Musician and “A Star is Born” actor Kris Kristofferson died on Saturday at the age of 88, his family said.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, September 28 at home,” Ebie McFarland, a spokesperson for the family, said in a statement to NBC News. “We’re all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all.”
How did Kris Kristofferson die?
Kristofferson’s family did not share a cause of death. In the statement, they shared that he died “peacefully” at home.
The singer and his family had been open about some of his health struggles prior to his death. Here’s what they’ve shared.
Memory loss
Kristofferson began suffering from debilitating memory loss in his 70s, Reuters reported.
Initially, doctors thought it was due to either Alzheimer’s or dementia, according to a Rolling Stone article from 2016. He had played contact sports in his teenage years, which can increase risk of certain cognitive diseases.
Rolling Stone reported that Kristofferson couldn’t remember what he was doing from one moment to the next, and that he ended up writing a song about his memory loss.
“I see an empty chair/ Someone was sitting there,” the song’s lyrics read. “I’ve got a feeling it was me/ And I see a glass of wine/ I’m pretty sure it’s mine.”
Lyme disease
In 2016, Kristofferson tested positive for Lyme disease, according to Rolling Stone. Lisa Meyers, Kristofferson’s wife, told Rolling Stone she believed he got bitten by a tick when he was filming the 2006 film “Disappearances.”
Meyers said her husband was taking medications for Alzheimer’s and depression, but many of his symptoms went away after he stopped taking them and completed three weeks of treatment for Lyme disease.
“He was taking all these medications for things he doesn’t have, and they all have side effects,” she said.
She said she was shocked by his condition post-Lyme disease treatment.
“All of a sudden he was back,” she said, adding that there were still bad days, but “some days he’s perfectly normal and it’s easy to forget that he is even battling anything.”
Meyers described her husband’s first symptoms in a 2016 interview with LymeDisease.org.
“About 12 years ago he was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which looking back, should have been the first indication that a test for Lyme was warranted,” she said. “But we suspect he’s been infected with Lyme anywhere from 14 to 30 years because he used to have these chronic muscle spasms, which is a common symptom.”
Kristofferson’s fibromyalgia caused him to be in so much pain that he was unable to work for eight months, Meyers said.
“He had massive, painful spasms all over his back and legs — it was so horrible — his nerve endings were causing golf ball-sized, painful contractions that we battled with acupuncture, heat and massage, then finally a spinal cortisone shot by a rheumatologist, and a low dose anti-depressant,” she explained.
“He had painful knees and annual knee shots, a pacemaker for arrhythmias — which we now know could be from Lyme,” Meyers said.
After a year of taking iron supplements, Meyers said her husband didn’t look healthy, and she took him to another doctor.
“Upon examining Kris and watching the muscles in his forearms constantly twitching, (the doctor) announced, ‘He’s got Lyme disease,’ and ordered a blood test,” she said, adding that the test came back positive in February 2016.
Sleep apnea
After filming “Disappearances,” Kristofferson was diagnosed with moderate to severe sleep apnea, Meyers said. He tried a bi-level CPAP machine but refused to use it, she added.
Bypass surgery
In 1999, Kristofferson had bypass surgery, according to Rolling Stone.
Coronary artery bypass surgery requires taking a healthy blood vessel from the chest or leg, and using it to create a new path for blood to flow around a blocked or partially blocked artery in the heart, according to Mayo Clinic.
When he was being wheeled into the operating room, a doctor told Meyers and Kristofferson it would be a good place to say goodbye, Rolling Stone reported.
“I hope it’s not goodbye,” she said.
He replied: “So what if it is?”
Retirement in 2020 at age 84
Kristofferson made the decision to retire in 2020, but it wasn’t announced until 2021, according to Variety.
“Kris is aging; Kris is 84. It didn’t feel like such big news to us. That’s why there was no announcement: It was just sort of a slow changing of the guard thing,” Kristofferson’s longtime manager Tamara Saviano told Variety.
“It doesn’t feel like a retirement because Kris’ music isn’t going anywhere. There are still going to be new projects,” she said, referring to archival or tribute works. “But he’s not going to be on the road anymore.”
Saviano denied that Kristofferson retired because of his health.
“Kris’ body of work will live on — and hopefully he’ll live on for a lot longer,” Saviano says. “He’s really healthy and in good shape.”
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