Tom Petty’s Cause Of Death Was An Accidental Drug Overdose

Tom Petty in the You Don't Know How It Feels video

It's 2018, and the New Year brings a ton of possibilities for those willing to make a change. But each year also has gloom and doom, especially when it comes to celebrity deaths. One of the final blows from 2017 was the death of legendary songwriter Tom Petty. Petty unfortunately died a few months ago, at the young age of 66 years old. Fans have been wondering about his cause of death, and now his family has revealed how the great Mr. Petty passed away.

News of Tom Petty's cause of death broke over on his official website. Petty's family was transparent enough to reveal exactly how and why his death happened. Namely, it was the result of an accidental drug overdose. The statement is as follows.

Our family sat together this morning with the medical examiner- coroner's office and we were informed of their final analysis that Tom Petty passed away due to an accidental drug overdose as a result of taking a variety of medications. Unfortunately, Tom's body suffered from many serious ailments including emphysema, knee problems, and most significantly a fractured hip.Despite this painful injury, he insisted on keeping his commitment to his fans and he toured for 53 dates with a fractured hip and, as he did, it worsened to a more serious injury. On the day he died he was informed his hip had graduated to a full on break and it is our feeling that the pain was simply unberable, and was the casue for his over use of medication.

Well, that certainly is tragic. Tom Petty is a musical influence that has been taken too soon, and it makes it even more painful that he may have accidentally caused his untimely death. Still, it's extremely generous that his family was so transparent with his generations of fans, who can try to make sense out of this loss.

Tom Petty first came onto the scene as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which was formed back in 1976. The band had a ton of hits that are still mainstays of pop culture today, including greats like "Free Fallin'", "American Girl", and "Runnin' Down A Dream". Petty also had a successful solo career of his own, with songs like "I Won't Break Down" hitting the charts upon their release.

Tom Petty is closely associated with other modern singers like Bruce Springsteen, who wrote classic rock songs about relatable issues. And despite Petty's solo work, The Heartbreakers remained active until the point of Petty's death. His songs are still played on the radio today, and can be heard in a variety of movies like Sing, Cars 3, and Sugar and Spice, in addition to his bevy of TV credits.

Our thoughts continue to be with Tom Petty's family at this time.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.