Coroner: Thomas Kinkade death caused by drugs, alcohol
LOS ANGELES: (L-R) Bob Goodwin, tennis player Serena Williams and painter Thomas Kinkade pose at the “We Are Family” recording session at the Chalice Recording Studios on Novj. 22, 2005 in Los Angeles. Kinkade died April 6, 2012, at age 54. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
An autopsy report confirmed that painter Thomas Kinkade died last month from an accidental overdose of alcohol and prescription tranquilizers.
The self-described "Painter of Light" died April 6 due to a combination of ethanol and Diazepam intoxication, or in common terms, alcohol and the tranquilizer often marketed as Valium, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
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Kinkade, 54, also suffered from hypertensive and atherosclerotic heart disease, CNN reported the autopsy report as saying.
Before his death, he produced sentimental scenes of country gardens and pastoral landscapes that were sold in a nationwide chain of galleries.
Kinkade was one of the most popular artists in America, painting more than 1,000 pieces, but had fallen on hard times financially in recent years and relapsed into alcoholism before his death, according to People.com.
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He separated from his wife and their four daughters in 2010.
In 2006, Kinkade recalled one of his earliest lessons during an interview with CNN's Larry King.
"When I was a young boy, my mother told me, 'Your talents are God's gifts to you, and what you do with those talents are your gift to God,'" he said.
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