Judith Hill, Prince’s Protege, Reveals Details Of Musician’s Emergency Plane Landing

Judith Hill, who had been working closely with Prince for the last two years, was one of just two people who were accompanying him on the flight that resulted in an emergency landing the week before his death.

Judith Hill On Prince

Hill, 32, and Prince’s friend and aide Kirk Johnson, were traveling back to Minneapolis, Minn., with Prince from his shows in Atlanta, Ga., on April 15. During the flight, Hill sat opposite Prince over a meal, and was deep in conversation with the musician when, “His eyes fixed,” Hill told The New York Times. “Thankfully, I happened to be looking into his face.”

Immediately realizing the severity of the situation, Hill and Johnson alerted the pilot and held out hope for the best. Upon landing in Illinois, Prince was given a shot of Narcan, which is frequently used in opioid overdose cases. Fortunately, Prince managed to pull through. “We knew it was only a matter of time; we had to get down,” Hill said. “We didn’t have anything on the plane to help him.”

Although the singer was eager to get out of the hospital and set back off to his Paisley Park estate, Hill says that he was equally eager to get the help for his addiction that he knew he needed. “He was very cooperative that whole night. Serious about getting help,” Hill said, adding that Prince had agreed to undergo tests. “He did it because he was concerned, and he wanted to do the right thing for his own body. And that’s the part that breaks my heart, because he was trying. He was trying.”

While Hill was in Prince’s inner circle during the last couple of years of his life and had a “very intense relationship” with him, she was not wise to the pain and addiction that tortured the famously private musician.

“I only know what everyone knows about his pain — I read about it,” she said. In person, “he was quick on his feet. Never said anything, that this is hurting, never a sign of struggle. That’s why it’s all very shocking.”

Prince, who was found dead on April 21 at the age of 57, died as the result of an opioid overdose.