Prescription addiction kills Seinfeld actor John Pinette

John Pinette, an American comedian who shot to fame following his role in the sitcom Seinfeld, has been found dead in a Pittsburgh hotel room. He had developed an addiction to prescription drugs and was suffering with several health problems.

Pinette was discovered on Saturday in his hotel room in the Sheraton Station Square Hotel in Pittsburgh. He had a personal physician caring for him following his prolonged abuse of prescription drugs. He was only 50 years old.

A spokesperson confirmed that Pinette had been suffering with both liver problems and heart disease. He had also been very overweight, weighing 400 pounds at his maximum; in the last few years he had lost around 200 pounds. The cause of death was recorded as a pulmonary embolism.

Pinette had to stop a stand-up tour to check himself into a rehabilitation facility for prescription drug addiction in August 2013.

Mr Schapiro, Pinette’s personal manager for 24 years, said: “John had become a sober person. The sadness of this entire event is that for the first time in his life he was healthy, he was alive. He’d just turned 50 and John was on top of his game.”

Pinette was best known for his stand-up comedy and making self-deprecating jokes about his weight problems. His latest project was a one-man show called They Call Me Slim, which Schapiro described as “groundbreaking” and added that Pinette was developing a more mature and personal form of comedy.

This is a stark reminder that the abuse of prescription drugs can be as deadly as illegal drugs. If more people abusing prescription drugs can be identified sooner, more lives can be saved.