JUDITH HILL TELLS ALL ABOUT PRINCE’S DEATH
Exactly two months after Prince’s death, his protégé Judith Hill revealed stunning new details about the 57-year-old’s final days. Though she claimed to have no knowledge of his painkiller addiction, the Grammy-winning singer and 2013 contestant on The Voice recalled that she was sitting across from Prince when he suddenly fell unconscious on an April 15 flight from Atlanta to Minnesota. “His eyes fixed. … Thankfully, I happened to be looking into his face,” says Judith, 32, one of just two other passengers on the jet during the now-infamous flight, which was forced to make an emergency landing in Moline, Ill., so Prince could receive a “save shot” that kept him alive after a drug overdose. “[I was] very freaked out,” Judith told The New York Times on June 21, adding that she kept trying to wake Prince as the plane descended. “We knew it was only a matter of time; we had to get down.” Six days later, Prince was dead from an overdose of the opioid painkiller fentanyl. While Judith’s account is riveting, a source who was close to Prince tells In Touch that some pals are livid. “Not only do some in Prince’s inner circle believe Judith was using him to advance her career, but she wasn’t factual in the interview,” says an insider. “Prince’s longtime assistant Kirk Johnson says he, not Judith, discovered Prince unconscious. Everyone is furious that she is speaking out about what happened during the emergency.” While a second source claims Judith fudged the truth several times in the interview, the source insists it may have been to protect Prince. “She played dumb when asked about his addiction,” says the source. “I think she said what she said in order to hide the darker aspects of Prince’s life — out of loyalty.” At her performance in NYC on June 22 — a day after the Times story was published — Judith teared up when asked about The Purple One. “We had a really special relationship,” Judith says. “Prince will always live on in my heart and in the music.”
