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Prince

Source: Rob Verhorst / Getty

There was an unsettling energy in the conference room that day. We were growing restless in a company-wide meeting that was running too long when suddenly, TMZ reported someone had been found dead at Prince’s Minnesota home. We convinced ourselves it was someone other than Prince who had taken their last breath at the Paisley Park Estate. Our worst fears were confirmed moments later. Prince Rogers Nelson had died. He was 57.

We rushed back to our respective desks. “I can’t,” a co-worker shrieked before sobbing. News of his death began to spread around the office while simultaneously setting the Internet ablaze. Confusion loomed as fans remained incredulous. But it was true, the Purple One had passed. The cause of death? Accidental overdose.

“I felt panic,” Keyaira Kelly, staff writer at HelloBeautiful says. “We had just lost Maurice White from Earth Wind & Fire and Natalie Cole. Prince felt immortal so his death seemed unrealistic. It made me cope with my own mortality because he was like this ethereal, ageless symbol. And I couldn’t believe that magic no longer existed on this earth.”

Days before his untimely demise, Prince performed Purple Rain and urged fans not to “waste prayers” on him. Prior to, Prince reportedly battled the flu and was in and out of the hospital. Despite his rumored health problems, friends and family remain stern he seemed in good spirits in his final days while others claim he was in pain.

“I didn’t believe it because I refused to think the universe would be that unfair to take away Michael, Whitney and Prince. In a 10-year span I lost all of my childhood icons,” Charise Frazier explained. “Prince encapsulated femininity and masculinity and it was bold, jarring, sexy and Black as hell.”

A year after his death, it’s still hard to believe he’s gone. Since that fatal day, mystery around his death still lingers. It was recently revealed that some of the drug bottles found in Prince’s home were prescribed to his friend Kirk Johnson. A Minnesota judge ruled, on Tuesday, against the release of six previously unreleased songs by Prince, claiming the producer in possession of the tracks violated a confidentiality agreement. While multiple streaming platforms stream his music, his estate sued Roc Nation and Tidal over streaming rights in 2016.

Governor Mark Dayton declared it #PrinceDay and lit the I-35W Bridge in purple to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Prince’s death.

Prince’s hometown of Minneapolis continues to struggle with the loss of the legendary native.

“Prince was a global star, but we felt his loss personally here at home,” Lt. Governor Tina Smith said. Allison McGevna, editorial director of HelloBeautiful, adds, “It was like everything stopped. We were all in shock. We didn’t want to believe it. I still don’t.”

Thousands of fans united at Prince’s Paisley Park estate to pay homage to the late entertainer in a celebration led by George Clinton.

US-ENTERTAINMENT-MEMORIAL-PRINCE

Source: FREDERIC J. BROWN / Getty

Prince’s last tweet remains a link to electricfetus.com.

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#TeamBeautiful Remembers The Day Prince Died  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com