question it. It was like ‘Send this picture to that person.’ OK. What for?”
This left Tyka confused, suggesting Prince might have felt something was wrong and wanted to reach out to the family before it was too late.
Tyka’s Discussions With Prince
The siblings avoided discussing serious matters. Instead, they chose to reminisce about their parents. Tyka mentioned that her brother played the piano similar to their dad, and jokingly added that he had the same physique as their mom.
During the same interview, Tyka remembered that she hadn’t noticed any signs of poor health in Prince, but she did notice he had lost weight when she hugged him:
“A couple of times I said, ‘How are you really?]’ He didn’t go into anything with me. That was bothering me, and he knew it was… but that was all he wanted to tell me.”
Their last conversation took place over the phone several days before Prince’s passing.
Prince Shrugged Off Medical Advice
On April 14, 2016, Prince performed his final concert in Atlanta. He played some of his classic songs like ‘When Doves Cry’ and covered Joni Mitchell’s ‘A Case Of You.’ While flying back to Minnesota the next morning, Prince became unresponsive. This caused an emergency landing for his private jet. He brushed off medical advice because he thought it was because of dehydration. Later came his chat with his sister.
On 21st April 2016, Prince died after an accidental overdose of fentanyl at his Paisley Park home in Chanhassen, Minnesota.