Celebs in the News: Teena Marie Autopsy Fails To Pinpoint Cause Of Death

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Teena Marie Autopsy Fails To Pinpoint Cause Of Death

No signs of trauma were discovered on late singer's body, Los Angeles County assistant chief coroner tells The Associated Press.
By Mawuse Ziegbe

Teena Marie
Photo: Jean Baptiste Lacroix/ Getty Images

Days after soul singer Teena Marie suddenly died, answers about her death remain in short supply.

According to The Associated Press, investigators said an autopsy turned up no signs of trauma or a discernible cause of death. Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said Marie's cause of death may be determined by toxicology tests, the results of which would be available in around six weeks. No illegal drugs were found in a search of the singer's Pasadena home earlier this week, and the AP reports that police said Marie appeared to have died from natural causes.

Marie was found unresponsive in her home Sunday after she settled in for an afternoon nap. TMZ reported that Marie might have suffered a grand mal seizure while she slept, which may have contributed to her death. The songstress' publicist has also said Marie experienced a grand mal seizure a month ago, from which she was still recovering, and had since reportedly insisted on having someone nearby when she was sleeping.

According to Essence, Marie had suffered an additional seizure en route to the hospital after she sustained an attack last month. She was unable to secure an appointment with a neurologist for another three weeks and was prescribed medication in the interim. However, her publicist, Lynn Jeter, said the medication "made her suicidal," so Marie reduced the dosage.

Marie also opened up to Essence last year about her struggle with an addiction to prescription medication after the sudden 2004 death of her onetime musical mentor and paramour Rick James.

"After his death I became addicted to Vicodin, which I had been taking for my physical pain because I'd had a lot of accidents. Once I realized that those pills not only took away my physical agony by masking my emotional pain, I really became addicted. When I was on the medication I never cried about him, but then I went cold turkey and I cried so much and have been for the last three years," she said. "He was my musical soul mate. We were like an extension of each other. I miss all our talks. We were like family; only family can talk about family, not anyone else."

Share your memories of Teena Marie in the comments.

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