Weeks after it was announced that Prince’s only full biological sister Tyka Nelson passed away at the age of 64, her official cause of death has been revealed.
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According to her death certificate, which was obtained by TMZ from the Minnesota Dept. of Health, Prince’s sister Tyka Nelson died from cardiac arrest. Congestive heart failure was also listed as a secondary cause of death.
The death certificate also lists “substance use disorder” as a contributing condition in Nelson’s passing.
Nelson notably suffered from cardiac arrest for about 45 minutes before she was pronounced deceased. She had also been battling non-ischemic cardiomyopathy for more than four months.
Prince’s little sister died on Nov. 4 in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Paramedics had reportedly been called to her residence at least six times since September.
Along with her half-siblings, Tyka was survived by her children. Her death comes more than eight years after Prince’s passing. Her mother, Mattie Della Shaw Baker, died in 2002, and her father, John L. Nelson, died in 2001.
One of her half-sisters, Sharon Nelson, spoke about her death by stating, “She had her own mind. She’s in a better place.”
Tyka Nelson Previously Stated She Knew Prince’s Death Was Coming
Following Prince’s death, Tyka Nelson admitted she knew her famous brother’s death was coming and had even prepared for two years.
“It wasn’t hard at all,” Nelson explained to Entertainment Tonight about accepting Prince’s passing. “It was a two-word phone call: ‘He’s gone.’ And I knew who he meant. I hung up the phone. An employee of Prince called. I have been preparing for two years, so I knew that it was coming.”
Nelson also stated that Prince had “hinted” at her his death was coming. “He said it a couple of years ago: ‘I’ve done everything that I’ve come to do,'” she recounted. “I was crushed for about two years.”
She further noted, “I’ve had two years to deal with it, but there’s a lot of people that have only had from April to now, so I guess I would say give it another year and a half and maybe you’ll be where I’m at. I’m sorry that you’re hurting.”
Nelson went on to vow to keep her brother’s legacy alive through his music. “He’s written a massive amount of music and in one of our conversations, he said, ‘How I want to be remembered is as one of the most prolific writers in the world,'” she added. “So I’m going to do everything that I can to make that dream come true.”