Bono On Painkillers At Time Of Skiing Accident, Says Wife

WASHINGTON - The late Sonny Bono nursed a secret dependence on prescription painkillers and was taking up to 20 pills a day around the time he skied into a tree, according to his widow and successor in Congress, Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif.

"I am 100 percent convinced that is why he died," Bono said in an interview with TV Guide magazine.

Mary Bono was unavailable yesterday for comment because she participated in the House Judiciary Committee's daylong impeachment hearing. In a statement her office released, she said she had merely "answered truthfully" when asked if Sonny Bono ever had a drug or alcohol-abuse problem.

"It was part of our private life and, until recently, known only to those closest to the Bono family," her statement said. "However, I believe that it would be unfair to the many individuals who battle with this insidious problem . . . to try to ignore this issue and deceive people about the dangers of prescription-drug abuse."

In her interview in the Nov. 28 TV Guide, Bono said that she owes her current position to her husband's fame (after winning his seat in a special election, she won her own two-year term on Nov. 3).

Bono described her marriage to him as "a very difficult 12 years of my life." Her depiction of the one-time entertainer and former Palm Springs, Calif., mayor as erratic and insecure offered a jarring contrast to the public image of Sonny Bono.

"People don't know . . . the true struggle that was there," Bono said "His mood swings were so hard. In the middle of the night, he would wake up and be angry about something."

Sonny Bono began taking prescription painkillers on and off as far back as the 1960s to treat a chronic back condition.

Frank Cullen, the late congressman's press secretary who now works for Mary Bono, said Sonny Bono was taking the pills in spring 1995, as he was about to undergo surgery. In that operation surgeons removed a growth on his cervical vertebrae.

Mary Bono indicated in her interview that her late husband was on Vicodin, Percodan, Percocet - three powerful painkillers - as well as Valium, a sedative. The drugs can cause drowsiness, cloud judgment and diminish coordination, according to Dr. Philip Anderson, director of drug-information service at the University of California, San Diego, Medical Center.

In the magazine interview, Bono attributed her husband's fall from a 16-foot balcony two years before his death to his drug use.

She said that Cher, Sonny Bono's first wife, became an understanding and steady source of comfort. At one point, she said, Cher advised her to "get out of there" because "she knew how bad it was."