ET is shining a spotlight on some of the women who owe much of their success to Prince but also provided inspiration for some of his greatest works.
The icon was pronounced dead
on Thursday morning after being found unresponsive in an elevator at
his Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota. In a press conference
on Friday, Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson confirmed that Prince was
the only one at the residence the night before his death and that there were no obvious signs of trauma on his body.
While fans all over the world continue to mourn
the GRAMMY winner, perhaps none are more hurt by the news than the women
that knew him best.
1. Carmen Electra
Age: 44
As one of Prince's proteges and an early signee to
his Paisley Park Records, the singer and actress (whose real name is
Tara Leigh Patrick) credits Prince with reinventing her and changing her
name to Carmen. She reportedly dated the late legendary musician after
meeting him in 1991, but their romance was short-lived.
"We did end up having a romance," Electra told ET.
"I remember he said, 'I believe in you and I want people to take you
serious. And if people know that you're my girlfriend, they're going to
think that I'm just doing this for you because you're my girlfriend."
2. Apollonia Kotero
Age: 56
To this day, the actress is still best known for playing Prince's Purple Rain love interest. When the movie came out in 1984, she was coy about the nature of their relationship.
"I don't kiss and tell, but watch the movie,"
Kotero told ET at the time. "We really like each other. We work
together. We sing together. We write the lyrics. We share clothes. We
really care for each other. We have respect."
3. Vanity
Age: 57
Died: February 15, 2016, Fremont, California, United States
Denise Matthews, better known as Vanity,
met Prince at the American Music Awards in 1980 and the two soon hit it
off. Prince renamed Matthews, Vanity, seeing her as the female form of
himself.
Prince later placed Vanity as the lead singer of
the girl group Vanity 6, but Vanity disbanded the group after their
debut release in 1982.
"Of course Prince discovered me," she told ET in 1985. "I think it was fate that brought us together, and it was great."
4. Kim Basinger
Age: 62
In 1989, Prince released a single called "The Scandalous Sex Suite" for the Batman soundtrack, which featured moans that were attributed to Batman star Basinger. The actress' vocal contributions were rumored to have been taken from recordings of the two having sex.
5. Mayte Garcia
Age: 42
Prince wed Garcia
on Valentine's Day in 1996 when he was 37 and she was his 22-year-old
backup singer and dancer. After their nuptials, Garcia became pregnant
with their first child, and Prince shared with ET the joy he felt during
the experience.
"The most profound thing that has happened to me
is the way I view women now," Prince told ET in 1997. "Going through my
wife's pregnancy had a really powerful effect on me. It just gave me the
utmost respect for all of women."
Sadly their baby boy died just seven days after he
was born due to Pfeiffer syndrome, a rare skull defect that causes
pressure on the brain. The estranged couple would announce their breakup
in 1998 when their union was annulled.
6. Sheila E.
Age: 58
The percussionist and singer wrote in her memoir The Beat of My Own Drum that she dated her late mentor in the '80s, and even claimed that they were engaged.
She spoke to ET after Prince's death, opening up about their attraction to each other.
"It just kind of gradually happened, it wasn't forced," she said
about how their relationship turned romantic. "We just like a lot of
the same things, and then things we didn't agree on were good things we
were glad we didn't agree on."
"We were both very competitive and always tried to
outdo each other -- with everything from clothes to playing ping pong
and basketball and pool, who could stay up the longest and record and, I
mean, there's just a lot of crazy moments," she also recalls. "This was
38 years of stuff with him."
7. Bria Valente
The model, dancer and singer came under Prince's
tutelage as a teenager. The Minnesota native told Tavis Smiley in 2009
that she first met Prince at Paisley Park Studios when she was 17. The
two reportedly began dating in 2010.
8. Misty Copeland
Age: 33
Prince handpicked the world-renowned ballerina to
appear in his "Crimson & Clover" video in 2009 while Copeland was
still relatively unknown. Last year, Copeland was named American Ballet
Theatre's first African-American principal dancer in its 75-year
history.
Copeland tweeted her appreciation for Prince following his death, writing, "Thank you for everything #Prince."
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