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Prince accused of physical, emotional abuse in unreleased documentary, report says

Prince performs at the Super Bowl XLI during the half time show in 2007. Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

Prince performs at the Super Bowl XLI during the half time show in 2007. Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

Prince's ex-girlfriends have accused him of physical and emotional abuse in a nine-hour, bombshell documentary, per The New York Times Magazine, which reports to have seen the unreleased film.

The Ezra Edelman ("O.J.: Made in America") film, which has been in development with Netflix for nearly five years, includes interviews with dozens of Prince's former business partners, lovers, friends and associates. The documentary has been the subject of much back-and-forth between the film's creators and Prince's estate.

In between musings on his artistry are details of his personal flaws, allegations of physical and emotional abuse, accounts of his own abusive childhood and his abandonment of his young wife Mayte Garcia after the couple lost their child, the Times reports.

USA TODAY has reached out to Prince's estate, Netflix and Edelman's reps for comment.

 

Unreleased Prince documentary includes former partners, abuse allegations

The film includes an interview with multiple ex-lovers of Prince, including Jill Jones, who recalled a night in 1984, when she and a friend visited the singer in a hotel.

Jones claimed after the Grammy winner kissed her friend, she slapped him. She remembered him saying, "this ain't no (expletive) movie." The two began to fight before Jones says the singer started to repeatedly punch her in the face. She didn't press charges after his manager told her it would end his career. She loved and still wanted to be with him, so she stuck around for years after, she reportedly said in the documentary.

Susannah Melvoin, the identical twin of The Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin, was also involved with Prince. She recalled after the couple moved in together, he inspected her phone calls and was dissuaded from leaving their home.

Prince poses with his first wife Mayte as they arrives at the De Beer and Versace charity fashion event in June 1999. Mayte was a dancer in Prince's shows. The couple had one son who died in infancy.
Prince poses with his first wife Mayte as they arrives at the De Beer and Versace charity fashion event  in June 1999. Mayte was a dancer in Prince's shows. The couple had one son who died in infancy. Sinead Lynch, AFP/Getty Images

The film also reportedly includes an interview with Prince's ex-wife Mayte Garcia. The documentary follows their meeting with she was 16 and he was 35, after he saw videos of her belly dancing. In a letter Prince once wrote to her, shown in the documentary, he said he worshipped her and her virginity: "One of the main reasons I love and worship u is because u don't have a history. And what's more beautiful is that u don't desire one."

Garcia recalled them beginning an intimate relationship when she was 19. The couple wed when she was 22, and on their wedding night, she was gifted two songs: "Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/Wife" and "Let's Have a Baby."

Garcia went on to become pregnant, and their son was born eight months into the pregnancy. The couple discovered the boy had Type 2 Pfeiffer syndrome, leaving him without the ability to breathe on his own, and they made the decision to take him off of a respirator. Quickly after, Prince was on a plane for a show in Miami, per the documentary.

Garcia recalled an incident a week after the death of their child when Prince walked in on her crying on the floor to announce Oprah would be interviewing the couple at their home that morning. Vault footage reportedly is shown in the documentary in which Prince remarks to Garcia, wearing a white miniskirt and jacket: "We can see up your dress."

Garcia said Prince told her not to announce the death of their child during the interview, and ultimately grew cold toward her. The marriage was soon over, but in the film, Garcia does not criticize him, the Times reports.

 

Prince collaborators recall 'controlling' nature

Some of Prince's former collaborators, including members of The Revolution, recalled his at times controlling nature in their interactions with him.

The Revolution musician Lisa Coleman remembered in the documentary how when the band asked for better pay, Prince told them if they really loved him, they wouldn't ask for more. When band members threatened to leave, the "When Doves Cry" singer called their bluff, and the group disbanded in 1986.

Wendy Melvoin recalled in the documentary how, during a period in Prince's life when he became more religious, he asked her to disavow her homosexuality as a prerequisite for getting The Revolution back together. The story comes in contrast to Prince's one-time adoration of her sexual liberation. It was one of the dozens of parts in the film that Prince's estate demanded to be changed or removed, according to the Times.

 

Prince's abusive childhood revealed in unreleased documentary

Based on interviews in the documentary, Prince is said to have been kicked out of his mother's house at age 12, and from his father's house at age 14.

Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, recalled the abuse in their household perpetuated by their father. Later, the documentary recalls the on-and-off estrangement between Prince and his family.

The film examines his yearning for his parents' praise: "Hi Poppa, please play side with a star on it. It’s longer and better. Love you, Prince," read one dedication from Prince to his father on a copy of "1999," as seen in the documentary and according to the Times. Later, with his career reaching major heights and amid multiple attempts at reconciliation, the film shows Prince's father trying to take credit for his success in interviews.

 

Estate blocks release of 9-hour Prince documentary

Times Magazine said it conducted more than 20 interviews regarding the film. Deputy editor Sasha Weissis is said to have seen the unreleased documentary last year, at a small, private screening in Brooklyn in which other figures, including Questlove, also viewed the film.

The Times reported that when Edelman's team held a screen for Prince's estate, a lawyer representing the estate later presented the film crew with 17 pages of demanded changes. Edelman's team made some adjustments, but pleasing the estate was reportedly unsuccessful.

In July, Variety reported the massive documentary was "dead in the water," with Prince's estate claiming the film included multiple "factual inaccuracies."

In a statement provided to the Times, Netflix confirmed trouble with the estate was one of the causes of the documentary's hold-up, but did not elaborate further.

"This documentary project has proved every bit as complex as Prince himself," read the statement. "We have meticulously archived Prince's life and worked hard to support Ezra's series. But there are still meaningful contractual issues with the estate that are holding up a documentary release."

The singer died in 2016 at his Minneapolis compound at age 57. Public data released six weeks after his death showed he died of an accidental fentanyl overdose.

Author: Taijuan Moorman USA TODAY

Source: USA Today

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