Some of the ailments – one could argue – were self-inflicted, given that Franklin smoked cigarettes for over 30 years, often drank alcohol, and spent most of her 76-year-long life battling her weight.  

But were those simply the legendary musician's coping mechanisms for the childhood trauma, tragedy, and heartbreak that surrounded her fiercely private personal life? 

It's difficult to say, but mental health awareness was virtually nonexistent for the majority of her life, and it most certainly was at the height of her career in the 1960s.

Nevertheless, the circumstances surrounding her death are both fascinating and haunting, which Dr. Michael Hunter will reexamine when Autopsy: The Last Hours of... Aretha Franklin debuts on REELZ this Sunday.

Franklin died in 2018 of pancreatic cancer, but as Hunter pointed out, she had quit smoking 26 years prior, in 1992. 

"So while smoking may have been an important factor, it couldn't be the only reason that she developed such a rare and deadly disease," he said. "Medical evidence shows that pancreatic cancer can develop slowly, so the question