Advertisement

Prince ‘lifesaving mission’ turned tragic

 AP

AP

Andrew Kornfeld’s red-eye flight to bring a prescription drug to Prince has been described by his lawyer as a “lifesaving mission” to persuade the superstar to start treatment for addiction.

Instead, the 26-year-old Californian found Prince collapsed in an elevator at his Paisley Park home in the Minneapolis area .

Family fight over Prince’s fortune
• Prince found with drugs
• ‘Prince ‘left no will’: sister

Neither Andrew Kornfeld nor his father Dr Howard Kornfeld, an addiction and pain doctor, has been accused of wrongdoing.

But a law enforcement official said on Friday investigators want to interview both of them about the drug that was never administered to Prince.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Sinead O'Connor and Prince

Sinead O’Connor: Facebook post has resulted in legal action.

Andrew Kornfeld helped in his father’s medical practice by teaching surfing to young drug users in recovery. In college, his studies in neuroscience sparked a fascination with consciousness and psychedelic drugs such as LSD.

Jim Fadiman, a psychologist who popularised the notion of using micro-doses of LSD to enhance workplace productivity, considers the younger Kornfeld “a brilliant man”.

Since his connection with Prince became known, the younger Kornfeld has been stalked by celebrity photographers and has avoided talking publicly about the musician’s death.

Reached by phone on Friday, he said simply, “Sorry. I’m not making a comment at this time.”

Kornfeld’s social media accounts list him as CEO of a Bay Area marketing company for health professionals.

A University of California Santa Cruz spokesman confirmed that he graduated in 2013 with bachelor’s degrees in psychology and neuroscience.

But perhaps the most intriguing detail about Kornfeld is his connection with Fadiman, author of ‘The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide’, which collects stories of people experimenting with LSD, including professionals who took a fraction of a normal dose and reported boosts in their creativity at work.

Fadiman and Kornfeld co-authored a chapter titled “Psychedelic-Induced Experiences” for “The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology,” a textbook dealing with spirituality and transcendent human experience.

Their chapter lauds LSD’s potential for out-of-body experiences and “seemingly spontaneous healing” from allergies, cluster headaches and even alcoholism.

“Andrew and I are friends and colleagues,” Fadiman said in an email.

Kornfeld’s father, Dr Howard Kornfeld, has published research that has been more mainstream than his son’s work, although it too has pushed the envelope.

Kornfeld’s father was called by Prince’s staff on April 20 as they sought help for the musician’s addiction to painkillers, according to the Kornfelds’ attorney, William Mauzy.

The doctor sent his son on an overnight flight with a small amount of buprenorphine for Prince. The musician never took the drug.

After finding Prince in the elevator, Andrew Kornfeld called 911 because two of his staffers were shocked and screaming, Mauzy said.

Meanwhile, comedian Arsenio Hall has launched legal action against singer Sinead O’Connor following a Facebook post in which she accused him of supplying Prince with drugs.

Sinead O'Connor and prince libel case

Sinead O’Connor had a hit with Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U. Getty

Hall’s libel lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, refers to O’Connor’s accusations as fabricated lies.

The lawsuit states O’Connor, who scored a hit in 1990 with her rendition of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U, barely knew the superstar and despised him.

O’Connor wrote a Facebook post on Monday that stated investigators looking into the supplier of drugs used by Prince should question Hall. She also accused him of drugging her.

The lawsuit seeks more than $US5 million ($A6.70 million) in damages but any award would be decided by a jury. The case was first reported by celebrity website TMZ.

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.