NEW YORK – James Gandolfini would have hated all this fuss. He was an actor who shrank from attention for anything but the roles he brought to life. No false modesty.LOS ANGELES – Coroner’s officials have ruled Whitney Houston died by drowning, but heart disease and cocaine use were contributing factors.
The announcement Thursday ends weeks of speculation about what killed the Grammy-winning singer on Feb. 11.
Houston was found submerged in the bathtub of her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on the eve of the Grammy Awards.
Several bottles of prescription medications were found in her hotel room, but coroner’s officials said they weren’t in excessive quantities.
Coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey said cocaine metabolites were found in Houston’s system, and it was listed as a contributing factor in her death. He said the results indicated Houston was a chronic cocaine user.
For more on this story, see Friday's print edition of The Journal Gazette or visit www.journalgazette.net after 3 a.m. Friday.
