What happened to Kris Kristofferson?

Kris Kristofferson was a humble but fundamental pillar of the American music scene of the 20th Century. Throughout his 60-year career, he wrote prolifically and built an impressive career both on stage and on screen.

Kristofferson was already in his 30s when his career properly took off. Before that, he was busy enjoying his Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford, studying English literature. Then, in 1970, with a little help from Johnny Cash who recorded the Kristofferson original “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” the musician won his first major award, a Country Music Association Award for Songwriter of the Year.

Although his music gained momentum through the voice of different artists including Janis Joplin (“Me and Bobby McGee”) with whom he had a brief relationship before her passing, Kristofferson wouldn’t enjoy true individual success until his second studio album, 1971’s The Silver Tongued Devil and I. That same year he was nominated for four Grammys, winning Best Country Song with “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” and initiated what would be a fairly successful movie career.

Kristofferson’s biggest on-screen role came in 1976 with A Star is Born, in which he starred opposite Barbra Streisand and for which he won a Golden Globe. In the 70s, he would also go on to win two more Grammys, both for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group for his collaborations with then-wife and fellow country artist Rita Coolidge.

The 80s marked an overall decline in Kristofferson’s popularity. He adopted left-leaning political views that clashed with the general stances of the Nashville music scene, his albums weren’t gaining traction, and he was the star of the biggest cinematic flop of the decade in Michael Cimino’s western Heaven’s Gate. That’s when the Avengers of country music decided to assemble to form the supergroup The Highwaymen, reviving not only Kristofferson’s career, but also Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson’s. Their debut single, “Highwayman,” topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

The rest of the ’90s were marked by the resurrection of the artist’s acting career with triumphant performances in John Sayles’ Lone Star, the Blade trilogy, and James Ivory’s A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries. In the 2000s, his career naturally slowed down, and in 2009 he released his last album of originals Closer to the Bone, featuring the song “Sister Sinead” about the backlash Sinéad O’Connor received for her protest of the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse scandals in 1992.

Where is Kris Kristofferson now?

Kris Kristofferson quietly retired in 2021. The news came via a press release about a change in his management team that casually mentioned he was stepping away from an active music career. A fitting end to a career that was never too concerned with fame and attention.

In the years since he has gone back to the stage on a couple of occasions, primarily special events like the celebration of Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday in 2023, where he dueted John Cash’s daughter Rosanne in a rendition of “Loving Her Was Easier” and Norah Jones for “Help Me Make It Through The Night.”

Now 87 years old, Kristofferson has had some health complications that resulted in memory loss. For years, doctors believed it was either caused by Alzheimer’s disease or dementia brought on by all the sports he did as a young man. But, 7 years later, a doctor astonishingly found that that whole time he had been battling Lyme disease instead. The tick-borne illness can mimic dementia-like symptoms, but unlike degenerative diseases, it can be treated with antibiotics. In a 2016 Closer Weekly article, friends of the songwriter revealed his recovery was like “Lazarus coming out of the grave and being born again.”

Speaking to Variety in 2021 in reaction to the news of his retirement, Tamara Saviano, Kristofferson’s former longtime manager, promised the choice had little to do with his health, but more so a natural evolution of his public life.

To us on this side of the fence it was an organic, normal, ‘things are changing’ thing. Kris is aging; Kris is 84. (…) It was just sort of a slow changing of the guard thing. (…) “Kris’ body of work will live on — and hopefully he’ll live on for a lot longer. He’s really healthy and in good shape.”

At 87, Kristofferson still occasionally attends special events but mostly enjoys the peace and quiet of retirement in his Maui, Hawaii home where he lives with his wife Lisa.