A source close to the late R&B icon opened up about D’Angelo’s inner struggles after he passed away following a battle with pancreatic cancer on Tuesday.
New details have emerged following the death of D’Angelo at the age of 51.
The R&B music icon, who passed away following a private battle with pancreatic cancer on Tuesday, Oct. 14, was said to have struggled with his self-image ever since stepping away from the spotlight in the early 2000s.
“D’Angelo was very eccentric; he had a manager, but he wouldn’t work,” an insider close to the late musician told People after D’Angelo’s death was announced. “He was a recluse; he didn’t like going out of the house.”
“He battled with his weight,” the source continued. “The chiseled machismo man that people fell in love with, that wasn’t his natural aesthetic. He was naturally a bigger guy.”
“He never was comfortable being a sex symbol, but also he didn’t like people seeing him on his heavier side, so he was always really conflicted,” they added.
But the insider also revealed that D’Angelo, whose real name was Michael Eugene Archer, wasn’t alone at the time of his passing, and that the “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” hitmaker spent his final moments being cared for by family.
“[D’Angelo] was in hospice for two weeks but had been in the hospital for months,” the source said. “His son was there with him and had been with him in the hospital.
