*Sheila E. previously opened up about her intimate relationship with the late-great Prince and how the single ultimately broke her heart.
According to I Love Old School Music, Sheila E recalled her dynamic with Prince in a past interview with Rolling Stone. She told the publication that Prince pursued her “for a long time.”
“The first time we saw each other, we looked at each other like – [laughs]. He was beautiful, and he was talented. I had this thing for guitar players. But 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, “OK, well maybe.” And that was it. He wooed me very well,” she said, via ILOSM.
“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,” she added.
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“The entire tour. I couldn’t bring anymore flowers on the bus. There were some I couldn’t even lift. Each arrangement was different. There was nowhere to put them, so I started giving them away to either shelters or the housekeepers, because 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,” Sheila E. recalled.
“I kept every single card,” she added.
“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,” she continued.
“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],” Sheila E. explained.
“We had a great life together, we really did, good and bad, the ups and the downs, there were a lot of downs. 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,” she shared.
“That’s when I knew I was gonna leave, that was about ’88, ’89. […] 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.”
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