BONO'S WIFE REVEALS HIS SECRET DEPENDENCY

The late Sonny Bono nursed a secret dependence on prescription painkillers
and was taking up to 20 pills a day about the time he skied into a tree on a
South Lake Tahoe slope in January, according to his widow and successor in
Congress, Rep. Mary Bono, R-Palm Springs. ``I am 100 percent convinced that
is why he died,'' she said in an interview with TV Guide magazine. Her
disclosure stunned many acquaintances of Sonny Bono's, and some questioned
why she made her comments.

Mary Bono was unavailable for direct comment Thursday because she
participated in the House Judiciary Committee's daylong impeachment hearing.
But in a statement her office released, she said she had merely ``answered
truthfully'' when an interviewer 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.

Checked-by: Don Beck