Doves In Cages And Religious Mania: Prince’s Wacko World Exposed By Film Director
Director Kevin Smith has lifted the lid on the weird world of Prince – and said he lived an other-worldly existence that had nothing to do with the rules of society.
Kevin Smith had unparalleled access to the singer while making a documentary about him.
And he has told how the music legend, who died last week aged 57, lived a bizarre life even stranger than his colourful public persona.
The reclusive, teetotal, vegan, Jehovah’s Witness star, above, made outrageous demands on staff at his Paisley Park home, including ordering a camel ride at 3am, bugged every room in his sprawling home, kept a huge cage of birds in tribute to his hit When Doves Cry and had children’s clothes shipped in because he was so small.
The insights from movie director Smith come after the music pioneer drafted him in to shoot a film about his music and life.
Smith, below – who stayed with the star in 2008 – told how Prince persuaded him to go to his recording studio to film him at work.
And he learned from a producer that the star liked things done his way.
He said: “She’s like, ‘Kevin, let me explain something to you about Prince. I can’t go in and tell him you can’t shoot this documentary because Prince doesn’t comprehend things like you and I do. Prince has been living in ‘Prince World’ for quite some time now.
“So Prince will come to us periodically and say things like, ‘It’s 3am – I really need a camel. Go get it’. Then we try to explain to Prince it’s 3am in Minnesota and it’s January – it’s not physically or psychologically possible. And Prince says, ‘Why?’”
Smith, above, also revealed the singer kept a huge cage of doves in the entrance to his Paisley Park complex, below – a tribute to his hit When Doves Cry.
He said: “It’s like the whole time you’re listening to the sound of the doves crying – because they won’t shut up.”
The director also told in a chat he gave to fans after his documentary plans were shelved how he was stunned when he realised Prince had the playback sessions bugged.
He said: “Someone taps me on the shoulder and says, ‘Prince wants you to stop talking about religion’. I’m like, ‘Where is he? How the hell does he know I’m talking about religion?’
“Then I see a sign in front of the kitchen saying like, ‘Every room in the building and this room is wired for sound so Prince can record anywhere he likes’. So I think, ‘No wonder the mother****r can hear m’.”
Things soured for Smith when he asked the star, who as a child was bullied over his height, about his obsession with heels.
He added: “Prince told me he had a sore knee and I asked, ‘Do you think it’s because you always wear heels? Maybe if you wore sneakers once in a while it wouldn’t hurt’.
“Prince said, ‘No, Kevin, it’s got nothing to do with sneakers’.
When Smith asked whether Prince ever wore casual clothes he was told they were ordered from the children’s department of a US store because he was so tiny.
He was then banned from filming any more of Prince’s personal life.
Pictures Getty Images
