Chris Cornell’s Widow: ‘My Chris Was Happy, Loving, Caring and Warm’

2017-06-29

Story by Anne Erickson

Chris Cornell’s widow opens up about his death

The widow of Chris Cornell, Vicky Cornell, opens up about the Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman’s death in her first full interview since he passed away following a Detroit show on May 18.

“My Chris was happy, loving, caring and warm,” Vicky said in a new interview with People. “This was not a depressed man — it wasn’t like I missed that. What I missed were the signs of addiction.”

Cornell’s cause of death was officially called suicide by hanging. Authorities ran a toxicology report and discovered a variety of prescription drugs in his system. While the report concluded that those drugs “did not contribute to the cause of death,” Vicky says she thinks Cornell relapsed and was in an altered state of mind when he passed away.

“He didn’t want to die,” she said. “If he was of sound mind, I know he wouldn’t have done this.” Not long before Cornell’s death, Vicky says Chris started remotely flashing the couple’s home lights with his phone. She called him says he was “on a rant.”

“I said, ‘You need to tell me what you took,’ and he just got mean,” she said. “That wasn’t my Chris.” She phoned Cornell’s bodyguard, who said Cornell had taken double his usual dose of Ativan. “Addiction is a disease,” Vicky said. “That disease can take over you and has full power.”

Anne Erickson
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