SILVERLAKE, Calif. — When Jeff Buckley told people that he was a starving artist they usually thought he was just trying to get out of paying for things. But Buckley was found dead in his studio apartment last week and it appears that he actually starved to death.

Buckley was an artist, but his works - mostly sculptures made from cigarette butts - did not sell and he did do a lot of begging and dodging during his short adult life. His ex-girlfriend, Evelyn Westdale, visited him a couple of days before his death and thought he looked a little thin and smelled funny, but she didn't believe him when he said that he was starving.

"He asked me for a couple of bucks so he could get something to eat, but I thought he was just trying to work me again,” said Westdale, “so I left. I went back a few days later to break up with him and he just sat there staring off into space. I guess he had already died. I mean, he never was much of a conversationalist, and his breath was always horrible...who knew? I guess next time someone tells me that they are a starving artist I just might believe them."

Westdale's parents, who are billionaires, paid for Buckley's cremation in exchange for his art collection which they turned around and sold for 100,000 dollars yesterday.