Prince...

4

“Is there one conversation you had together that’s stuck with you? One time we were in his room, and he turned, looked at me and said – out of the blue – ‘you know, everyone loves you and everyone likes you. Not everyone can say that or experience that.’ And right then, I just felt truly blessed [pauses]. You know, our lives started a long time ago. When I first met him, I was already pretty famous. He’d been following my career for a long time. We really challenged each other. When you reflect on your relationship – as friends, collaborators, lovers – what did you learn? The learning experience is really about forgiveness. That’s the only way you’re gonna be able to live your life. And it’s a hard thing. About a year or two after we broke up and hadn’t spoken, I went to Paisley. This is when he was doing Batman. He was having a party and everyone was like, ‘how are you gonna go to the party, you guys haven’t talked,’ and I said ‘It’s fine.’ I felt like it was fine. I was like, no we’re good. I just felt it. So I walked into the building and I saw him. He looked at me, I looked at him and we fell in love all over again. It was forgiveness. It was more important to love him as a friend. People do say, you want to marry your best friend – and he was my best friend. But I also loved him enough to let him go, and that was hard. It was very hard, like I said, it was like a divorce. It felt like I lost someone deeply. It was hard for him too, it was horrible. It was a horrible time for him. [Pauses]. We had a great life together, we really did, good and bad, the ups and the downs, there were a lot of downs too. But at one point I told him, 'I’m not here to play your music to get paid because it’s money, money has nothing to do with it, I’m here because I love you. I don’t care about your money.’ So I told him to stop paying me when we were out on tour. That really upset him. That was during the Lovesexy Tour. And that was when – That’s when I knew I was gonna leave, that was about '88, '89. Did the fact that you and Prince were diverging musically have an impact on your personal relationship? It was both, it was music and it was personal. I want to enjoy what I’m doing. I work really hard and I love playing with people. And 90 percent of playing with an artist or in a band or being a part of a project is the hang. The other 10 percent is when you finally get to go onstage and do what you do. So if the hang isn’t good, then why be there? I don’t care about the money, I never did. I’d be there because I love the music, I love the hang, and we all get along. But just to be there because it’s a paycheck? I didn’t want to be in that position, so I chose to leave. On the personal side, we started growing apart. And he started seeing other people while I was there playing in the band. That was very hurtful, very hard. Back when you met, Prince pursued you, right? Oh yeah, big time [laughs]. He pursued me for a long time. Was it that you weren’t attracted? Oh yes I was! Are you kidding? No, oh my God. The first time we saw each other, we looked at each other like… He was beautiful, and he was talented. I had this thing for guitar players, I had just gotten out of another relationship with a guitar player, and I was like 'not another musician.’ I kept saying no [to Prince], but it was hard. After a while it was just like 'okay, well maybe.’ And that was it. He wooed me very well [laughs]. What did he do? He did so many beautiful things. During the Lionel Richie tour in 1982, he sent me flowers at every place, every single day. Whatever city we were in, there were beautiful arrangements of flowers from [Prince] the entire tour. The entire tour! I couldn’t bring anymore flowers on the bus. There were some I couldn’t even lift! Each arrangement one was different. There was nowhere to put them, so I started giving them away to either shelters or the housekeepers, because I couldn’t take them anymore, there was no room on the bus. It was a lot – and I loved it [laughs]. He knew how to get me. And every arrangement came with a card from him. Do you still have them? I kept every single card.”

-sheila e