Findings
| When | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| His support for Green For All included a $50,000 donation to Van Jones's work on green jobs, while his broader environmental giving was deliberately kept largely anonymous. | Source | |
| Prince was a notably private philanthropist. Documented examples include an anonymous $12,000 donation that helped preserve Louisville's historic Western Branch Library, paying the medical bills of drummer Clyde Stubblefield, and funding initiatives including YesWeCode and Green For All. Much of his charitable activity only became public after his death. | Source | |
| Mayte Garcia's (Prince first wife) account of her relationship with Prince describes a pronounced power imbalance extending from their professional relationship into their marriage. Prince controlled aspects of her career and personal life, including when she could contact him, and once docked her wages over concerns about her weight. Garcia also described him as controlling during her pregnancy and later characterized their relationship as having a significant power imbalance. While Garcia herself has continued to describe the relationship with affection and does not portray it simply as abusive, her account documents behavior that raises substantial concerns about control and autonomy. | Source | |
| 1996 | During Mayte Garcia's 1996 pregnancy, doctors recommended amniocentesis after bleeding and abnormal ultrasound findings raised concerns about possible genetic abnormalities. According to Garcia's account, Prince refused the procedure because of its miscarriage risk and instead relied on prayer. Later, when Garcia developed premature contractions, Prince initially attempted to remove her from hospital care against medical advice before she ultimately remained hospitalized. Their son was subsequently born with a severe genetic disorder and died six days later. | Source |
| 1991 | Sinéad O'Connor described a 1991 encounter with Prince in which an argument escalated into physical intimidation and an alleged assault. She said Prince prevented her from leaving his home, struck her with a hard object concealed inside a pillow during a purported pillow fight, and subsequently followed her in his car after she escaped. | Source |
| 1984 | Jill Jones has alleged that Prince repeatedly punched her in the face during an altercation in 1984. Jones says she initially intended to press charges but was discouraged from doing so because of the potential impact on Prince's career. She later reconciled with him, but has said she continued to feel that she never received a genuine apology for the incident. | Source |
| 2008 | After becoming a Jehovah's Witness, Prince made statements in a 2008 New Yorker interview rejecting same-sex marriage and making derogatory comments about homosexuality. His representatives disputed some of the wording, and Prince later said that he had been misunderstood, citing his friendships with gay people and stating that he had not supported California's Proposition 8. | Source |
Spotted an error? Let us know.