SONNY: DRUG PROBLEM

Tuesday June 15, 1999 12:00 AM EDT

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The widow of Sonny Bono is blaming his death last January on prescription drugs. In an interview with TV Guide, Mary Bono says the entertainer-turned-congressman was taking up to 20 pills a day for back and neck problems and the medication badly impaired his judgment. Sonny Bono was killed when he hit a tree while skiing in Nevada. Mary Bono says the drugs brought about severe mood swings in her husband and made their marriage very difficult. (An accident two years before Bono's death also may have been drug-related, Mary said. At that time, Bono fell about 16 feet from a balcony but was unhurt.) She added that Cher, from whom Sonny Bono was divorced, was very supportive. "She, having been there, was so very comforting," Mary Bono said. "She knew how bad (his abuse problem) was."