Prince was a genius, an innovator, a philanthropist, and an abuser.
On April 21, 2016, at the all-too-young age of 57, Prince died from an apparent prescription painkiller overdose. And the world mourned.
Prince was a musical genius.
Prince was not only a philanthropist, but the rare kind who never sought attention for himself through his charity work.
Prince helped make the world a safer place for weird kids, especially black ones.
Prince was a serial abuser of women.
It’s not the sort of thing that anyone wants to believe about someone so brilliant and beloved. But when allegation after allegation mounts, these claims become impossible to ignore:
- Charlene Friend filed a lawsuit against Prince in 2003, alleging a long pattern of sexual and physical violence. She claimed that during their two-year relationship — which began when she was 18 and Prince was 32 — he physically and mentally abused her, eventually leaving her with anxiety and depression. The case was eventually dismissed on procedural grounds for “failure to prosecute,” so Charlene never got her day in court.
- Jill Jones publicly accused Prince of domestic violence on her personal Facebook page. She wrote: “Poor Chris Brown, everyone needs to lay off know [sic]. The honorable thing would’ve been for Prince to speak up and stop being so pious. Chris got caught, he never did.” She eventually deleted the post, but never retracted or recanted.
- Sinead O’Connor infamously accused Prince of becoming violent with her in 1991 after he became unhappy with her cover of his “Nothing Compares 2 U.” She has consistently maintained these claims for over 25 years now.
- When Mayte Garcia, then age 23, was pregnant with his child, the then-38 year old Prince forbade her from seeing a doctor for the first 2 1/2 months of her pregnancy, forced her to maintain a strict vegan diet, and refused to allow her to have medical treatment for early contractions until it developed into a full-blown medical emergency. Tragically, their baby died just a week after being born, effectively ending their marriage.
- He also had a long-standing and open pattern of grooming teenage girls. He began dating Susan Moonsie when she was 16; he began dating Mayte Garcia when she was 16; he met Anna Garcia (whom he renamed “Anna Fantastic”) at 15 and had her move into his house with him at 17. Not unlike Tyga, in each case, Prince claimed not to have actually had sex with them until they turned 18.
It is easy — too easy — to dismiss all this as a series of lies meant to slander the name of a brilliant, successful man. But for those of us that have made the decision to believe women first, to recognize how very difficult it is to come forward with claims of abuse and manipulation, these age-old excuses for dismissing women in favor of protecting powerful men from accountability simply won’t cut it anymore.
Perhaps this is simply the price we must pay for genius. If so, then perhaps the price is too high.
